How “sweaty” is H&F actually?

I have read that H&F is a “sweaty” work environment so I’m trying to understand how bad it is. Can people share what’s so bad there? How is the hours, culture, and intensity compared too other top funds that hire consultants like Bain, Advent, and Berkshire

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- one of the highest AUM per associate... lean deal teams, high responsibility and ownership as a junior

- very fast growth rate, lots of dry powder piled up in recent years (vs Bain & friends have been sitting on big numbers for a while and have more overhead available to use it)

- willing to pay high prices for top quality assets, but it's a high hurdle to invest in that they have to be incredible investments (lots of time looking into things you don't invest in, hard to get past IC)

- larger check size than typical MF, again, higher amount of diligence here

- from the above points - more involvement with portcos, esp. given you're not buying turnaround assets 

Outstanding opportunity, everyone there is smart and pleasant (vs. somewhere like Apollo, where you will work the same long hours but with incredibly tough people) it's just the way they do things that makes it a very sweaty place to work. One of the top associate seats if you can land it + are willing to put in a few years of horrible WLB for great experience

 

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