HBS/GSB Buyside Recruiting
I posted this on the WSO B-School & Reddit MBA thread and didn't get a lot of advice so I figured I'd ask here.
I've seen similar posts (on WSO and on Reddit) about PE recruiting at Wharton (looks like it is a mix of on-campus for MF/UMM and self-directed for MM/LMM) but haven't seen anything that explains the process at H/S. Would be great to get a sense for which funds come on campus vs which opportunities come through headhunters or networking. In particular for firms that seem to only recruit at H/S (not sure how many or if there are any at all but my sense is H&F in PE, Paulson in HF. Are there others?) are these on campus opps or should I be networking for these. Also what is the timeline on these processes?
Background: HYP summa, 4 years at top tier Growth Equity out of undergrad (WP, GA, Insight) so never did the on-cycle associate recruiting process, but am in touch with a few HH. 770 GMAT.
Goal: Hoping to move to test the waters downstream from where I play to a more "traditional" buyout fund (H&F, KKR) or a crossover-type hedge fund (Blackstone Horizon, Coatue, Altimeter, Tiger, Viking).
I'm weighing the value of rolling the dice on b-school round 2 vs trying to go direct.
Have you already tried to apply to these companies direct? I think you should def be able to switch jobs without top MBA given your current experience. On the other hand, MBA could give you an opportunity to expand your network which may be useful once you get to a more senior level.
Work at MFPE where we hire a handful of MBAs. Overall, I think it’s extremely hard to go from growth to buyout even for H/S. Don’t have enough datapoints to say it’s impossible, but haven’t seen it. All the MBAs we have hired have come from other MF/UMM doing basically the same job before working here
+1 to this
You can move to buyout/HF but even with MBA it's incredibly unlikely that you'll land those top names, would need to go downstream to MM, maybe UMM. Especially with your career being exclusively GE with no IB background, their impression will be that you have spent a lot of time sourcing. You will have to fight to convince people you have the technical skillset... these elite funds have the pick of the litter and they usually draw from a very limited pool of prior experiences.
Bump
I'm an aso at MF that also does growth. PM'd you
It's a tough market over all right now and you're in a good seat. May make sense to wait a year
Thanks for all the great responses. It sounds like B-school may not help me make the change I'm looking to make. To Bellagio's point, I've also been looking into B-school for the network. I don't have the banking and consulting cohort that other associates do and I don't want the lack of a network to handicap me in the future. That said, I've been disappointed by a lack of alumni responsiveness at my school and wonder if B-school networks would be any different.
For folks at H/S can you speak to the closeness of your class/responsiveness of alumni while you are in school and afterwards? Similarly, what does the recruiting process look like for larger buyout and HFs. Do folks typically compete when funds come on campus or is the search more self directed/hh driven.
I just graduated from HBS and would say I was generally a bit underwhelmed by the alumni support. Sure some alumni would respond if you cold emailed them, but the hit rate was lower than I experienced in undergrad and the ones who did respond were maybe a little less helpful too. I think it has to do with the idea that if you’re at HBS you already are “successful” or are going to be, so people don’t feel like they need to go out of their way to help you. There’s definitely some alumni camaraderie, but it’s not as strong as undergrad. I’ve heard similar sentiment from friends at GSB.
In terms of recruiting, despite the HBS reputation it’s not cutthroat on campus. Students were generally supportive of each other by sharing prep materials, making intros, etc. and even in a year where the hiring market was slow I didn’t feel like I was “competing” with friends. A lot of funds do come to campus, and any funds that don’t will respond to someone with your background cold emailing them (assuming they’re hiring).
With your background I really don’t think you need business school, but then again neither did I and I’m super glad I went. Made a ton of great friends, had a blast, and I do think the network / brand will pay off over a 30+ year career in investing.
This is all awesome insight. And thanks for the honesty on the alumni perspective. It sounds like maybe most of the network value is in the classmates you meet and how those relationships develop over time rather than hoping alums 10-20 years out will go above and beyond because of a cold email.
I'd add a bit of nuance to the responses above based on anecdotes - it partially depends which program you're in. WP has sent associates to value-oriented HFs (Pershing, Elliott, a few other long-onlys). I believe GA has sent a few as well, but I haven't seen Insight do so.
Take 1-2 buyout pitches to MDs at the shops, aligning to the sectors that these funds target, you are trying to target to see if you can get a job directly. If they say no, it's fine. Go to B-School and then hit them up again. They'll know you're serious about it and take you, and I'd put my money on this strategy for it to work (assuming you know how to make a decent pitch of course).
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