Hey guys,
I thought we should have a dedicated thread to HH, where we could share our experiences, advices, best practices, etc. I feel like HHs play a vital role in getting a PE job, but are often overlooked by applicants as an important strategic step.
For example I never knew that HHs write a characteristic on you that they share with company and therefore every conversation you have with them is important as they shape their opinion about you - that's something I wish I have known when i started as I believe I was oversharing a bit.
Also, I've came to realisation that the post-interview catch-ups with HHs is incredibaly important, too as HHs seem to report to the company your post-interview feedback (just my opinion) - another thing I wish I've known before.
Would be cool to hear your stories, questions or advice - anything at all you'd like to share about your HH expereince!
Greenwich partners (James Heath) worst headhunter to exist.
Those who know, know.
There is no top team in HSBC... so yes, Moelis would be better.
If they take longer to respond, you are probably out of the running. KEA strongly prefers BB people for their top PE clients. This might also explain some of the lack of responsiveness.
Here's a funny story.
I used to be at one of (GS/MS/JPM) and Kea treated me like royalty, would always contact me about PE opportunities (put me forward for megafund roles etc) and if I ever emailed to set up a catch up call they would reply super fast and go out their way to arrange a call, they would even do calls at like 8am or 7pm or whenever suits me. My experience was like this with most headhunters whilst working here tbh.
I ended up lateralling to another bank because I didn't like my firm's culture and moving to a different group wasn't possible, I wanted to move to a place where I would have a better work life balance and respected more as a junior so I moved to a lower tier IB i.e. not a BB/EB.
A while after my move they called me up recruiting for a PE role at one of the megafunds and 'thought of me', I said yes I'd be interested but just to let you know the CV you have on file from me is now out of date as I moved to another bank a couple of months ago, they asked what bank? I told them and it was just a bit of silence for a few seconds and they asked why so I just said I didn't like my previous role and liked the team I met here etc.. they were like 'oh right ok, I'll update your details on our system. It was good to chat up and have a great weekend, bye'
I was like 'wait we never finished discussing the PE role, I'd be interested in this should I send you my updated CV' again a few seconds of silence passed and they replied with 'sure, you have my email send it there and we'll stay in touch, bye'
FYI, they've never spoken to me like this in the past, when I was at GS/MS/JPM it was always very lengthy convos like how are you?? you'd be a great fit for this role, we'll put you forward and we have our meeting with them tomorrow so we will know the outcome then, i will drop you an email tomorrow after to let you know if they picked you or not, we will do our best to make them choose u!' type of thing.. but this time as soon as i told them the bank i now work at it was just a hurry for them to end the call.
After I sent them my updated CV and they just never responded, I sent a follow up email a few days ago but no response and sent them a couple further emails over the next few months and just never received a resonse back. I called them once and they just said now isn't a good time, drop me an email and I'll get back to you. Compare this to what it was like before where they would respond instantly and go out there way to set up calls, they suddenly just switched and became so rude and not interested in me.
This made me realise how elitist the headhunter industry is, especially Kea and that all they really care about is brand name.