Breaking Into Activist hedge funds

There was a similar post from 5 years ago but wanted to get some up to date responses

I'm ultimately looking to break into an activist hedge fund, but am unsure how to best position myself. From your experience, whats the best / most common way to break in? IB then PE? B-School? Go from undergraduate or IBD directly?

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I’m currently a PE associate at BX/KKR/Carlyle and I’m interested if anyone who has made the transition from a similar firm can share their perspectives on the activist recruiting process / experience since transitioning.

How does the recruiting process compare to the PE recruiting process? I imagine it is protracted because they are not in a crunch to sign candidates ahead of other firms. Are they focused more on transaction experience/case study (testing your investing acumen) in addition to fit? Definitely understand it is firm dependent, but would appreciate any insights.

Thanks

 

Funnily enough here in Europe the preference is for people with a combination of MBB/consulting and IB backgrounds. I was talking to guys I know who work at Cevian and they have a preference for McKinsey employees.

 
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