While in high school, participate in business and finance clubs. Some colleges have private equity, venture capital, or general finance clubs that you can join. Check out Web sites such as PE HUB (https://www.pehub.com) and Private Equity International (https://www.privateequityinternational.com) to learn more about the private equity industry. Talk to compliance professionals about their careers. Use LinkedIn to identify interview candidates. Joining LinkedIn groups—such as the Hedge Fund, Private Equity & Alternative Investments Networking Group and the Private Equity Investment Group—is another good strategy to educate yourself about the industry and make networking contacts.

The work of compliance professionals has become increasingly important as the U.S. government (and some foreign governments) more closely scrutinize and regulate the PE industry. Although most PE firms do not welcome the increased scrutiny, many recognize the benefits of increasing regulation. “A strong compliance culture and program throughout the private equity firm and its portfolio companies can have a significant benefit to the firm, from both a financial and reputational perspective,” according to an article about the trend on PEHub.com. Although job responsibilities vary by the size of the PE firm, typical duties of compliance professionals include:

• overseeing the firm’s registrations and annual filings with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as state notice filings for the firm
• reviewing all investment offering documents
• preparing for and responding to inquiries and audits from regulatory authorities
• monitoring new government regulations, analyzing how these developments affect the firm, and updating existing current compliance programs to ensure compliance with the new rules
• ensuring timely filing of all regulatory filings such as Form D (which requests an exemption under Regulation D to offer and sell securities without having to register the offering with the SEC) and Form ADV (which is used by investment advisers to register with both the SEC and state securities authorities.
• reviewing all public relations, marketing, and sales materials for compliance with SEC and FINRA rules
• conducting periodic audits of compliance policies and procedures to identify areas of compliance vulnerability
• developing and implementing compliance education and training programs as needed
• fielding and responding to inquiries from top management regarding compliance issues
• maintaining expertise on the regulatory environment on the implementation of regulations such as Dodd-Frank (including The Volcker Rule) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission reform