I am a POC and have enjoyed the diversity of colleagues that I have met in consulting so far. When I look at websites of PE firms, I see primarily white men from Associate all the way to Managing Director level.

Why do you think there are these structural differences? Do PE firms not believe as much in diversity of thoughts/lived experiences?

Do you think that consulting would provide more advancement opportunities than PE does for a POC, given the structural differences?


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There is a lot to unpack here but I’ll try to address some pieces from my own experience. I went to a HYPS and have found that many PE firms, especially those in NYC/BOS, tend to feed from a very small set of schools. These schools are hundreds of years old and are mostly in very white areas of the country and only in recent decades have started attracting a very racially diverse student base. The student base is not still not very economically diverse. The firms care (too much in my opinion) about prestige and becoming a strong candidate, even as a student at a target school, begins freshman year (and even earlier for some). It requires a lot of research to understand how the process works coming from the outside and to play the game effectively. While I am also a white male, I was a first generation student from a blue collar family in a poor part of the country and had no idea about a lot of this and didn’t start my own recruiting process until senior year, at which point the door has already closed for many great opportunities. Being one of the most competitive spaces in the world, people use whatever edge they can get to get in. Because of this, given 2 equal candidates, both math olympians with 3.95 GPAs from Harvard - more often than not the one whose uncle the MD plays squash with on Thursdays is the one who will get the offer. There are some efforts to change this but change takes time. Also, to play devil’s advocate, from some firms’ perspective, why change something that’s been working just fine for them?

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Alright you know what Kearney, you got me - maybe I’ve been looking at things the wrong way and you’ve made valid points that makes me think I am approaching this incorrectly in regards to my view on the issue at hand. Damn, now I’ve gotta go rethink some things and reprioritize. Genuinely great conversation-thank you for putting so much time and effort into your post, I truly appreciate it and definitely going to have to sit on it to reflect and most likely will change my stance on this.

If you’re ever in the DC area, let’s grab a beer or something on me and have more conversations like this one!

Ability to network and create networks plays a big part of it. This maybe a lengthy response but wanted to provide my two cents as a POC.

1) I absolutely agree with you on the diversity of the colleagues I’ve worked with. However, it also varies by project - some DoD projects I’ve worked on have primary White men and Women (most likely citizens as many require clearances) while other projects I’ve worked on has representation from a number of different backgrounds and cultures.

2) From my perspective, getting into PE has to do more with connections and who you know, rather than what you know. All of the MBAs I’ve talked to in my firm, I would say 80% of them say they don’t use what they’ve learned in their masters, and the main benefit of going to grad school for MBA was the network that they were able to build.

3) Again, personal experience, as a POC I don’t see a push for MBAs or building a network within my community as I do with “home-grown” talent or people. Not entirely sure what the reason is, but until I joined Big 4, I had not realized how important your network is to getting opportunities and linked to overall chances of advancement.

4) It takes money to go to grad school and build those connections, many of the members in my community go “You’ve got a bachelors, what do you need a masters for?” Because you’re now basically on your own right? You may not have the support from parents or peers that you once had, and it can be daunting to invest six figures for a network. Before the comments come in “but LinkedIn exists!” You’re right it does, but there’s also an element of gatekeeping involved where if you don’t have a masters or MBA, you’re lesser than everyone else at the firm. I’ve tried breaking into PE but 90% of the times, I’ve always been told to get a masters/MBA and no one has been able to provide an answer as to why that would be beneficial in terms of skill sets needed/gained to perform the function of the job.

5) I don’t know if PE firms don’t believe in diversity of thought or lived experiences, but there is definitely an element Of gatekeeping and “eliteism” for lack of a better word that may hinder some people’s chances.

6) Can’t speak to the differences in structure, but regardless of who you are, there’s a path for advancement in Consulting. Not sure about PE

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I’ve noticed this as well. My sister works in PE recruiting and she says most firms say they are desperate for diverse talent but still unwilling to depart from their typical talent sources (Ivy League + investment banking or MBB). Firms are also much smaller, so there may be less willingness to ‘take a chance’ on a non traditional candidate vs. consulting where you have large starting cohorts

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1. Yes, PE firms simply don't care as much about diversity. Far fewer rainbow logos or posts or website mentions of diversity.
2. Getting into PE firms relies much more on who you know at the firm and who likes you than consulting does, as consulting has scaled up a standardized application and interview process both on and off campus.

These things lead to a lack of diversity.

PE firms don’t really care at all about diversity and their hiring practices are not necessarily meritocratic as they focus heavily on prestige.

Compared to FAANG it’s pretty stark. People do get into FAANG without even having college degrees (though it is uncommon). That pretty much would never happen in PE regardless of how skilled the candidate was.

That's because FAANG and tech literally can't hire from just Harvard or MIT nor does it make sense. They would literally run out of people.

Amazon starts hundreds of people in a single week. Your typical MF PE firm hires in the single digits in a YEAR at the entry level. They can afford to be as selective as possible.

And TBH, I don't get why people are so upset with school prestige and the role it plays in the job market. It's no different than having MBB or Google or any other blue chip company. Should hiring managers not look at job history?

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