Did on-cycle just kick off?

Just received what I’m pretty sure is a formal interview invite at THL to come in tomorrow to interview. Is anyone else hearing anything? This one was lower on on my wishlist so ideally would have a crack at other funds first

62 Comments
 

From what I can gather, all this activity is just a couple of anonymous accounts trying to stir shit up and panicked kids trying to figure out if this is fr. Even if THL sent out invites, what loser wants to work there? On cycle starts after Harvard graduation, in the first week of June. Until then, ignore these trolls.

 

Embarrassing deficiency of critical thinking skills to assume an anonymous user on an Internet forum is going to make an effort to have an accurate position title. Must work at THL. Go back to grinding for those 3rd quartile returns my guy.

 

I agree/hope you're right, but when has there ever been a past instance of oncycle firms waiting 2+ weeks after the first interview before kicking off (assuming the people claiming they got invites are being fr)? if its anything like prior years, could see it pushing to next week maybe but seems like its only a matter of time

 

I understand why you'd think that but the firm "kicking off" needs to be compelling enough for other firms to believe that good candidates will be taken off the market. With all due respect, THL is not that place. This is also the first time the process has butted up against graduation and even final exams at schools. It's one thing to ask candidates to miss a vacation, another to miss one of the most important few days of their lives. I know many of the best candidates have communicated to HHs that they will forego the process if it occurs too soon, who have in turn advised firms to hold off as much as possible.

 

It did not. Nobody cares about THL - if you go there first, you were never in competition for UMM/MF roles to begin with 

Have been explicitly told by HHs / ASOs that APO/H&F/KKR/TPG will not kick off (talk to your firm contacts yourself if you're not convinced)

 

Why would one fly into NYC when no other firms have kicked off processes and have clearly indicated hesitancy to do it grad weekend?

 

Regardless of whether this ostensible move is important enough to kick off the dominos in the middle of graduation weekends, I'm just going to caution everyone downplaying THL and how "competitive" interviewees there are.

In my experience the average IB prospect has a very skewed view of how even elite banking groups place and how competitive the funnel is for MF and even UMM seats compared to the swath of fairly replaceable Analysts at "prestigious" groups. I have some pessimism about THL as a firm but a lot of you are talking reckless compared to where your prospects will be a week or so after on-cycle; a $6bn fund with a near auto-accept at HBS and an internal promotion path is not something to sneeze at. There (or much, much worse) but for the grace of God go you.

 

I think most of the animosity stems from them being assholes and kicking off their process this early. 

 
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I had few friends go to THL back in the day; I would be heavily cautious about going there. The backlog for promotions there is huge. Keep in mind the firm is not an expanding firm in the sense that their largest fund size was 10+ years ago; there aren't partner seats that are reasonable to attain there. Also, THL is a 3rd quartile JAMMBO firm, much better spots to be if the goal is MM/UMM - think the logic of going MM/UMM is that you go to a place with high growth and interesting strategy - THL doesn't fit either. THL is doing their whole rebrand, but they are fundamentally generalist guys in terms of the team's backgrounds. 

They launched a fund X fundraising for $ 6.25 Bn almost a year ago, and have heard they haven't had much success yet. Rough fundraising environment, but there are still MM/UMM firms raising money in this 4- 6 Bn range.

Ultimately, think if you are going to go to a MM/UMM place, there are a lot of names I would pick over THL. 

Just trying to caution people from being too gung-ho about on-cycle. Ultimately, people on this forum are all very new to their careers, and just want to give full facts or at least the other side of the argument for THL before you decide to commit 2 years of your life to it.

 

I don't even disagree with much of this except for how it misses the point regarding attitude. Snootiness about THL can turn into refusing a first round at, e.g., Brightstar (their last raise was flat too), which can turn into being relatively fucked 48 hours after "real" on-cycle kickoff because you think your grades and GS Consumer offer entitles you to KKR or bust with TPG as a safety.

Expectations and understanding of industry dynamics can be way off for kids this age, especially when they've inhaled interview guides and a limited set of firms for BB/EB recruiting, all of which have plentiful seats in comparison to viable PE landing spots.

 

For the tippy-top groups, the perception is accurate. Reposting from prior threads:

MS M&A: 2 CD&R, 2 H&F, 1 Blackstone PE, 1 TPG, 1 GTCR, 1 Berkshire, 1 KKR Media

PJT RX: 5 APO PE (all during on-cycle), Rest MFs/UMM

GS TMT: Thoma Bravo, H&F, TPG, Vista, CD&R, Silver Lake, Apax, Franciso Partners, Permira

EVR RX: 2 APO PE, KKR, H&F, Bain Cap PE, 2 Centerbridge

GS FIG: H&F, Carlyle, Apollo FIG, CD&R, WP

Especially considering most of these groups have 10 analysts per class

 

Again, these are literally 5 of the best...10 or so placing groups on the street. If the average JP Morgan sector group buyside kid starts rejecting even the average $3-5B fund on-cycle because he was the valedictorian at Westlake Windsor Plainsboro Advanced Technical Math and Science for Gifted Kids Boarding Academy and then had a 3.8 in college and so feels like anything that's not mega is beneath him, he might have to end up scouring $1B funds off-cycle pretty fast.

(Separately, surprised more kinds in those groups didn't go HF, especially PJT RX. These figures all from one year?)

 

Definitely not a near-accept at HBS by any means. Still place well relative to peer funds but they’re nowhere near Bain/Berkshire. Lot more folks have started going to Wharton, but gives you very good odds at HSW. Promotion path potentially exists but as the other poster mentioned, fund growth trajectory seems to have stalled out (so even if you could stay, I’m not sure how compelling it is). Have heard a number of senior folks are leaving. Fine spot to do 2-3 years but there are many better options these days.

 

Yeah I would start the interview with “I know that you guys usually do modeling tests and I’ve been aware of that for a few months but I haven’t started preparing for those so can we skip it?”

I think they’ll appreciate you being upfront 

 

Looking like a non hardo is absolutely not a reason you’ll progress in their process. The whole point of going early is to screen for those who have prepped and done work in advance. If you don’t feel ready, doesn’t make sense to do the interview as it will just set a bad precedent with the HH

 

Nah you don't understand interviewers are chill like that

Touch grass hardo

 

Spoke with HH and they mirrored what others saying -  most clients are hoping to hold off another few weeks before starting (as long as others don't kick off I'm assuming). Coffee chats are still going on though

 

with all due respect - who at THL made the decision that their offering of employment was worth interrupting senior's last weeks of school/graduation?? I like to imagine their associates/VPs strategizing the kick off as if they were about to make the world shake when I think unfortunately their public perception seems to be the token example of a non-value add jammbo 

 

probably thought it was their moment to shine and get their name out there by kicking off. instead the megafunds don't give a fuck and everyone just publicly shits on them lol

 

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