Hey all,
It's been over a year since I graduated (from a 'target' school) and hit the desk at a brand-name MM firm (think Baird, Houlihan, Blair, Piper, etc.). I'm interested in pursuing opportunities in the buy-side pubic equities space.
Do I have a shot at breaking into HFs or prestigious AMs (like Wellington, MFS, etc.)? If so, what's the best route to take?
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Yes
Definitely possible. Had a couple people in my MM class go IB -> HF. One then went from HF -> BX RE.
Any chance I could DM you? Have a few questions
Probably not going to be that helpful on that front unfortunately. Also might as well post here for others' visibility.
It’s possible but difficult. There are very very few early investor spots at top AMs and HFs (think Wellington, Fidelity, Capital Group, Baupost, Tiger Cubs, etc). Probably more realistic to go to a pod shop or less established SM from IB, but these places don’t have same staying power and don’t provide same platform.
Thanks - I'm assuming the best way to break into pods / SMs is through alumni / networking?
What about from a firm like Jefferies?
Very possible on the AM side but not easy. It has been reiterated a ton on this forum, but the number of junior level seats in AM and especially LO AM is one of the smallest in all of finance. At my LO AM, a great number of our most junior research analysts came from IB, but not universally so.
If you are adamant about LO AM or L/S HF you should be able to get there, but it will be work no matter where you are coming from.
At the top LO AM firms (Fido, Wellington, MFS, etc), the really good seats are the PM track roles after business school. My dad is a PM at one of the above and a few of the analysts (which is a post MBA title) and junior PMs have a IB/PE background, go to a top b-school (which really means H/S/W and maybe Columbia), and then land this role. Think that’s probably the best available path for you from MM IB, and similar to what my current goals are. Unlike PE, public LO seems to care less about pre-MBA experience as long as you can “think like an investor”, and PE obviously teaches that mindset well.
Not too sure on the HF front, but feel free to follow up on the AM side and happy to answer whatever
Thank you for the in-depth response!
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