When to look for EXIT OPS?

How soon after starting work should a 1st yr analyst be searching for exit ops (HF,PE,etc.)?

When do HF's and PE's start to recruit?

In your oppinion, how long should an analyst work in IB before exiting (ASAP, 2yrs, etc.)?

7 Comments
 

Formal recruiting for the megafunds generally start in April/May of your first year (i.e. you are usually contacted by headhunters and what not). If you're not looking to get into a mega shop, you can interview almost all year around. The more senior analysts in my group found their jobs in November and January respectively.

I've always heard 2 years and i think it is definitely true that things really start to gel and make sense after your first year. However, in this market, it was not uncommon for my fellow 1st years to get the hell out of their banks after they got year end bonuses.

 

if you're not contacted by headhunters by the end of february, start reaching out to them. make sure you put in the effort to go over there in person and meet with them (SGPartners, CPI, and Oxbridge are the best) with an updated resume and a good story for what you want to do.

some analysts this year got placed as early as the end of march...

have heard of one guy who left after one year as well, but for the most part, it's 2 years

 
FreeCashFoolif you're not contacted by headhunters by the end of february, start reaching out to them. make sure you put in the effort to go over there in person and meet with them (SGPartners, CPI, and Oxbridge are the best) with an updated resume and a good story for what you want to do.

some analysts this year got placed as early as the end of march...

have heard of one guy who left after one year as well, but for the most part, it's 2 years

Do quite a bit of analysts use headhunters? Is it of any detriment to the pay of the person getting placed, or does the employer pay for the headhunter service?

 

Nearly all quality exit opps are through headhunters. You should not be paying anything -- the shops pay the headhunters upon placement.

Most of the headhunters have offices in LA and can arrange for interviews in NYC for you. That being said, you have to actively manage your work and your relationship with your superiors when traveling that far and taking that many hours outside of the office for personal reasons.... many banks accept that this is part of the process now, but you have to give early notice and manage the process well...

 

Just out of curiosity...how do headhunters get started? IOW, how does one "become" a headhunter? It seems like they do very little of value - they basically match potential employees to open jobs...

But how do they get started in the first place? Do they basically call up firms and say "I'm a headhunter, do you have any job openings"? Why would a firm use a headhunter for their openings rather than just post the jobs on their website, thus avoid the middleman? They are going to have to interview the candidates anyways, even if a headhunter is used...

 
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