Hello all,
As a job seeker, I'm reaching out to you with a mix of frustration and hope. I believe in the power of networking and I'm hopeful that someone here might be able to offer some guidance or opportunities.
My background has been in retail brokerage from when I graduated college (non target) in 2018. The last couple of years, I have been doing manager due diligence for an institutional consulting firm both on public equities and fixed income.
I have had my eye on the PC space for some time now, but only as of a year ago tried what I can to apply and get myself into a position to make any switch with no luck. Awfully optimistic of me to try from scratch to break my way in, but I guess I had the arrogance to think I would stand out on my own.
I have my CFA, for whatever that is worth, but the kicker is that with a wife and an 18 month old child, I haven't considered the full time MBA route. I would like to avoid it like the plague if I could. So if anyone has any hope to spare, I would love to hear it.
*not a PC expert* - I think it is worth pursuing and the CFA should go a long way IMHO. Have you used their job portal and reached out to other CFA holders to network / advice? Are you willing to join a firm at a junior level? Have you utilized recruiters? I would recommend looking into Sage Search Partners, Locke Group, CarterPierce, Long Ridge Partners, Odyssey Partners and SG Partners as well as others (I'm sure there are extensive threads on here that detail the best PC recruiters). When you do diligence on fixed income managers, are they PC firms or is this traditional HY or BSL? I would imagine having 1-2 credit pitches would help market yourself - public HY/ leveraged loan company and I would imagine if you could pitch a PC takeout of a HY bond / loan that could be compelling, but most importantly want to highlight that you know the fundamentals of credit investing (biz model, value proposition, industry, competitive dynamics, credit agreement / indenture, leverage, cash flow, etc.). When you choose a manager to invest with is it a whole process or fairly straightforward? If you could speak to managing a "deal" process via investing in a new manager, I think that would show well.
Thanks for your insights. I honestly hadnt had any luck going the recruiter route.
Some helpful context, our public fixed income research is a whole process that takes several weeks/months with multiple levels of due diligence and pitches to colleagues/investment committee. But even then, utilization is at the discretion of our consultants/advisors (part of the reason I am looking to move on already).
In my conversations with bond managers, I have developed somewhat of an understanding of different approaches to credit research. Sometimes it seems though as if I "dont know what I dont know" because I have never sat at a desk and done research on a credit before.
Also I dont know what junior level starts at, but I know what I am looking for salary-wise. Just depends on how asymmetric the payoff is in the long run, honestly.
I have also been using the CFA portal and its bone dry......sigh.... sign of the times.
I wouldn’t go HH route: they love cookie-cutter profiles because they’re easier to position with their clients.
I would throw out a few “indirect” routes into PE which to me seem most realistic to your case (1) FoF, SWF, secondaries, AM of insurance companies: ie anything PC related which is not dealing with the transaction directly; (2) sell-side, in particular debt advisors or LevFin desks (latter is harder); (3) Big4 transaction services / RX teams.
All the above would make you a decent candidate for a PC seat 2-3 years down the line.
Thanks for the insight. I understood just about everything except “HH” what do you mean by that?
Sorry, Headhunters :)
Thanks! Any of the above opportunities that you know of in the south Florida area? Just names of firms so I can begin getting myself out there?
The cookie cutter nature of the candidates HHs place cements HHs as the most useless rent seeking job I think exists.
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