Is VP/principal lateral market really slow right now?
A few friends are looking to switch/upgrade firms right now. I know the deal market is a little quiet right now, but I was surprised at how slow it sounds like hiring is right now - guys with good experience just getting a few interviews, funds and even recruiters taking a long time to get back to them, etc. Curious if others are seeing the same; I would think bonuses have all been paid by now so we should be getting past people waiting to leave, no?
Are you post MBA?
Yeah, we are all post MBA.
For post mba, I’ve seen MM and UMM inbounds ramp up in last month. I am at a UMM so maybe why I’m getting the emails. Unsure for MD
For post mba, I’ve seen MM and UMM inbounds ramp up in last month. I am at a UMM so maybe why I’m getting the emails. Unsure for MF
I don’t think it’s as quiet for 2+ years post MBA. I’m not in market, but my friends and I get ton of emails from HH for MM and UMM firms.
For MF - There were about 6 MF processes in Q1 (Carlyle tech, BX PE, TPG consumer, KKR consumer - the ones I received inbounds on). 2 of my friends did full process with 3 of the 6.
We’re all male fyi (before anyone has a snarky input)
What’s your profile?
Also Advent Industrials ran a process and hired in Q1
In which geographies were those processes? London?
Yeah I'm seeing a reasonably healthy amount of HH emails bouncing around. For me personally not as much as I saw last year but certainly nothing that makes me feel like it's a dead market right now.
Second year MM direct promote here. Getting probably 2 emails a week for MM firms with UMMs every couple weeks. Nothing like last summer when I was getting multiple emails a day from LMM/MMs with regular UMMs and a couple MFs, but still seems like a reasonably healthy pace
While the mid-level MM/UMM PE market isn’t going gangbusters like past years, there have been an ample number of opportunities throughout the last year. Firms are doing interviews and they are giving out offers. If you have a reasonably competitive profile, you should be getting interviews. There aren’t a tremendous number of experienced mid-level PE professionals chasing open positions because it is very costly to leave your unvested carry behind — generally you need a good reason (fired, not getting promoted, firm underperformance, hate your boss, change of geography, better WLB, etc.).
Second this!
What typically happens at that level with unvested carry? Is there any buyout of it with equivalent DAW at the new fund?
Slow to respond here but …. Unvested carry is forfeited. The new PE firm will give you a carry package commensurate with the role, but it is rare for them to actually buy you out at all. That said, unless you’ve been at your firm awhile and have carry across multiple funds, you should be more or less financially indifferent to new carry at the new employer versus forfeiting unvested carry at the old employer.
i must be absolutely dog crap then with my profile because it's been completely dead for me... reached out to HH and they have said things are slow for awhile. i'm losing all my hope in this market since have been looking for the last year or so only for the firm to come up with lame excuses saying they'll re-evaluate their needs or have some candidate in their back pocket already and just running processes so they can CYA. *#&*$ my life
FWIW I left my role after about a year - horrific culture, was angry every single day & just not worth it for optics to stick around longer - and I’ve seen a trickle of ops flow in the past month or so.
I don’t have a MF profile (done lmm & Growth my whole career) so I didn’t get pinged for those Carlyle/bx/kkr style roles, but I’m in a couple smaller processes right now. What I have noticed, is I’ve gotten considerably more inbounds for traditional PE verticals (industrials, healthcare, biz services, etc.) vs my industry of tech. So I am hoping that picks up a bit more.
8 years experience (including IB) & no mba, if that makes a difference.
Just bumping this thread because its been a second...and I'm self conscious.
Still feels so painstakingly slow. I'll get the occasional opp from someone like Selby Jennings, but main recruiters have been all but silent. There was the initial rush of some industrials / healthcare / generalist MM and MF roles a couple months ago but since then I've gotten nothing.
Trying to remain positive, but MM and below just seems so dead.
Second that, it’s been eerily silent, I broadened my search to include London and Asia, still no luck. Spoke directly to a few MFs but got a diplomatic response like -“you have good profile but we are still assessing our needs” etc etc. Funnily one TB partner actually told me that they over-hired…hopefully things recover soon.
Third that.. terribly terribly slow. it reallly drains my optimistic outlook in life and i think to stay sane, i might end up just calling it quits on my search within pe and end up in a corporate job where i might just be happier. or take the chance to relax and go to business school or something. don't see the light at the end of the tunnel here for my search nor in the economy and these pe firms can just play musical chairs for the outside looking in for the next couple of years but with literally no seats once you head inside those doors. %$@#$&^ the market
Do you have an option to stay at your current firm?
Bumping to see if any more update
Bump
Saw a flurry of activity in April-May, but now it's definitely quiet. In a way, not surprising - it's basically summer, and feels like many of our partners want to enjoy the relaxed time vs. chasing deals / other admin work right now. Admittedly I also blocked Pinpoint Partners email addresses after they'd spammed me with crap for months.
Not sure I'd expect too big of a pickup until post-summer tbh.
Also blocked Pinpoint
I know tech funds like Hg are quiet now - totally over-hired. They hired an army last 2 years.
Was getting some looks earlier in the spring but lately it's been dead silent. The few that do come up won't consider you without prior experience in a specific vertical, and I already struggle with being pigeonholed in a niche vertical with few exit opps. So for now I'm putting the job search on the backburner until things heat up again. And while I'm not being forced out at my current firm there's little chance of a promotion any time soon given the small firm size and politics.
Any updates or intel that things will pick up at some point?
At a top MBA with a good pedigree and it is slow as shit. Decided to skip the MF recruiting because that sounds like fucking hell on earth but kind of regretting it. KKR is looking for a software principal but sounds like a shit job from the other thread about that team. I guess if you are desperate..........
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