PE-> Strategic Finance -> HF. Story Problem.
I'm getting some initial feedback that my background is unconventional and seems like I don't really know what I want to do. Feedback is "looks like your unsure of your path", "why didn't you go straight from PE->HF", "are you really that committed or it's something you want to try out". Makes complete sense to me.
I did 3 years of banking, 2 years of PE and now working in strategic finance / corp dev at a portco I covered in PE for 1 year.
The obvious pushback is "if you wanted to, you would have jumped from PE->HF". My honest answer is that I wasn't 100% fully committed to HF after PE but as I've had some time to think, that's the path I want to pursue LT.
The answer I'm spinning is that I wanted to do Strategic finance / corp dev to round out my PE experience and see value creation from operating side, which I think complements my PE base. PE + operations will give me a different set of experiences that I think will be advantageous to public markets investing.
Personally been interested and actively investing in public markets from my PA since college but optically, looks like I'm unsure of what I want to do / commitment isn't 100% there. I know what the job entails and 100% committed but not sure what other things I can say to convince people. Obviously been super prepared for interviews but I'm afraid my initial answer will just turn interviewers off.
Would appreciate any advice here.
If you’re going in at associate level for a hedge fund, shouldn’t be difficult. To overcome the story issue, would prep a couple high-level investment memos and share them with senior analysts / PMs framed as a networking call. If it’s insightful, good chance you’ll find an opening sooner than later.
Would also make sure you’ve tapped all the BD folks at the multi-managers in case you haven’t yet but when you think about competing against plenty of folks trying to transition from equity research or banking, you’re well positioned against that cohort. Just avoid going up against the 2+2 folks
Thanks. How do you recommend I get in touch with the BD folks? Through Linkedin?
I've probably reached out to 7 recruiters through email and 3 have replied to me. At this point, would rather just reach out directly to BD.
Ignore my title, I'm in a very similar situation as you. Wondering what folks think are the advantages of gaining operational experience prior to joining HF (and after PE)? Putting myself in the shoes of a PM, I'm not sure I'd give much credit to that position unless super relevant to coverage. Curious to hear what others have experienced.
I don't see how this would be a problem. Maybe you aren't being convincing enough or its how you're spinning the story. Are you able to show that you're passionate about investing (student clubs, books, investment write ups, etc.?). Perhaps you need to word your story a little better - like you did PE, had a rare opportunity to work directly on the operating side to get real operating experience which most people in the industry don't have. I wouldn't say AT ALL that you were unsure about HFs which is why you went down corporate strategy route...you have to sound certain that you chose pursuing corp. experience first but have always enjoyed investing, thesis development, etc. and combined with PE + corp experience, you got to see first hand how execution and operations works but goal was to always be in publics. It's as if an Analyst cites market share as a revenue driver but based on your operating experience you realize taking share is actually very tough and may not be smart to underwrite as core driver...just an example
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