Hey guys, needed some advice on how to approach the buy-side recruiting process this year. Currently an IB analyst (coverage) at a BB.
As of right now, I'm not sure if I want to do buy-side recruiting, but I'm already getting invitations/connects from HHs. What should I do? Should I ignore? Should I have the intro conversation and then tell them I'm not sure about PE yet? Or should I have the intro and see where things go with buyside recruiting? Overall, just wondering what a conversation with a HH is actually like
Any experience of buyside recruiting as a 1st year versus a 2nd year?
Thanks guys!
Don’t sweat it, I and many others did it 2nd or even 3rd year and you’ll have real deal experience to talk through. Won’t be a problem to wait until you personally feel ready
Do you think I should still be speaking with HHs then for this cycle?
Are you a first year?
Yup I'm a first year
Were these the major headhunters (eg: CPI, Ratio, Henkel, Amity?)
If you have intro conversations, be careful - if you come across as indecisive / not sure what you want they will track that and be skeptical of putting you in front of clients.
If you don’t want to go on-cycle, it’s fine to just ignore them and follow-up when you are ready.
Personally I’d recommend having the conversation but be very clear - “I definitely want to go to PE, I want more deal experience and plan to recruit after ___ for roles starting ___. This will enable me to have a better sense of specific focus areas I’m interested in and making sure I’m putting my best foot forward as a candidate”. Doesn’t hurt to get into their system and they’ll appreciate the maturity in that response. Just be ready to resist, they might pressure you to go on cycle and don’t recruit if you aren’t ready
Unless you are cream of the crop on paper (HYPSM, top GPA, great group @ great bank) AND know what you want to do (industry, fund, city), I highly suggest not doing on-cycle in 1st year and waiting for opportunities until you are at least 6-8 months in. Get a feel for the industry and get some good deal experience. Being able to precisely speak on what you've learned and what you did will set you many degrees apart in subsequent interviews - depth is much more important then breadth.
It can also be quite easy to burn a HH relationship innocuously. As a first year, scheduling and professionalism are traits you haven't learned yet so not being polished in these areas are easy ways to get nixed by HHs or interviewer feedback that then leads to the HHs. As you work, you will also eventually develop a "voice" - you'll find most people actually in the industry use similar verbage/diction and speak with slow, but measured cadence/pace - get used to that, adopt it, make it your own. Not having that is simple to observe and again, is an easy nix, even for junior/associate-level screeners at HHs to measure.
Play the long game. These HH relationships (both people and firm…particularly those who are already Principal+) will be key to sustaining your first 2-4 jumps in your career (aka first 5-10 years) - they can help you a lot and vice versa. You want to be the guy 2 years into your career with 5+ top HHs always wanting to check in with you and present opportunities. Headhunting is a pretty unique role so you don't see a ton of career shifters like you might in finance, which means that someone you meet in year 1 might be in the same role, just at a different firm when you're in year 10.
And I think this is pretty obvious but you only get one shot at each firm. Usually the firms who are aggressive and participate in on-cycle are the desirable ones, and so you have a lot to lose and not much to gain in my view by recruiting as a first year
I agree with your points. How would you best recommend to respond to a HH request then? I was thinking that I pick up the phone and mention some of the areas that I was interested in but then mention that I would likely want to recruit in the following year since I still want to get a feel for the industry first + understand more of the potential opportunities that lie in the space.
Ut est dolores quas aut. Ducimus ut sapiente repellat vero maiores itaque. Id autem doloremque dolor nostrum omnis.
Est et nam debitis voluptatum aut. Excepturi expedita iste repellat voluptatem placeat occaecati nemo. Laboriosam aut voluptatibus quidem ipsum labore. Labore aperiam aliquid distinctio optio accusamus.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...