I’m starting to think about the move from consulting to PE, and I keep hitting this wall: my consulting projects don’t look like PE deal work on paper. I’ve done a ton of operational due diligence, built financial models for client transformations, and led project teams through complex commercial negotiations. But when I look at PE job descriptions, they’re talking about portfolio company management, value creation planning, and deal sourcing—stuff that feels different from what I’m doing now.
The question that’s eating at me is: which parts of my consulting work actually translate, and which parts do I need to reframe or build separately? I don’t want to oversell what I’ve done, but I also don’t want to undersell the real deal-relevant skills I’ve picked up.
I’ve been reading through some of the exit stories people have shared here, and it seems like the people who land PE offers aren’t necessarily the ones with the most “PE-looking” resumes—they’re the ones who can connect the dots between their consulting work and PE patterns. That’s the gap I’m trying to close.
Who’s made this move successfully? What did you actually emphasize in your resume and interviews?
honestly? pe doesn’t care about your consulting pedigree nearly as much as it cares whether you can spot value and won’t blow up a deal. they want people who’ve touched financial modeling, diligence, and don’t need hand-holding. your opsdue diligence stuff? that’s literally what post-acquisition value creation is. stop overthinking the framing—just say what you did and why it mattered to the bottom line.
this is such a helpful question! the consulting-to-pe jump seems less about having the perfect resume and more about understanding deal dynamics, which you already get. maybe focus on specific deals where your work directly impacted numbers? that’s what gets callbacks.
You’re on the right track. The translation happens at the value-creation layer. When you speak about your consulting work in interviews, connect it explicitly to PE value drivers: margin expansion, revenue growth, cost reduction, and multiple arbitrage. Your operational due diligence experience is directly relevant—that’s literally the framework PE firms use to identify portfolio company upside. The key is demonstrating that you can move from analyzing a problem to owning the solution. Highlight instances where you influenced investment logic, not just delivered insights.
You’ve already done the hard parts! Your modeling, deal exposure, and diligence work is genuinely PE-relevant. Just connect those dots clearly, and you’ll be positioned really well for conversations. You’ve got this!
Research shows PE firms prioritize three things: financial modeling fluency, deal-phase experience (pre and post-close), and evidence of economic thinking. Your consulting operational due diligence hits two of three directly. The gap is portfolio company ownership mentality. Address this by quantifying your financial impact and emphasizing follow-through accountability, even if it was in a client context.