2023 On-Cycle
When will 2023 on-cycle kickoff? I heard it was supposed to kick off this spring - have HHs reached out to any first-year analysts?
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Heard from a few HHs mostly just to fill out initial forms, nothing substantial yet. Curious what others have heard
Same bucket
Which HHs?
Same, just fill out info on their websites. Amity and Glocap.
Same here, just filing out candidate forms
Anyone hear from CPI yet? They cover most of the funds I want and I haven’t heard anything from them yet
Same. Any update? Heard from all the rest
Has anyone heard from HSP
Yes a few emailed today
Bump
Received intro emails from Ratio & SG Partners today...said they haven't officially kicked off 2023 process yet, but looks like things may pick up soon
Same boat - personally heard from basically everyone except CPI and HSP so wondering if anyone heard from those two yet.
I haven’t heard from either yet but I know some consultants (???) heard from HSP this morning
CPI and HSP have reached out ++ everyone else
When headhunters reach out, process should kick off soon (within the next 1-2 weeks). I would prepare for interviews if I were recruiting
Generally agree with the above, but seems like all HHs are explicitly mentioning and reiterating they are not yet looking to start 2023 recruiting discussions, whereas the tone last year when initial outreach began was much different.
But also may just be HHs being vague and wouldn’t be surprised if things kicked off soon
For me they indicate interview rounds are coming soon and some funds are “active” meaning that some interviews are given out. Honestly “soon” could be either next week or tonight.
Anyone have tips for what to do if a HH misses you? Bunch of my colleagues got CPI outreach but I did not, and I can’t just fill out the form online since it says everyone gets a unique link. Do I just pick an associate on there and shoot them an email?
Ask your friend to respond to CPI’s email and include you. That happened to a friend, his name and email were different. Total pain but HH seemed happy to get the intro.
Unfortunately CPI used an auto emailer so no way to do that…
The links CPI sends are individualized, but just have a 2nd year give you the CPI contact they interacted with and reach out directly. Completely ok to reach out directly.
coming from consulting here but I cold messaged CPI until one of the recruiters responded. They're just so busy so need to keep trying
The HHs who have reached out to me have been pretty clear in their intro emails that they don't plan on starting for 2023 summer yet but are just taking indications of interest and asking you to fill out profiles. That said, it only takes 1 person to start jumping and the others were surely start at least getting initial meetings in.
Is anyone planning on going through recruiting without having closed a deal yet? Not even sure what to put on my resume if nothing had closed and won’t have anything to talk about
You haven't closed a deal in the past 8 months?
Dude... some M&A deals take 6+ months from start to close
Yeah just for avoidance of doubt to those reading this thread for actual advice, it's totally normal not to have a closed transaction on your resume. Especially if it's M&A (as opposed to some type of capital markets transaction), these processes can often times be anywhere from 6-18 months long depending on the situation. And often those who have "closed" a deal in their first few months will have joined midway through an existing process and can only speak to certain portions of the transaction - which is also just fine but don't get it twisted and think that having no deals which have closed under your belt going into recruiting is a hinderance.
You can always put live deals on your resume under transaction experience as anonymized bullets such as: "$5B sell-side of a public life sciences company to a strategic acquirer (ongoing)" as long as you can eloquently speak to its dynamics / your role etc.
For sure. I successfully recruited with no deals closed. I just put my live deals on the resume and talked about what I did / am doing on those. No one seemed to care much if you can talk about it.
People know it’s not your fault that you work for a shitty MD that can’t close shit.
I went through the process without having closed anything. Listed a couple live deals I was on that were later stage so was easily able to go in depth about the business, process, etc. Pretty much said “expecting to sign in XYZ,” no one will ask you what you can’t tell anyways since they know it’s all confidential. Didn’t have any troubles, no one seemed to care or even ask about the fact that nothing was closed.
Will note that I believe hedge funds may ask you to only list closed deals, not even redacted info.
Anyone heard from Gold Coast? They’re the only notable ones I haven’t gotten any outreach from
Yes, can confirm they sent out some emails. Maybe reach out directly?
Most firms have made intros. Summer 2022 still on the radar. Don’t expect 2023 until summer at least
Don’t things usually kick off a week or two after initial registration email getting sent out?
Just telling you what I heard from the head of one of these. Headhunters are looking for talent, but keeping you on the back burner for a little bit down the line. Still too many 2022 seats available
No. That happened last year, but last year was an anomaly. Interviews usually kick off 1-2 months after, with coffee chats / info calls in between.
Heard a couple PE firms reached out this morning, anyone else?
