Research team at MBB to Industry

Hi,

It's a very complicated and tough path:

• The path to PE is complicated in general. For example, at HBS fewer people manage to get PE jobs post-graduation than had before HBS
• Consulting does not guarantee you a PE job and these transitions are quite rare. Those transitions you can find will be mostly on Ops, not the investment side
• Transitions from Research to Consulting within MBB are super rare as well. It's much easier to get into consulting from outside the firm

Thus the best scenario is:

• Start PE networking now. Getting a PE job takes years, and it's hard to engineer, and consulting is not a prerequisite
• Apply to generalist consulting roles or even better Due Diligence MBB to get your resume better suited for those roles
• Consider MBA as an option

Best

Hi there,

The 1st option would be better but it definitely won't be easy – it is difficult to move to MBB and even if you manage that, it is difficult to move to PE after that.

I agree with Udayan, given your profile MBA + Summer internship in IB + IB seems the best way to go. PE firms favour in general IB over Consulting. I recently helped someone who was working in consulting before his MBA to get into Bain Capital, and that’s exactly the path he followed.

Best,
Francesco

Ease in terms of eventually transitioning to PE would be only the consulting path. MBB research teams are much easier to get into but it will not naturally lead to a PE investment team role which is already super selective amongst top performing MBB consultants. A separate note to consider is that transitioning from research to consulting at MBBs is extremely difficult and so I wouldn't count on that as an option. Good luck!

The path to PE would certainly go through the consulting side of the MBBs.

Getting from an internal research function into a PE fund would be quite a sell. And moving from the internal research teams into consulting is not impossible, but very difficult and in the cases I have seen involves an MBA in between.

Bottom line: Try getting into a consulting function at MBB directly.

I do not think you are on the right track currently for PE. Neither roles will get you there on their own. If you want to make PE, do an MBA work at an Investment Bank and then switch over. Unless you have a great network and folks in PE willing to hire you this will be a very difficult path without the right work experience.

Hi,

I believe it would be easier to move from MBB consulting to PE of course.

However, if you're interested in PE, why don't you start in a smaller PE boutique and try to build your career from within the industry?

Hope this helps.

Best,

Antonello

Hi there,

I really can't see either of these paths working out for you. If I had to choose, I'd say Consulting to PE, but this feels not only roundabout but unlikely (both in terms of you being able to get into Consulting AND to then be able to switch from consulting into PE).

I would much more strongly advise taking the route of either 1) Higher education related to PE and leveraging in-school recruiting or 2) Extensive networking to get into a lower-level PE firm and working your way up

Hi there, 

to get into PE is a tough path in itself, but it definitely easier through MBB consulting rather than through research teams. 

I would not recommed trying to switch from research position to a client-facing role within MBB either - it's not that common and also very demanding.

The possible solutions might be:

• MBA as a step between your research position now and consultant role after
• PE boutique firms

Depending on which path you choose, start networking and looking around for the best opportunities. 

Hope it helps. Let me know if I can help you further.

Good luck! 

GB

Hello!

It´s possible but not the most common. 

I would never quit my job to start preparing for one, particularly in such a competitive industy and year, without guarantees. 

Hope it helps!

Cheers, 

Clara