Thought it might be useful to write out an overview of the HHs and what they actually did when OCR kicked off this week, for future reference.
OCR kicked off last night (MF/UMM), and these were the most useful firms in the past 24 hours. Spoke with the other HH firms earlier this week, but don't think I got any inbounds from them.
HSP: far and away the best HH imo. They sent a ton of very good roles (CD&R, WP, TPG, Carlyle, Veritas, etc.) and I personally found their communication the best. Completely understand why they have such a high concentration of the MFs. Also landed a job through them:)
CPI: also pretty great, but found the roles less attractive than HSP. Sent several good roles (SPC, WCAS, TA, EQT, New Mountain, 3i, Advent, etc.). Recruiters were helpful when I indicated interest.
Amity: felt like they were super behind this year - they hadn't even reached out for a call (all the other HHs scheduled calls at the start of this week). One of their associates literally called me and said "I know we didn't get the chance to meet, but I have XX opportunity for you." Think the only thing I heard from them was Nordic/Bain NAPE- think they missed the bus, given they didn't get more specific preferences in a phone call.
SG: Dogshit. They sent out a bunch of Bx roles/sixth street but they literally called me in for an interview but it was mischeduled/miscommunicated and the interview never occurred. Then when I followed up they kept calling me the wrong name and never explained what happened - awful.
Radio silence/no big roles: Caterpierce, Oxbridge, Opus, Ratio, Bellcast, Search one, Gold Coast (never scheduled call with me), DSP (never scheduled call with me)
Note that some of the above names focus on MM/other roles, so obviously did not recieve MF/UMM inbounds from them.
Edit: Great to see others sharing their personal experiences as well. Definitely helpful to create a reference for next year. Btw - I am at a top coverage group at a tier 2 BB, and was targeting a certain group at MF/UMM (won’t say what so that I don’t identify myself), so that also influenced what opportunities I was sent.
Ya, feels like a ton of HHs just missed the boat this year.
I ended up getting a ton of roles from CPI and basically none from anyone else - HSP and Amity both just never reached out for an intro call. I’m at a bit of a less prestigious bank so I took every headhunter call that pinged me, here was my experience with them
CPI - showed me a few MF and bunch of UMM offers. Found them a bit disorganized and kind of rude but they got me my job so can’t really complain
Oxbridge - very nice but absolutely 0 action during on cycle
Ratio - really liked them. Showed me some solid UMM opportunities (GTCR, FP, etc)
DSP - nothing. Wasted a bunch of time on intro form and they never reached out
HSP - sent a bunch of work (ie their modeling test, automated tests for Carlyle/vista) but never asked for call. Showed me nothing, just useless overall
Glocap - they have basically one real client (Apax tech fund) but did recruit on cycle, not really worth the time unless you want to work here
Gold Coast - super annoying. Disorganized during on cycle, ignored me for a while until one MF I’d networked at reached out directly and CC’d the woman, then she started harassing me. I tried to reschedule the interview for 30 minutes later and she just ignored me
Sg Partners - useless. Just blasted out forms asking if I’m interested in Blackstone over and over again. called me about 6th street a few times but they never had the right fund/location I told them I wanted
Bellcast - nice but useless. Don’t think any of their clients went on cycle
I personally had a great experience with HSP. They are a large team so for every client you have different team members covering them. Larger accounts like Warburg are covered by more senior guys whereas smaller accounts are covered by associated (usually pairs of two so that one can sleep and the other can be on call throughout the night). They were extremely responsive, sending me WB, CDR, Carlyle, interview confirmations at like 5am in the morning while still using proper etiquette (they also love emojis in their emails (lol). Some of the other HH's after a certain hour start sending emails with no body and just a subject line that says some shit like "Veritas is recruiting, call me". I think the biggest standout point was that they won't sandbag you if they already give you a "good" opportunity. I had contact with DSP and after they recommended GIP, they refused to connect me to any other SF based funds. In fact, just getting on the list for a LA opp (LGP) was an uphill batter like no other. To this day they still haven't sent me the interview request despite explicitly telling me LGP had me on their shortlist....
Other HH's I encountered as followed:
GCSP: Good folks, two main clients (TB and TPG Capital) and also Evergreen which is the PE arm of Elliot for the true sickos out there
Ratio: Everyone wants them for Apollo but they have solid coverage especially on the west coast. FP, Clearlake, Genstar, GoldenGate. Also found they were willing to send opportunities forward that overlapped with others on their client list. They have one HH which covers each client.
CPI: Didn't send anything besides H&F, no real color to add
Amity: Seemed hella stressed when we called night of OC, phones ringing off the hook in the background. Aside from Bain and maybe Centerbridge, not the most important to target unless you really want Ardian.
SG: Clowns, literal circus. Boasts having BX as their client. Well go figure, Bx fucked everyone this year including them when they kicked off and SG wasn't even the ones running that process (they did it internally). Have a bunch of credit and LMM no name funds, honestly don't bother.
Oxbridge: Mostly LMM and MM, didn't work with them after the initial call as it wasn't my area of focus.
Bellcast: Such nice people and super helpful with the flyers they send that have summaries regarding their clients and their strategies/protcos. More HHs need to learn from them. If only they had more desirable names beyond Harvest, Siris, and HGGC.
Seems like Amity bungled it this year. Bain basically just went rogue and handled things themselves (I had Bain people chasing me for an interview when I had no previous contact) and then they rescheduled it like 4 times
I am glad to hear the consensus in this thread is that SG is terrible.
Bumping this thread because HHs are reaching out rn
Et quia delectus velit quaerat est aut harum. Magnam dignissimos et impedit totam vero.
Vel beatae ipsa voluptas quis eos. Voluptatum itaque ex dolorem sit id. Aliquid eligendi sed rem provident repellendus magni aliquid.
Soluta aut autem vitae repellat. Voluptas perspiciatis ipsum harum. Quasi voluptas omnis libero aut iure esse. Et modi blanditiis ad ab praesentium iste omnis.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...