KKR hiring freeze??

Interviewed at KKR last Dec and said they’d offer me, and just had “ to get through some red tape” prior to official - but haven’t heard since. Heard from recruiter that they’re re-reviewing 2023 headcounts/ hiring plans that has led to a temp hiring freeze across multiple depts. anyone can confirm have any additional detail??

 
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Interviewed at KKR last Dec and said they'd offer me, and just had " to get through some red tape" prior to official - but haven't heard since. Heard from recruiter that they're re-reviewing 2023 headcounts/ hiring plans that has led to a temp hiring freeze across multiple depts. anyone can confirm have any additional detail??

I just heard the same and it’s still ongoing (across the whole firm, it sounded like) . Unsure when it will open back up. 
 

Have you found out any more info on when it’ll open back up? 

 

First comes the freeze, then come the layoffs. LBO market in grid lock - total disconnect between buyer/seller bid price with these high of rates and difficulty of getting financing. Unless sellers capitulate and/or rates come down materially (e.g., forced to sell a PortCo due to fund winding down etc.), the market is going to be awful this year (worse than 2022). 

& the thing is, rates aren't going to come down materially (Esp. SOFR) unless shit is reallllly bad out there, which in that case, the LBO market will probably be shit as well. 

The good times (for now) are over. Just wait until these highly levered co's have 1+ year of interest exp with SOFR being 4%+.... you're going to likely see material stress and as a result, layoffs at these Co.'s. Dominos.  

 

Bad take. PE firms, especially of KKR’s scale, don’t do layoffs outside of very specific circumstances (winding down strategies, LMM funds failing to raise new funds, etc.). The KKRs of the world don’t ever need to do layoffs.

Edit: that isn’t to say this is not a challenging market. Their deal activity is down, returns will be compressed, etc. There certainly won’t be mass layoffs though. 

 
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Yeah not sure about that... KKR earnings were down 40%+ (and were deeply negative for the year on a GAAP basis) I would bet my bottom dollar they are looking at every item of spend right now

PE is not going to start laying off entire teams because their return cycle is much longer, but anyone who thinks a public PE firm is fully protected from layoffs is kidding themselves. They are expected to manage margin way more than a private company is. KKR literally said on their earnings call that they're looking at comp expense very closely.

 

Would like to think they'd start by cutting spending on millions of dollars on bullshit and unnecessary third parties rather than internal headcount, but who knows. The amount firms spend on Bain/BCG etc., and "expert" network calls/ other random bullshit is insane to me. Bain is going to tell you there is significant “whitespace and opportunity for growth above gdp" for every project you tell them you're thinking about looking into. Why? - if they told you the company or industry you're looking at sucks, you're not gonna pay them for some bullshit official market study, use their other teams for other work streams, etc. But hey - if shit hits the fan once you do the deal at least you can fall on the fact you did your diligence and Bain told you it was a good idea!

 

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