How does PE Recruitment work in India?

The discussion has been divided into two parts: Recruiting for Pre-MBA roles Recruiting for Track roles

Pre-MBA recruitment

Qualifications – Generally agnostic (Engineering or commerce UG from top target schools or CA)

Work-ex – Either consulting (typically MBB, Parthenon, LEK) or IB (Mid-market or Bulge bracket India market experience); Some public equity funds also consider sell side analysts with Equity Research experience. Tenor of previous experience varies from 2-3 years in these places.

Recruiting cycle

• Most firms begin recruiting in the Feb-April cycle as they get clarity about the candidates from the current Pre-MBA pool who are heading to business school by this time. Candidates generally leave for b-school between May-July;
• Some roles during an off-cycle also come up from time to time depending on specific requirements that may arise.
• Some global funds also run deferred recruiting cycles – i.e. they recruit one year in advance. They typically look at candidates with 1-2 years of experience in May-July and extend an offer to join in the next June-July when these candidates would have completed 2-3 years of experience. This is more common in funds which have a very structured pre-MBA program and recruit in every cycle allowing them to get the best talent a year in advance and maintain a strong pipeline of candidates.

Sources

• Since most of the PE firms are extremely lean without a full time HR dedicated to the office, they use recruiting consultants to screen candidates.
• If you are at the appropriate pool (IB or consulting), consultants will generally reach out to you to gauge your interest and fit.
• They will then share profiles with the funds who will shortlist and begin interviewing candidates.
• It is generally difficult to recruit directly without being in the appropriate target groups – however candidates with relevant experience role one can try to network / directly reach out to mid-level professionals in the industry for potential opportunities.

Track role (Post-MBA) recruitment

Qualifications: Engineering or commerce UG from top schools or CA and MBA from top Indian or global b-school

Work-ex: Either consulting (MBB, Parthenon, LEK) or IB (Mid-market or Bulge bracket India market banking experience); Some public equity funds also consider sell side analysts doing Equity Research. Expected experience of 2-3 years as an Analyst / Associate at these places

Recruiting cycle

• Global b-school pool – Funds typically connect with top global schools and participate in their recruiting cycle– the cycle is aligned with that of b-school recruiting
• Indian b-school pool – There is no defined cycle as hiring is generally need based. Since most candidates are hired laterally and very few funds recruit talent directly from Indian b-schools, there is no fixed cycle for recruitment

Sources

• Since most of the PE firms are extremely lean without a full time HR dedicated to the office, they use recruiting consultants to screen candidates.
• If you are at the appropriate pool (IB or consulting), they will reach out to you to gauge you interest and fit. They will then share profiles with the funds who will shortlist and begin interviewing candidates.
• It is extremely difficult to recruit for track roles without being in the appropriate target groups since the competition from typical feeder profiles is very high and there is a big gap between the number of open roles and number of candidates who qualify for a role.