PE Associate Recruiting from a PE Analyst Program

I'm starting as an analyst at a PE firm at a UMM/MM fund. I'm trying to understand what recruiting looks like if I eventually want to move to another PE firm for an associate role rather than stay internally. I'm gunning for MF (please, no lectures/comments on why I'm prestige chasing)

Most of what I've read about associate recruiting is geared toward IB analysts, especially when it comes to on-cycle recruiting and the major headhunters. How does the process work if you're already starting on the buy side?

A few questions for anyone who has seen this before:

• Do PE analysts generally participate in the same on-cycle process as banking analysts, or are they recruited more through off-cycle processes?
• Will the major headhunters cover PE analysts, or do they tend to focus primarily on analysts at banks?
• If the goal is to move to a larger UMM/MF platform after two years, when should you start building relationships with headhunters?
• Does already having two years of PE experience help for associate recruiting, or can it actually make recruiting more complicated since firms structure their associate classes around former bankers?
• How common is it to see analysts lateral from one PE fund directly into an associate position at another fund?

Would especially appreciate hearing from anyone who started in a PE analyst program and later recruited for associate roles elsewhere.