You don’t have a realistic shot at either one of these currently because the recruiting process for IB/PE/HF roles effectively starts in Year 2 of undergrad. If you only decide you want to do finance in Year 3/4, that’s too late in most cases.

Your best bet would be to consider an MSF after graduating to make the chance and/or to go for less-competitive finance roles that require less experience/credentials to get in right out of undergrad… corporate banking might work, for example, but even there, it might be tricky with absolutely no finance work experience. So you will probably need some combination of a more finance-relate drole after graduation + another degree that will take you close to these fields. Some PE/HF firms do recruit directly out of undergrad now, but you normally need internships to be competitive for that, and many follow the same structure as banks, where an internship leads to a full-time role if you perform well.

This is the most informed I’ve been about this topic, so thank you. I am in a weird situation and I wanted some realistic advice on what I should do. I am going to be a senior at Harvard next year studying mechanical engineering but recently I’ve realized I really want to go into finance. I am unsure whether I want to go into PE or HF, but is it too late for me to begin committing to a finance career? I only have money management and accounting experience through on campus clubs as treasurer, but no real internship experience or finance knowledge (although I am fully willing to put my head down and study up).

I guess my real question is, is it too late for me to be thinking about finance, and if not, what should I do to get myself into the best position possible at this points.

Thank you!

Depends completely on whether the PE firm or hedge fund actually succeeds and raises funds (most do not). Your chances of success are higher if you start a conventional business that sells products to customers.

https://mergersandinquisitions.com/how-to-start-a-hedge-fund/
https://mergersandinquisitions.com/how-to-start-a-private-equity-firm/

It’s unlikely you’ll get into PE because healthcare PE is more about finance and less about healthcare. Think about VC roles or even equity research instead.

https://mergersandinquisitions.com/healthcare-private-equity/
https://mergersandinquisitions.com/biotech-equity-research/
https://mergersandinquisitions.com/life-science-venture-capital-jobs/

You don’t work on “deals” at most hedge funds. You follow companies and make minority-stake investments with relatively short holding periods for most strategies. So it is much more like trading than long-term investing, for the most part (exceptions for certain activist and distressed funds).

You don’t gain that much management experience because you only ever manage a small team of Analysts unless you get promoted very up in the hierarchy at a large fund. But a normal Senior Analyst, Sector Head, PM, etc., will not gain experience managing a department of 100 people (for example). Team sizes are small even at the multi-manager funds.

May I ask why you say that “You won’t have the deal skills that PE firms and corporate development teams look for, you won’t look that appealing to most VC firms, and you won’t have enough “management” experience to join most normal companies” for people working at HF?

People who work at hedge fund also need to do/execute the deal. Is that correct?

Also, could you explain why people work at hedge fund won’t have enough “management” experience?

Sincerely,
Yunhao

Thanks. I think it will be almost impossible to get into PE coming from a pure audit/accounting background. You need either deal experience (from investment banking) or client experience (from management consulting), and you need financial modeling, forecasting, and valuation skills, which you don’t typically get in pure accounting/audit roles.

You will probably need some type of experience at an investment bank or maybe in corporate development at a large company or in management consulting to do this. Even something like internal IB or valuation / transaction services at a Big 4 firm could be a start.

I just stumbled on your website recently and it’s been really informative.

I’m an accountant in a local firm in a small Irish city. My duties mainly consists of tax forms and accounts & financial statements preparation for small local companies with the odd audit task. This was the safe choice I took back in Uni but I have always wanted to work in Finance and have been increasingly drawn to PE.

Once I receive my ACCA – which I focused more on the Finance side through the selection of the elective Advance Financial Management Module, I’m planning to take an Msc of Finance in UK and hopefully find a finance job there – preferably in PE.

However, I do realize that my experience differs greatly from the traditional route one takes to work in PE and I often don’t know what to expect.

Is it possible to jump straight into a large PE firm after my Msc or will I need to work in other related jobs to enter the PE industry?