Havent gotten anything from funds directly, just some random info resume drop opportunities
me neither :( so has 2023 on cycle kicked off then
Had a few UMM firms reach out directly but they emphasized that it was just an intro meeting and that they wanted to "be a resource" for any of my questions regarding the process. Frankly a bit surprised as I have no prior connection to these firms and don't think any HH's introduced yet.
Lol this is when you realize firms are gonna start soon. Every year they introduce themselves as we are not starting
Interesting! Which firms reached out directly?
Which UMMs?
To give more context, some firms do this. They might get your info straight from the HH’s as well if you’ve already had your coffee chats with them… It isn’t a sign of the larger process kicking off IMMEDIATELY. It is a sign that it will kick off soon, but don’t take the coffee chats / “informal chats” to be an indicator of the process kicking off officially. I would, however, treat these “informal chats” / “coffee chats” as informational interviews (I went in with the mentality that they were interviews). I would be lying if I said they weren’t somewhat screening (definitely are screening in my opinion).
Have a question, if you started FT in January cause you graduated early, would you be recruiting for off cycle right now? Also have a friend who start off cycle in December. Do we recruit with the current AN1s who have been on the desk since September or so, or do we recruit with the class entering this summer? I'm a bit lost on this.
nah, you would recruit next year for SA '24 and have an extra 6 months of deal experience
Thanks bro, really appreciate that
any color on PE secondaries recruiting? blackstone strategic partners, TPG GP solutions, Apollo GP solutions, blackrock secondaries, GS vintage funds, coller, pantheon, ICG, glendower, etc.
Sorry to change the topic, but assuming that Summer 2023 on-cycle happens the first full week of April, could that mean that on-cycle 2024 wont happen until at least September?
Which headhunters have scheduled calls already?
Anyone hear from Gold Coast? Still missing them and worried I got skipped if at east coast bank
Yes, they reached early this week
delete
Can confirm Chicago PE has kicked off and multiple breakfast/dinner events with firms have taken place in the last 2 weeks. Was invited directly by firm via personal email.
Lol in typical GTCR fashion. They always have pre-interview events with 1 on 1 “coffee chats” that are effectively first round interviews.
Outside of GTCR, which other funds?
What SAT score is competitive if headhunters are asking for them? 1400+ ?
Probably 1500? 1400 is pretty low
Anyone hear from CPI? Only one I haven't heard from yet
Yes, they were one of the first I got this week
Thank you sir
Anyone attend the info session call that CPI held today (3/29)? What did they say?
Feel like Im at a pretty meh MM firm/group & I had every recruiting group reach out… normal? Or is my dashing good looks?
Bro they reach out to everyone, it’s placing that’s the hard part
I was in same position - didn’t get any good oncycle opportunities (didn’t even get emails for many). Worked out fine in off cycle and got a great job, but was stressful
Sorry to bug you, but I feel like I'll be in your old shoes just a few months from now. Did these same on-cycle recruiters keep in touch with you after on-cycle wrapped up? Or did you have to network for off-cycle interviews?
Any truth to rumors that it might kick off this week?
I could see things ramping up but only time will tell
Headhunters I’ve spoken too said no. They aren’t ready yet
Yes
Pretty new to this. I had a few questions if anyone had any info:
Thanks yall
1. Not tuned into this year's process timing but generally for on-cycle, most funds will start at the same time. Usually one fund will kick off at some random time and literally everyone else will follow over the following couple weeks instantly.
2. Not sure about first reach outs but generally speaking you'll have already had a dialogue and profile set with all the HH firms and they will come to you out of the blue with first round opptys as they come up. So you have time to prep when you connect with the HHs but you are totally liable to be called to the interviews when recruiting kicks off - which is always a moving target. Keep in mind what I'm saying is for on-cycle recruiting. For off-cycle you'll get plenty of time to prep more as they'll give you the firm name ahead of time and you'll be notified of when your interviews are ahead of time as they'll be scheduled normally as opposed to ad hoc last minute.
3. Yes generally but as you noted, it is place specific. For example, in general, one can assume the Blackstone/Apollo/KKR etcs processes will be much more fast-paced and have a larger pool of candidates and often times their modeling tests are conducted impromptu and in person at moments notice for on-cycle. But many firms also do this which aren't MFs. And some people are better at the quick 1-3hr modeling + sometimes case test than say a growth firm which allows you 24 hours but gives you a crazy amount of data to parse through and needs you to build an operating model / complex cap table with all kinds of bells and whistles / provide a longer form case with more detail and thought required. It just depends, as you said.
4. Yes you have a choice. On-cycle is NOT the only option for you to get into PE. Plenty of funds don't recruit on-cycle and plenty of fund which do recruit on-cycle may recruit off-cycle due to hiring needs and the like, the most important thing is to keep your finger on the pulse with all the HHs and be proactive.
