I am a first year mba associate with aspirations of joining a HF. My background is asset management fundraising and some investment research prior.
I know that IB associate to HF is not an easy transition but if I want to try, how should I go about it? Is it best to go through headhunters, apply directly or cold email?
Once I get a call or interview what should I expect? Do I need to have pitches ready before networking?
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I made this transition and can tell you it wasn’t easy. See my HF analyst q&a thread. I don’t discuss recruiting there but will say you should do the following:
1) come in every Saturday during your first year and build the models your analysts are building. If there isn’t one then go step by step on macabacus.com’s operating model then their lbo
2) learn the ins and outs of scrubbing comps. Why certain multiples work for some sectors but not for others. Why you need to read the footnotes to understand why company X has working capital needs higher than a direct peer and why that needs to be considered when looking at FCF yield for valuation
3) learn your industry. If you’re in a coverage group pick a vertical and your group’s comps sheet and learn all the companies. Their business models. Their differences. Read sellside about what matters about them today. Look back historically and see why their stock went up or down and why the market rewarded them as such
4) now it’s august of your first full calendar year bc you spent the last year doing the above 3 things. If you joined out of MBA there will be public equity job postings. I saw 8 from august of my A1 year til April or my A2 years. So that’s roughly one per month. At the same time I’d apply to any senior assoc PE jobs to get the case interview rep in. More reps the better
5) go on LinkedIn and do the normal outreach. Same frat. Same sport. Same high school. Same mba. Whatever. Find something in common and slide into those DMs asking for advice (not a job)
Today you probably have a 1% chance of getting a HF job. The above will increase that to maybe 10-20%.
Also have a backup for when the 80-90% scenario happens :)
I really appreciate the response this is gold. Did you end up covering the industry you covered in IB? If I’m at WF would it be worth lateraling to a better firm and staying for a year? Did you look at LO as well or were you focused on HFs?
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