Bypassing headhunters who've shown you PE openings and cold emailing PE employees

So some of the headhunters I have been working with have told me about openings in a couple of PE funds, and have asked if they could forward my resume to the position, even though it is early in the process. If i don't hear back in a week or so, would it make sense trying to reach out to alumni / employees in the PE fund's group that is hiring and asking for perhaps an informational interview?

When reaching out, does it make sense to say that you were referred to the position by the headhunter, or is it not smart to say this (i would think not) given that it looks like you are running circles around the headhunter?

I'm trying to be more aggressive in seeking out PE opportunities so would like to do more than just wait for headhunters to throw stuff my way - any thoughts on how this dynamic is navigated would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot

3 Comments
 
Best Response

I would advise against it. Most shops that are using headhunters do so because they don't want to deal with screening hundreds of resumes. The headhunter is in contact with the pool of prospective IB analysts constantly. The PE associate's or VP's time is better spent doing his/her actual job, waiting to interview only a handful of prospective hires that have already been vetted.

I tried going around a headhunter with one firm and it got me nowhere. Who knows if things would have been different had I not Tokyo-drifted the headhunter. Regardless, those are my two cents.

If you want to be more aggressive then try network your tail off through LinkedIn and Alumni groups. Reach out to shops that your bank has done deals with in the past. But if a headhunter tells you about an opportunity, let them do their thing.

 

Don't. You'll piss off the headhunter and you most likely won't move forward. They're the gatekeeper and run the process initially. However if you already know someone at the fund tell the headhunter and mention to the person you know that the HH representing their fund contacted you. But don't start cold networking with a firm after the HH told you about it.

 

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