Hope this helps, happy to expand more on anything I said or provide more color.
Heard Thoma, TPG, Vista kicked off today. Any truth to that rumor? All HHs I talked to explicitly told me recruiting was holding off for at least a few weeks….
Completely false. Talked to HHs that cover them. Vista sent an automated test and specified it wasn’t an indication they’re launching anytime soon
Yes I heard they kicked off as well...
I think they refer to a 15-min test that you can take anytime
If you go through on-cycle but aren’t prepared as well as you’d like to be / feel good about, is it a mistake to continue with the process? Will headhunters see your unpreparedness and perhaps mistake this for ineptitude and ding you from opportunities “permanently” (meaning next year or two for the sake of this discussion)?
Yeah if you aren't prepared it's fine to wait. You will only get 1 chance per firm.
Your fears are accurate - for top quality jobs, HHs self-select interviews (they sometimes also call and walk you thru resume book and highlight top candidates). So would rather recruit off-cycle than go in unprepared, esp if you have a strong brand name
I heard from some friends that MF on cycle started this week
Nobody's kicked off yet, stop letting yourselves get trolled by fintwit.
cap
That’s incorrect. Multiple ppl in my analyst class got MF offers today
Which firms?
Heads up - Thoma Bravo first rounds scheduled for tomorrow. Good luck everyone!
Source？
True - super late tonight i heard
This is not true
Just pulling up to say good luck to everyone. On-cycle process is kinda trash and can be immensely stressful, but tell your story compellingly, remember that you are the asset in this equation (don’t just take an offer/interview if it’s not what you want to do), and go crush it.
I questioned everything while finishing a modeling test at 4am the night on-cycle kicked off, but ultimately pushed through and landed a great seat. Even if on-cycle doesn’t go as planned, tons of my friends got fantastic roles off-cycle. Things will ultimately work out.
Anyone else get the Carlyle assessment?
yep
when did that go out?
.
What assessment? is it a HireVue?
Echo this! Best of luck to all!
Confirming Thoma Bravo is not interviewing
How long does it typically take for HHS to reach out for an initial call after registering?
Curious about others, but have gotten about 50% calls set up for profiles that I completed (not sure if there’s a resume screening process involved)
Timeline was pretty quick turnaround (basically a few days after I got initial outreach / profile completed)
I don't know who needs to hear this, but I can confirm that Thoma has NOT started interviews as of 6pm on 3/29. At this rate trolls on fintwit and instagram are going to kick the actual process off by giving other funds FOMO before anyone starts deliberately
Hearing about a lot of coffee chats getting set up with UMM places- anyone hear from MFs yet?
Coffee chats with MFs and breakfasts / happy hours happening this week.
Have not heard anything from MFs (rip lol) but can confirm some solid UMM/MMs scheduling coffee chats this week - pretty sure only CPI clients thus far?
Echoing the above - getting hit up by UMM CPI clients for coffee chats.
Our UMM fund has started reaching out about informal coffee chats. Also a CPI client.
Does anyone know who the HH for Insight’s growth team is? Seems CPI only represents their buyout team
Insight doesn't have separate growth vs. buyout teams.
Yes, they absolutely do
This is wrong... Insight has 6 fiefdoms around each managing partner + a public team + a buyout team.
Has anyone received any coffee chat / info session information from Bain Cap?
they have a networking event/ info session (?) tomorrow. nothing abt coffee chats for me though
Is the networking event/info session diversity focused or is it general?
Anyone done intro call with Amity yet? Really like a few of their clients but they haven’t set up a call yet
Bx sending out invites?
BX is a go
Some UMMs are out as well
For interviews or coffee chats?
Interviews - CPI clients
Can confirm KKR Healthcare kicked it off. Gave an offer to an associate this afternoon
Has fully kicked off folks - handful of MF / UMM shops have sent out interviews.
Best of luck everyone
Do you guys think more or less people are participating this year than average?
Seems like a lot less from those I have spoken with
Much less - at my bank, used to be 75%+ participating in the past and year it's barely 30%.
Anybody else feeling very unprepared? Been getting shafted on my deals the last 3 weeks. Thought it was going to be after Easter…
Same boat…
why do you think that is? Do you think it's because they are no longer interested in MF PE after having worked in banking for 9 months vs. the traditional 3 months? Or do you think there is another driver?
I think people still feel underprepared and did not know when it would be given the last cycle was in September
Think it’s that some people have already started getting crushed. Know we’ve already first years burn out and quit on my team without backup offers… don’t think that happens in the first 3 months so they’re still fresh and driven vs dead inside
Anyone heard from growth funds yet? Or just buyout?
