Recruiting Timeline for Credit Investment Associates

Does anyone know what the recruiting timeline looks like for credit shops? Interested in direct lending but more so liquid credit (for shops that invest in the primary market). Have had a few HH reach out randomly for specific roles but is there some sort of typical "on-cycle" timeline?

I have also noticed that there seem to be much less openings for liquid and CLO credit than private credit, is there a reason for this?

4 Comments
 

Well are you interested in direct lending or liquid credit? Direct lending / private credit shops with large classes will typically have some type of on-cycle that roughly matches PE timeline. For liquid credit shops, most recruiting is ad hoc; there happens to be a decent amount of turnover at some shops so there are open seats rn. Would recommend networking directly or reaching out to Robin Judson, Odyssey, SearchOne, and maybe even checking GoBuyside. Reason for more openings in DL is because strong fund flows resulting in a) more seats b) roles are typically marketed more (some quantity over quality dynamics at scale).

 

thank you, that was helpful!

in terms of DL vs liquid, please correct me if im wrong but i thought at a junior level the necessary skillsets are largely the same? i am referring to liquid credit on the primary market so still deal based transactions, but higher volume and less diligence. I thought if i was able to narrate a story for each i should be fine. thank you for your advice again.

 
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Yeah no you're right - I missed that while reading. I'd just add that there's a lot of players in the primary markets - skillsets are slightly different based on strategy. For example, you might have a direct lending / private credit shop that underwrites the whole issue - that would be slightly more involved than say a CLO / BDC manager that underwrites anything and everything. Those would also be different than say credit hedge funds that manage actively traded CLOs or loan strategies - that would involve much deeper analyses usually. I would probably only consider the latter to be liquid credit, but all three participate in issuances from time to time.

 

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