A Year in Private Equity
A Year in Private Equity - industry placement year Business Management degree at University of Liverpool
Reflecting on a steep learning curve
It’s been a busy twelve months with plenty of learning experiences – too many to condense into one blog post – but now feels like a great time to reflect on the past year and what I’ve achieved.
When I applied to university in 2021, I hadn’t even considered doing a work placement as part of my degree, until I found out more from Chris Barlow and the rest of the ULMS careers team, which helped me realise just how valuable doing a year in industry can be. After many applications for various placement roles elsewhere, I found myself in a final stage interview at Key’s Leeds offices in April last year, and just three months later had my first day as an Investment Analyst in July.
Advice for placement applicants
Being honest, before I applied, I was pretty clueless about PE, and had only heard the term crop up once or twice in accountancy classes at university, or heard the comparison that “it’s basically like Dragon’s Den”.
I’d also like to give some advice to anyone who might be thinking about doing a placement, whether in PE, finance – or something completely different. The main thing is to be resilient with your applications – I understand how tough it can be, doing online assessments and interviews seemingly forever, only to have to deal with rejection after rejection, but if you put enough effort in, you will be able to find a place that’s right for you.
It was a steep learning curve for me, and it took quite a few months to understand the in’s and out’s of how the fund operates, how we source deals and complete investments, but the whole team at Key were really great at working with me and explaining everything in a digestible, easy to understand way. It also helped that I joined whilst our most recent addition to the portfolio, Nevetal (formerly “theICEway”), was entering due diligence, and the team allowed me to help out with research tasks and sit in on meetings to see the investment process come to life beyond the spreadsheets.
It's also been great to develop some more technical skills – I’m still far from an Excel whiz, but my previous experience was pretty limited. A large part of the role as an Analyst at Key is data management, compiling and analysing financial information reported from our portfolio companies, as well as internal metrics. The role has enabled me to take ownership of various areas within the business, whilst leaning on and benefiting from the experience of the team. I can even manage my way through some relatively complex Excel models these days! I’ve been supported the whole way and now feel much more digitally confident, which is an absolutely essential skill as I start to think about my career.
The shift from academia to the working world is a tricky one, and can be quite daunting. That’s why I’m really grateful to have had the opportunity to start my career at a place like Key, as it’s been possible to become a member of a small, close-knit team of investors who have stacks of experience. I’ve really enjoyed the fact that despite being split across two offices, I’ve had chance to get to know the whole team and work with everyone on different projects, whether it’s been our executive admin team, managers, directors, or the Partners. It’s also been eye-opening to work with the portfolio (even having the chance to attend and present at board meetings), giving me the invaluable opportunity to see the inner workings of a business, and meet the hard-working people behind the numbers.
I think something to bear in mind is that you can never ask too many questions. It can be an overwhelming experience starting your first professional role, and it will feel like there are plenty of things that are obvious to everyone else, and you don’t have a clue what they are – but the best way to deal with this is to just be honest, and ask about anything at all you’re not sure of. It’s the best way to learn, and everyone’s got to start somewhere!