Which places have you heard are interviewing tonight/ tomorrow beyond BX, H&F, APO, GA, Veritas, New Mountain, Berkshire.
Tomorrow I’ve heard is Madison Dearborn, THL, EQT, and Vista
Warburg
TPG, Bain, Advent, EQT, Apollo, WCAS, Nordic
TPG, Bain, EQT, WCAS, Nordic, Advent
At one of the funds you mentioned for tomorrow (now today lol). We actually started last night around 9-10 PM. If it makes you guys feel any better, a lot of the candidates have been really unprepared and we have yet to give any offers (so plenty of room left in our class). We aren't going to rush to give out offers to people just on the basis of pedigree. Cut some clearly smart HYP folks who just didn't know what they were doing period (which I totally get given how quickly this process launched).
Honestly, feeling kinda down. I was scheduled to speak with the big HHs tomorrow and Sunday. 0 official interviews scheduled yet.
Am I basically done in terms of getting a UMM (including Growth) offer?
I was in similar boat last year on cycle. Be patient, ended up with UMM offer on 2nd day of on cycle (tomorrow)
So confused. A diversity candidate working at a top BB - had coffee chats with major headhunters on Monday / yesterday which went well. Complete radio silence on the interviews - not a single fund has reached out. Is anyone else in the same boat as me?
Same boat. Multiple productive intro calls with Amity/DSP/etc. and radio silence tonight, even after I reached out. Not quite sure what's going on...
I haven’t heard from Raiot or DSP either. Most of the funds that went tonight came from HSP/CPI.
Does anybody know anything about Sixth Street? Exit opps, comp, WLB, returns??
Bump
Bump
Bump
Bump. Is anyone taking the interview?
Have multiple interviews tonight and have no idea which to take bc idk where i fucking stand with any firm. this process is such a shit show
Such a shit show. It makes no sense! The funds are going to rush and take duds.
Is the cycle kicking off predominantly PE? Or is private credit starting too?
KKR giving out offers tonight
All teams or just HC? Heard some were waiting 1-2 weeks still
Industrials and healthcare
GIP kicking off tonight also
All mega funds have kicked off and lots of traffic happening. Everything in full swing
Anyone get model from Warburg?
Damn i didn’t, had good connections there… what’s the model?
U hear anything?
Has anyone gotten an Oaktree (Global Opps Fund) interview yet? Heard from Oxbridge I got selected for some time tonight, but haven't heard back since giving my availability almost 2 hours ago now. Pretty much messaged I was available all night. Maybe should've given a tighter schedule but idk wtf is going on rn and wanted to be flexible
Yes, someone I know had one
They said Oaktree is already done interviewing when I asked. But I got a few others
bummer. Not sure why I even was invited to interview if they were able to wrap up the whole process in ~2.5 hours??
Shits crazy, HH called me and wants me to go to PE office tonight at 2am for the interview IN PERSON? Don't feel prepared worth shit
holy what fund is this wtf
Centerbridge
Oaktree, Warburg, Permira going
Question - Are the offers from these processes for associates to start in August 2022? Thanks.
No dude it's 2023 lmao look at the forum title
lol im fucked
Can you do on cycle as a third year analyst?
You can do on-cycle even as a second year associate
How does this work? Do you have to be proactive about reaching out to HHs since they probably wouldn’t target you otherwise?
Anyone know if H&F offers are out?
First interview --> offer all in same night?
Yes they are out
What’s the latest on Warburg? Did they keep anyone in office after the initial two interviews?
What do you do if you’re a first year but want to do off cycle or on cycle 2024? Respond to HHs and tell them to keep you in mind next year? Meet with them anyway?
What’s an appropriate time to go to bed on the night that on cycle kicks off?
That’s the fun part. You don’t
Still haven't gone to bed
What's the latest on New Mountain? Did they give offers out tonight? Had 3 interviews in office and they said they would follow up shortly but I'm assuming I'm cut
Several more interviews had. Gl
There are at least 10+ people sitting in the Warburg lobby waiting for interviews. it's currently 2:30am .... this process is a joke lmao
Godspeed… it’ll be over before you know it.
Everyone hanging in there? If at all helpful, Warburg, TPG, Carlyle, CD&R, WCAS, etc., haven't filled up all spots (have received interview requests for these names starting as early as 7am lmao).
Good luck!!!!!
Which Carlyle groups are still interviewing with? Just heard their West coast tech group is done
Source?
Did BC Partners give out offers last night?
Anyone heard back from Warburg this AM?
Bumping this - were offers handed out last night?
Yes
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