Long term career--PE vs AM
Hi all, I'm not a finance/investment fiend but it's an industry I am probably going to stay in for the long term. I graduated 6 years ago, since which I've worked in institutional investment consulting (1.5 years, didn't know better to take it seriously/learn as much as I could have), asset management (top mutual fund company, performance measurement, eventually got pigeonholed into a IT-like position, so I left after 3 years), and been working at a RIA the last two years, but I'm not learning enough about investments and it's more about client management than anything else.
So I've been job-hunting and pretty close to securing an offer from either Kayne Capital (growth equity, reporting/operational associate) or PIMCO (account transition associate). Both are fairly mid-office stuff. I won't be touching too much of modeling/valuation at Kayne (though I'm expected to have basic understanding of the data) or fixed income research/portfolio management at PIMCO (more of a facilitative/operational role) but I'm fine with being more of a operations/project management person than a key analytical person.
I'm mostly concerned about the future career and learning potential at each of these firms, and the industry in general. I've worked in asset management before, and it seems like eventually it's either just rising through the ranks to be a senior manager/VP position or getting a CFA and working to be a PM. If I'm wrong let me know--those are just the two archetypes in my head when I think about a long-term career in asset management.
For PE, I have very little idea what to expect in terms of career path. I've asked during my interview but it was pretty generic and I don't know how much of it is Kayne-specific.
If anyone can provide more context or insight into a long-term career at these fields and how they compare, I'd appreciate it.
In my experience, your AM assumption is correct. CFA and AM progression go hand and hand. One of the stipulations I got in my offer from one, was a commitment to pursue charterholder status.
You definitely need a CFA to progress in AM. It's practically table stakes both in the investments side and even outside it.
I could be wrong but for either roles you mentioned you won't be in an investing role?
If so don't think the industry outlook is all too important but rather the seat you're in and sort of the career that position will/can take you in 5 years
Correct, neither is an investment role. It's more of reporting/operational.
Are there any broad generalizations that apply for career tracks within PE? I think with AM it's clearer--it's usually becoming a manager, a specialist/SME, working on maybe business expansion/sales (not cold-calling sales, but more marketing I guess), or trading/analyst/PM.
Not sure how it goes in PE.
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