Corp Dev to HF Possible?
My background is BB IB, UMM PE, Fortune 25 Corporate Development in a niche area. Have you ever seen someone with my background pivot into L/S? Feels like most people at HFs stayed in finance their entire career and never really left the industry.
Different order but I did IB, Corp Dev, PE, HF. Nothing's impossible if you can connect with the right people and display interest and skill. Might as well try. If you're in a niche industry that may be an advantage.
How difficult was corp dev to PE? Think I want a bit better WLB so thinking about going for corp dev post-IB instead but would that door to LMM/MM PE be permanently closed? In theory I'd still have the requisite IB background for PE AS1 positions but understand PE is pretty rigid recruiting.
Well it didn't permanently close for me but no role where you're managing money will be a better WLB than Corp Dev. I didn't know what I wanted to do so I used Corp Dev as a quasi MBA period and just bought a ton of investing books and courses and did a years worth of self-study while in the lighter WLB to figure out what I wanted. You're likely not going to be able to sit in Corp Dev for over two years and think you'll be handed a VP role at a PE shop - you'll have to take an Associate title most likely. I went into PE thinking that was the long-term play for me but got picked up by a HF that was simply a better opportunity and better fit for my investing style.
It's a very introspective process on what you want out of your career and you should be aware of your own bias if you're sitting in banking just looking for a big change.
Any key takeaways from your quasi MBA period? Been thinking about trying something similar in between earnings. Currently an SS ER associate with roughly 2yoe and feel like my learning is plateauing—I’m past the early ramp where I’d pick up something new every day with little to no effort.
Feel like some introspection as you’ve described would be helpful, but not really sure where to start given how many resources are out there and how relatively little I know (which I realize is self-contradictory to say)
Had a longer response but got deleted so I'll keep this one brief. I started with listening to a ton of podcasts spanning a wide breadth of strategies to start narrowing in on what I liked. Then I started buying books on the fundamentals of those strategies - some of it will be rudimentary but it's a solid way to start preparing for case studies and make sure you don't miss something super obvious that is very important in that strategy that you just hadn't been aware of. As I was reading / taking courses I was reaching out to people that were in the space to start building a network. I didn't go to them asking to get in an interview process I asked what more can I be doing to get up to speed. Again, makes sure you're getting up the curve as much as possible before real recruiting. After that for a while you start to dive into interviews, etc. Set your timing expectations low - it'll most likely take longer than you think not only because of how long & arduous these processes are but you need to be very picky yourself.
Hey man - Any chance I can PM you to chat more about your career progression? Happy to keep company names blinded so we don't doxx eachother.
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