Background
A Top 3 global private equity firm was seeking to relaunch its full-time analyst program and provide customized training for incoming Associates to increase desk readiness
- Previous attempt to create a full-time Analyst program was unsuccessful due to generic vendor-led training that did not adequately prepare new hires for their roles.
- Firm was seeking to customize training curriculum with its own models, templates and best practices to ensure that its new Analysts would be desk ready.
Solution
Complete 4-Week Analyst Program Design & Development
- Online pre-learning before class: Online training was leveraged to provide new hires across diverse backgrounds with finance and PE fundamentals and give L&D team accurate baseline of capabilities ahead of live training.
- Customization: WSP integrated firm templates and collateral throughout the program, including operating models, LBO models increasing relevancy and desk readiness.
- Group-specific assignments and capstone: WSP developed classroom exercises, homework assignments, and a capstone project around different groups’ models and previous investments to create a highly relevant program for each Analyst based on their client group placements.
Impact
- Training Committee and lines of business observed high degree of desk readiness in early months since program completion despite challenges of a virtual work environment.
- Validated the premise that Analysts coming directly from undergraduate backgrounds can be desk ready for private equity roles given appropriate levels of training.
- After the first year, WSP was retained to further expand the scope of the training program to include incoming Associates.
