BB ER vs small HF
Trending Content - Hedge Fund Forum
Career Resources
WSO Free Modeling Series - Now Open Through
August 31, 2026
9 Free Financial Modeling Lessons
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
High Finance Applications
Guaranteed
Get at least one offer GUARANTEED
- 1:1 support
- 92% success rate
- 2,000+ mentor network
- Unlimited Live bootcamps
- AI for resume + LinkedIn
- Networking automation tools
- HireVue simulation tool
- Full course library
- Private Slack community
- 20hrs of mocks
- + much more...
It's always better to get to the buy-side as soon as you can. $2bn is not a small shop either.
Is L/S HF "long-term"? No, they have to care about quarters while still claim to be long-term, but who is truly "long-term long-term" (maybe Chuck Akre out in middle-of-no-where, Virginia)? If the people at the $2bn shop are good and treat you well, stick around for 2 years to learn how to pick stocks for real.
If the right long-term investing role in AM comes along that gives you relatively lower stress and stronger alignment, make a move then.
I'm worried though that if things go south after 2-5 yrs I'd be unemployable. Wouldn't other firms prefer people who did IB for 2 yrs since they know they've got the basic background to work at their funds, whereas with me they might think I just know the particular way of doing things from my fund?
I guess in simpler terms what I'm asking is, how do firms look at identical resumes where the only difference is either 2 yrs of HF experience or 2 yrs of BB IB?
There's a giant perception hurdle going from sell-side to buy-side. Once you are buy-side, you are buy-side.
2 years of buy-side experience should help your response rate even if you just apply through career portals or LinkedIn without networking directly with funds because funds know your opinion on the prior job has results in money being put to work. Versus on the sell-side, your opinion and work have gone into a sales pitch (investment banking) or a research report (sell-side research), which don't relate to participating in the market.
For your specific situation, you will work at a small L/S, that's not super short-term but it's also not buy-and-hold, so if you want to go to pod shop or long only, your story is easy to tell.
Thanks! Also your website/blog are really informative -- maybe consider adding your responses on forums like this to a Q&A section on your site
Ex eos nisi tempore exercitationem quasi. Velit minus ut ea nostrum est. Corrupti delectus laudantium at aut harum vel libero. Ratione ratione natus eos sed doloribus rerum dignissimos. Deleniti magni alias odit accusantium vel.
Repellat est iusto quo impedit. Corrupti ea ut quo.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...