Cove Hill Partners WLB/Comp?
Hey WSO,
Does anyone have any information on Cove Hill Partners in Boston? I’m pretty interested in their analyst or associate roles but am having a tough time finding anything about them. Seems like an extremely bright group of individuals from the bios on their website, and fundraising has been quite steady since their inception.
Any information on the WLB, comp, and how good internal promotion is at this firm?
Heard comp is effectively tied to Bain Cap, don’t know if this is still the case
Thanks for the data point. Any info on WLB? Comparable then to Bain Cap?
Dont have insight there, sorry
350k TC first year
Bump
Comp good but heard extremely sweaty. Look at associate turnover - been a lot in last 2 years.
That said, very smart investors with phenomenal returns. Always been very impressed when I’ve worked with them
Do you know if turnover is high because of cultural issues, hours issues, or just because people are exiting to places they find more interesting? Sorry I know this is a really specific question, but would appreciate it if you have any anecdotes
Second the sweaty reputation. One of the unique things they emphasize is doing all of their own diligence and not outsourcing any of it to consultants, buyside advisors, etc., which means you have associates doing 50-100 expert calls and coding their own surveys... which means you have associates leaving. Returns seem good, team seems good, but just a really tough place to be an associate.
This is really helpful. Thank you for the insight! Do you know how this translates into hours? Is it pretty similar to a MF schedule of like 70-90 hrs/week?
I've heard anecdotally that it's gotten better, but would like to hear from current people at the firm if possible.
I can't understand the justification for not using 3rd party advisors. There's just no way that all that work can get done by 3-4 people
Bump
I interviewed here for the analyst role and spoke with several current analysts and associates while networking. The culture seems great. The firm gives younger ranks tons of money to plan socials and get together, so everyone hangs out outside of work. I was also easily able to gather that the people are insanely smart. However, people were pretty candid that the WLB can be bad. As mentioned above, all DD is done in-house (something my interviewers seemed very proud of). I'm not sure what the rationale is, but that's just how they do it and it seems to be working, so all power to them. I would expect that working at Cove Hill entails hours just as bad as MFs if not worse, so don't operate on the "oh it's smaller so there's more flexibility in my schedule" assumption. Ultimately, it didn't work out for me so I'm heading back to consulting, but despite the WLB issues I probably would've been excited to work there.
Got it. Thanks for the insight! It’s definitely an interesting approach they have with doing everything in-house. Did you get a sense of what actual hours might be like and how internal promotion was? If people do well and work hard, is there a pretty clear promote path to VP, Principal, or even MD?
Unfortunately, I don't have specifics on hours or weekend work, but it is worth mentioning that I spoke to analysts/associates with consulting and IB backgrounds and was told across the board that WLB is not great. Worth noting since, and I'm generalizing here, consultants find the transition to PE to be rough compared to bankers who sometimes find it easier. If even the bankers were saying WLB is bad, then I'm guessing it's along the lines of 80-90 hours per week. I do know that analysts travel occasionally since it is a sourcing role for the first year, so that can also make WLB a bit harder. As for promotion, analyst to associate is pretty locked as long as you are performing well, but after that, I'm not sure. If you look at the website, there are a lot of associates and not that many senior associates, so I imagine it must be harder.
So in spite of the WLB issues, people generally like working there?
I would think of it more as, "for the people who still work there, the only thing they complain about is WLB" and "for the people who left, it was entirely due to WLB." The other facets of the firm (e.g., culture, comp, etc.) are great, so it really just depends on the individual to decide if the WLB issue is enough for them to leave.
PM me
You're anonymous. PM me or re-comment.
Hi - I am currently interviewing there. Can I PM you?
Hi, I am interviewing there. Can you pm me please?
any chance you can dm about the interview?
Bump
Would you take an offer here over an UMM?
Depends - Over FP? No. Over Centerbridge? Probably. Lots of layers to UMM/MM in terms of quality.
Interested
Do they let you wfh in NYC? I’ve heard mixed
Bump
Thanks everyone for the info so far. Given the limited senior associate spots, how is B-school placement for them? Since it's Boston based and started by former Bain Cap MDs, I'm getting the feeling that HBS is highly probable.
Prior associates that opted for business school went to HBS.
Thanks for the reply! Heard a few went to GSB as well. So is it okay to assume based on the few data points that HBS/GSB is highly probable if not guaranteed?
Great firm. Really good culture. WLB not great, but what you expect from a great firm with best-in-class returns
Is this anecdotal or from someone who worked there?
Anyone familiar Cove Hill's WFH policy?
4 days in office, fridays WFH
Any thoughts on which HH they are using?
Ratio.
.
Not someone who works there, but agree with the focus on consulting work from my experience interviewing there. The case study is not what one would expect coming from banking. Instead of relying on a CIM, you have to ask them questions to get necessary information. Kinda like case interview at McKinsey. If you don’t ask the right questions and don’t understand their way of approaching the case, you are done. From my experience, the interviewer seemed uninterested in the conversation and provided absolutely zero guidance for someone from banking who had no experience doing consulting type of interview.
Definitely didn’t have a great interview process there. Will be joining a ~5bn fund, so glad to not continue with the process there if what this post says is true.
how far did you get along in the process? wondering how many case interviews there are, and what the best way to prep is. saw in another thread they might have a longer interview with a full blown model + cim + presentation, is that true?
Have good friends that work there and can corroborate the above. Have also heard that the firm is not growing much so there isn’t as much upside that you would normally get as a junior in a young fund. Talked to a few people there and seems like what is sold in the interview is not true.
..
can you elaborate more on the things that are sold in the interview and how that's not really true?
Strong group for the mid-market tech buyout space. Raised their new fund super easily and have had very good returns so far. Comp is in line with MF/UMM, but definitely pretty brutal hours for associates. Not sure what the internal promotion path is like or how they're looking to grow.
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