When are you too old to jump?
I’m in my second year at a mid-tier (but good quality, good culture, smart process) SM w/ long-bias (one short, very net long). I did the IB —> MF PE —> SM route. I am now seeing the pitfalls of this move. I feel like my comp will be stagnant (maybe 5-10% increases) for a long time in a very perpetual seat - and that’s if I keep my bosses happy. There’s not much of a culture of “eat what you kill” and very hard to get credit for ideas. They’ll pay you just enough to survive. Yada yada, I’m sure most all of you relate.
My question is - will it be hard to move from my mid-tier SM (after say 2-3 years), to somewhere better within the SM world, to a top LO, or to a top pod - over time? Like people think “he has too much experience, too indoctrinated w/ one style, too-high comp expectations”. What prevents a Maverick from hiring someone like me vs someone fresh out of 2+2? Further, would I be given credit for my time in HF? Or maybe not really.
For the big SM funds to hire you: it’s not impossible. I’ve seen it happen but it’s not a common outcome. Usually the situations I’ve seen are someone with really strong pedigree - ie 2+2 (MF) with Ivy background. At the end of the day, industry is meritocratic enough where anything is possible but typically those shops that I presume you’re referring to will just hire someone a bit more junior than you and train them instead unfortunately. It’s illogically prescriptive but you know how it is…no point in fighting the system
Do you have examples of funds that do vs don’t? I have seen more lateral experienced moves to MMs often (maybe long-biased is harder), but prob because MMs take everyone and are always recruiting (I think, just my perception)
Like I can name 8 that don’t, starting w Pershing (and again, they’re open to unconventional hires, but I see virtually no semi-good SM laterals).
pod - come in as senior associate, probably $1m year 1 guarantee.
^ for reference we hired someone with your exact background (to the tee coincidentally) and they got 1m tee'
What? For a sr associate? Did they manage legit risk at the SM?
Doesnt sound legit lol. No pod is paying $1MM guaranteed for a small sleeve at best without an incredible track record.
I can confirm Citadel has guaranteed people with 2 years of HF experience $1m in year 1 to come in as senior associate. And not like a 1-time exception - I've know several examples. To be clear, that means someone with 4-6 years of finance (not necessarily HF) experience (either 2 years of something + 2 years of HF, or 2 IB + 2 PE + 2 HF).
It’s pretty common lol.
Sorry i commented on the wrong reply
Not taking risk - more just deep process into these names. I could prob talk a good game on specific names and ideas. But yeah I agree with poster above. That sounds high. I really do want to believe this is true though. Any advice for someone in my shoes seeking such a role? I have good connects at mm who could get my foot in door
Again, telling you firsthand it's not high and if you chat with BDs or PMs, they'll quote you the same number. Maybe when you officially hit the 2-yr mark at your SM start asking (as then you'd be viewed as a senior associate in their eyes)
Why not just reach out to the recruiters and see? Not sure what the point is of trading against yourself. Just see what’s out there and maybe you’ll get looks and maybe you won’t. a lot of this is luck and timing so it’s hard to say in absolutes
I agree, thank you.
Because this wasn't posted by a guy working at a SM trying to figure out what his next job is, it was posted by biz dev at Citadel to create more pro pod shop propaganda hence the "i know a guy with your CV who got $1M guarantee to go to citadel"
No this is OP and I am real. I do suspect it was an easy bait for propagandizing by the $1M guarantee anons. Idk about Citadel for cultural and intellectual fit reasons. Maybe it’s just grinding into the ambiguous open plane of SMs and seeing if luck fits. If not I have a fallback.
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