1 – Have a Clear Vision of The Private Equity Market in France
Securing an internship or a permanent contract in Private Equity is as challenging as a novice horse rider aiming to complete a flawless obstacle course. It requires a lot of preparation, so start thinking about it from the early years of your studies.
Before crafting the perfect CV, preliminary work needs to be done. First, research the different types of funds in Private Equity: whether it’s about their nature (primary, secondary, “mino”, “majo”), their size (Small, Mid or Large Cap), or their sector of activity (TMT, FIG, health). You need to know which type of fund suits you best. Once this first step is completed, it is necessary to study the different funds in Paris and their teams. When applying, you need to have a real understanding of the fund ecosystem and their culture.
2 – Understand the Team Culture
Before going to an interview, always do your research on the team, the background of the members, and their interests. Teams are small, so it’s essential to “fit” with them: understanding a fund’s culture is primarily about understanding the people who make it up. If they all went to business school and were active members of an association, it’s tricky to declare “I’ve always refused to join an association, it’s a waste of time”. Similarly, if it’s a multicultural team with notably dual nationals, you need to demonstrate an attraction for travel or the discovery of new cultures.
You need to provide as many elements as possible that show the common points between the candidate and the fund they wish to join. Thus, one element not to be neglected in your preparation is the construction of your network. Effective networking is exchanging with as many people in the sector as possible, which not only maximizes the chances that your CV will be put at the top of the pile during the process, but also and above all gives you a more personal knowledge of the fund.
3 – Be Aware of the News of the Funds to Which You Are Applying
It is crucial to know all the elements that concern it. Arriving at an interview knowing nothing about the team, the strategy, or the companies is prohibitive. It is very easy to find information online, especially on the funds’ own sites which provide the number of assets under management, fundraisings and their amount, their investment sectors as well as the list of companies in which they have invested.
4 – Be Technically Ready
You need to be ready even before applying, as it can go very quickly between sending the application and the moment you are called back for an interview. Places in the field are very expensive, so you must not fail on technical questions or on modeling tests.
5 – Know How to Talk About Your Tasks
Whether it’s an internship or a permanent contract, applying for private equity implies that you already have experience. 90% of people applying for an internship and all candidates for a permanent contract are people who have already worked on M&A deals, whether it’s on financial or market aspects. You should always be able to talk about the deals mentioned on your CV, but also have a complete understanding of these operations. Otherwise, it can suggest that the candidate has not really worked on the transaction or that they have just filled in a random deal.
6 – Think Strategy, Not Just Finance
To distinguish between two similar profiles coming from M&A or TS, recruiters will observe their way of reasoning, of seeing the big picture. They will not only seek to know if there is a sector that may interest them more than another, but especially if they know the factors that stimulate a particular sector. For this, the interviewer will test the Business Sense of the candidates: you must therefore know how to talk about the market and not just about the numbers.
7 – Have a Critical Mind
“Is there a company in our portfolio in which you would not have invested?” is a question that comes up very frequently during Private Equity interviews. Many candidates are afraid to answer it for fear of offending the interviewer when they are actually expected to express their thoughts through solid argumentation. It happens that a fund makes a bad investment or that one does not agree with an investment, but you must know how to explain it with arguments, figures, and market information. Indeed, you should not always go along with the interviewer thinking that you are pleasing them, quite the contrary.
8 – Do You Have Other Processes ?
Be careful with this tricky question. When applying for an internship in Private Equity, it can be well seen to say that you have other processes, provided that these various applications are coherent. Thus, for a position in a Mid Cap fund, the recruiter will not understand that the candidate attests that they are in process in Large Cap funds. This can give a bad signal to the interviewer who will believe that you are applying to all the establishments of the financial place, just to integrate Private Equity, no matter the funds and their specificities.
9 – Never Talk About Remuneration
If you go through a headhunter, you must be transparent about your current remuneration: whether you come from M&A, strategy consulting or TS, salary scales are known, regardless of the level of seniority. The headhunter knows how much everyone earns, so lying to them is also counterproductive. Far from it, they are there to help the candidate and tell them if the opportunity for which they are applying is consistent with what they have today or not.
10 – Always Respond to a Headhunter
For their recruitment, 90% of Tier-1 Private Equity funds use headhunters. If they write to you at some point in your career and you are not interested, a simple but precise response is enough: “Thank you for your message, but I am not looking to make a move at the moment”. A candidate who ignores a headhunter sends a very bad signal, and when they seek to join PE a few years later, they will be put on the back burner. Moreover, in a Private Equity process, the headhunter is the one who links the candidate and the recruiter, so it is essential to maintain a good relationship with them.