“Candidate search: ParkerGale faced some hurdles last year when it set out to hire a pre-MBA associate. The Chicago PE firm, founded in 2015, wanted to increase its ranks of minorities and women to “help close the gender gap,” said Kristina Heinze, a partner. It chose not to use a recruiter and instead advertised on Twitter and LinkedIn. That didn’t work. “We didn’t get any female applicants,” Heinze said.

It was then the firm made a crucial decision. It changed its recruitment profile to include candidates outside of investment banking or consulting. It worked. After the firm’s partners hit up their own personal networks, ParkerGale received about dozen applicants, Heinze said. The technology-focused ParkerGale did end up hiring an associate in November from a Big 4 accounting firm with several years experience in M&A advisory (an internship at a PE firm didn’t hurt).

Oh yeah, the candidate did not have any LBO modeling experience so ParkerGale sent her to boot camp. And they’re very happy with their decision, Heinze said.”