HF Recruiting from PE

Hey monkeys, I'm currently a first-year Associate at a MM PE fund (traditional buyout) and have also completed 2 years in banking at a BB. I don't have many connections in the HF / AM space but I've always been deeply interesting in investing. Noticing the differences between working and public investing (was the kid in college who read every investing books on this planet and ran the student fund), I might be interested in moving to the public equities side given how deal-heavy PE is.

What is the traditional recruiting process like? Is it through headhunters? Will HFs be open to my background? Should I consider going to a good MBA program if I wanted to transition?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and would love to hear if someone has had a similar experience!

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