The best way to start a career in any field is by joining a firm as an intern.
You can concentrate on learning during internships without thinking of money as a reason to work.
You should start your internship as a student and get properly trained by the time you are ready for a real job.
In this article, I will tell you all that you need to know about getting private equity internships.
What Is Private equity?
Private equity comprises investors (institutional, individual, and corporate) that invest in a company for realizing long-term returns.
It is just like buying a part of the ownership of that company.
The reasons why companies look for private equity can be maintaining working capital, technology adoption, and up-gradation, boosting investor relations, helping in strategic business analysis, transfer of ownership, or improving the company’s balance sheet.
What Do Private Equity Firms Do?
Following are four primary functional areas of a private equity firm where you would get an opportunity to work:
1. Raising funds for investments
Private equity firms usually create a fund for investment.
This fund is created by accumulating money from various investors to invest in a company.
Managers in a private equity firm have to sell their investment strategy to HNIs and other investment companies to attract more money to increase the value of that fund.
It is tough to get an internship in this profile since most senior managers with tons of experience only are a part of this team.
But there are internships available for back-end jobs in this profile.
2. Sourcing investments
Once the private equity firm has the money, they need more private equity fund investments to invest its money.
Usually, a firm works on multiple private equity investments to diversify its portfolio and scatter risks.
The job in this profile requires an individual or a team to look out for potential companies to invest in.
This is not an easy task and requires a lot of financial analysis.
There are many opportunities available in this profile since there is a lot of back-end data collection and analysis involved.
3. Managing investments
Although private equity firms are not directly involved in the day-to-day functioning and operations of the bought-out company, they still need to have a regular check and close grip on it.
Some managers are in touch with the company for timely reporting of a company’s financial health and performance.
Jobs in this profile are quite routine and require maintaining a high level of communication between stakeholders.
4. Selling investments
Private equity firms will make money only if they sell off the bought-out firm at a profit.
This is usually done by issuing an IPO or selling it to some other firm under merger and acquisition.
There is a lot of groundwork required to arrive at an ideal time and valuation to sell off the investment.
This job profile is mostly available for an internship as there are teams here to collect data and run analyses under the supervision of a senior member.
Now that you know what private equity firms do, let me tell you what you should do to get an internship:
How to Get Private Equity Internships?
1. Know all about private equity
The first step is to know what exactly you are getting into when looking for private equity intern jobs.
Do your preparation in terms of what kind of work you will be doing if you choose a career in private equity.
Go to the next step only if you are very confident in your career choice and are comfortable with the requirements of being a private equity fund administration professional.
It would involve knowing everything that these firms do, what kind of work is done by the employees, their remunerations and working hours, etc.
2. Create a list of targeted companies
There are thousands of private equity firms around the globe looking for professionals like you to join their brigade.
Create a list of targeted companies that you want to apply to.
More prominent firms usually prefer candidates, even for private equity summer internships, with some finance background.
My suggestion to you here would be that if you are a fresher, please look for an internship in a small or medium-sized firm.
The learning in smaller companies is much more when compared to bigger ones. Also, interviews in smaller companies are more comfortable to crack.
3. Prepare a resume
Depending on your target firm, and the profile, prepare a resume that enables you to get a full-time internship position with ease. Remember to use single quotation marks or double quotation marks if you include quotes from your detailed industry research.
In many of my articles, I have emphasized the fact that you should be sincere and precise in your resumes.
Highlight your strengths and focus on what you know rather than glorifying it by writing anything that you are not comfortable with.
Many companies these days use resumes as a shortlisting criterion, therefore make sure that there are no mistakes in it since attention to detail is one of the essential requirements in any of the finance profiles.
4. Follow up on interviews
Once you have sent your resume to the targeted company, don’t just sit back and relax.
Always follow up with the HR teams in those firms.
Since hiring interns is not their core requirement, many times, HR puts resumes on hold and does not act on them for many days.
Please do not sit back and wait for them to call you for an interview.
Be active and chase them till you get a clear reply.
This would have two advantages – one–they will come to know that you are genuinely interested in their firm, which makes your job a little more comfortable in cracking the interview.
And two–depending on the response that you get, you will know if you need to apply to more firms in the future.
5. Prepare for the interview
Last but not least, you need to prepare yourself for an interview in a systematic manner.
Get hold of your textbooks and revise all your concepts of finance. Also, anticipate questions in advance and prepare for the right answer.
Usually, large firms will give more weightage to your technical knowledge, while smaller firms will give more weightage to your soft skills and your reasons behind joining.
In any case, you need to prepare well and be confident in the interview.
I hope this article gave you clarity on finding a private equity internship.
In case you have any queries, please do not hesitate to write back.
Now You Try It
I hope you can see the potential of Private Equity Internships for your career.
Yes, it takes hard work to do something great.
But with this strategy, you already know ahead of time that your hard work is going to pay off (unlike randomly applying to job sites).
I want you to give the strategy a try and let me know how it works for you.
If you have a question or thought, leave a comment below, and I’ll get right to it.
