Distressed / Special Sits Recruiting Outlook

I’ve been in touch with some recruiters and have seen some seats open up over the last couple months at some notable places (Mudrick, Avenue, Oaktree, etc.). It seems to be openings based on attrition / people leaving. I haven’t seen much distress / special sits roles come through but there definitely is a crap ton of direct lending roles (was thrown Silver Point direct lending the other day). I was wondering if there are general expectations for distress / special sits roles to pop up more given the macro and distress outlook. Seems like a rhetorical question but would be great to know what to expect based on past cycles / hiring timelines. I spoke with one recruiter who said there tends to be a lag between when a downturn hits and when hiring picks up - would people in the industry agree with that? Or would you say most places are hired up in anticipation of a ramp up in work over the next few months? Also, anything else you’ve seen in the market, would be good to know (fairly recent and active processes). Hoping to turn this into more of a “this is what’s in the market” and “this is what to expect” type of post. Thanks

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Those funds have been recruiting since the spring, which is when a wave of hiring happened in anticipation of more opportunities in 2h22 and 23. Plus people had hired a bunch in 1H21 only to see distress evaporate.

Also do people generally share opportunities with strangers? Why increase the competition for yourself if going for those roles when HH already shows the same stuff to everyone. I send stuff to my friends at most if there's a strategy that I'm not recruiting for but they might be interested in - why increase the competition for them?

 

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