MM PMs: How did you get your first PM job?

To the MM PMs in this forum. How did you get your first PM job, I.e. the first job as a standalone PM in a fund and what did you do before, e.g. analyst in another MM, trader at a bank, etc.? Have you maybe been approached by an internal or external recruiter? Did you have some connections at the MM? Did you apply yourself or maybe contact business development?

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1. Be very hungry

2. Find a PM who's style you want to emulate (and grow upon)

3. Take responsibility by demonstrating competency/seriousness

After leaving SS, I went to a small SM fund before moving to a mid-sized MM as an "associate PM" (glorified analyst with pnl share). I was able to co-run risk across macro and single names, which helped me develop my own unique style and, eventually, grant me my own capital base. I do this thing where, when I sit with older people or those with greater experience, I put on the persona of a very excited student and give an excessive amount of respect. This has worked wonders for me through my career. 

 

Sorta but not really - most PMs don't just want to teach their entire process to someone that can copy them and become a PM.  They want someone who offers something new to expand.

 

Bad wording on my part — I didn’t mean to copy a PM you like. More like, make sure you have role models ideally not on the team you’re on. For me, there was a small group of Swiss based macro & pan European traders that were doing something interesting (not related to me or my firm, I stumbled across them by reading an old financial magazine which featured a short interview with their PM in like 2010). I reached out to them on IB, we connected, and I was able to ask them the stupid questions I was too afraid to ask my team. 

 

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