PE Lateral Recruiting Market (Senior Associate/Experienced Associate)
How's the Senior Associate lateral recruiting market looking for others?
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I'm SrA / VP1 level but wanted to start a similar thread a month into the new year.
As a blanket statement, what I saw in 2023, was horrific. I have never felt so at a loss in terms of job prospects & I'll be the first to admit there's been dark times / worry. I'm more confident heading into 2024, and while activity from the major HHs seems slow still, I have heard from those I've talked to that Q1 indicates a lot of funds getting their hiring needs finalized & that H1 should pan out to be much stronger than any time last year.
I'm still not seeing tons of roles, especially in tech, but the announcement of new funds and a couple searches here & there are promising. Fingers crossed.
Anyone else? Amity/Ratio/CPI/Henkel has been almost radio silent for me FWIW.
It seems as if the recruiters are just telling everyone the same story to keep everyone warm - guess everyone needs to wait it out
aso. bad.
Anecdotally heard from contacts at almost all of the larger MM/UMM/MFs with NYC presences that there's a full hiring freeze for the forseeable year. Even where people have left they've decided to avoid onboarding new talent and make do with leaner teams.
HHs seem to echo the same sentiment - nothing in sight 1H (and Q3 as well). Hopefully things turn around!
lateral opps are starting to pick up imo. Had several calls earlier in the month from HHs that things were slow but starting to see stuff pop up
Don't really see hiring picking up for the majority of UMM/MF at the Sr. Associate/VP level for at least H1. Our MF is currently at a hiring freeze and will only hire for replacement and for the new associate class.
I've been hearing that deals should be picking up in 2024 from bankers but I think a lot of PE firms are still wait and see mode (similar to the IPO market) with only a handful of transactions. Suspect the market activity should get better driving hiring needs as i) sponsors are forced to sell assets driven by LPs wanting capital back ii) interest rate declines iii) very tenured associates / VPs churning but don't see meaningful hiring activity until H2
There are some exceptions, but this is a good general take. Basically, fundraising is slow and a lot of firms need to increase distributions to LPs before ramping up fundraising. Hiring will be slow until GPs have better visibility on AUM growth. One wrinkle is some firms are getting creative with CVs/NAV loans etc., so I do think 2024 will be a better year for distributions even if portfolio company exits don’t pick up until the second half of the year. Personally, I am seeing activity pick up since last summer, but still well below the prior peak.
Broadly what happens if you're let go during a slower time of recruiting? Let's say you're at a MF and don't make the cut to principal or VP, or they shut down your vertical and let go of your team - would you be in a really bad spot when it comes to recruiting for competitive lateral UMM/MF roles?
I’m working with a handful of people who are PE laterals at the Snr Aso / VP / Principal level and the market is pretty bleak right now. Rewind back to summer 2022 and there were bountiful opportunities with no shortage of reputable funds trying to onboard a new VP. It started to slow down in 2023 but things didn’t really grind to a halt until Q3 or even Q4. There are a number of openings right now in the MM space (mostly NY that I’m aware of) being run by the traditional HHs, but firms seem to be reluctant to pull the trigger on presenting an offer and many seem to be holding out for the perfect candidate. What used to be a 3-6 month process to lateral as a PE VP is starting to extend to 6-12 months for even good candidates.
Senior Associate hiring is a bit different and is arguably one of the worst positions to recruit for given you’re up against the direct promotes from associates but often times don’t have a materially different role in deals than associates, so firms aren’t looking to hire senior associates unless they are growing rapidly or people are quitting.
For someone who has been let go, depending on tenure and how much they like you, you’re usually given a 3-6 month glide path where you’re still employed but they want you to go find another job. This makes it easier when recruiting because you don’t end up with a meaningful resume gap even if it takes you 6 months to get a job.
+1 SB, very helpful. But from what I saw, summer 2022 was actually a horrendous time to recruit. Maybe you meant summer 2021? Doesn’t change the overall messaging. I have gotten a few inbounds recently for whatever it’s worth (strong MM funds in NY / Boston). Bit of an uptick compared to Q4 2023 but unclear how serious these funds are about hiring to your point (have heard of people getting strung out).
would you be open to pm'ing me about the inbounds you're getting? curious to see if it's the same ones
market's rough. been looking for the past ~6 months, many processes got put on pause and are generally drawn out. think there's also a lot of competition for the few roles out there as well.
Following
Bumping - thoughts on when to check in after an interview? 6th interview with same fund (spread out over 6 meetings) and last meeting was the 3rd partner-level interview. Interview was last Thursday...any idea when I should check in? How long does it usually take to hear back?
What are the circumstances in which firms recruit at this level after Q1? Maybe more of a VP question than Senior Associate because the latter is still on a summer cycle, but you have to imagine most budgetary processes or post-bonus quits occur during the start of the year, right?
bump to see how recruiting is looking for everyone
Nothing for me at the moment.
Recruiting for VP title. I did get a first round with a liquid distressed strategy a few weeks ago but they're having me in a holding pattern while they continue on with other interviews (likely because they want to find someone at the Sr. Associate level but not ready to cut me loose)
That's so annoying and a joke when firms/companies do that. Or we wanted to see a few more resumes, but we are deep in the process with a few candidates.
Bump. Anyone seeing more lateral opps over the past couple weeks?
I've seen maybe 2-3 large cap / UMM funds but otherwise it feels like a lot of searches are still in the Associate class vs SrA / VP....anyone else? I haven't heard from any of the major recruiters though really...got maybe one from Henkel, one from Carter Pierce, and one from SG. Nothing from Ratio, DSP, CPI, Oxbridge, Amity, etc.... fucking nothing.
2-3 at the sr asso / vp level? I’ve seen some at mm or smaller funds but nothing at large cap
Had two interviews and both went very well and the interviewers mentioned will be back with next steps "in coming days". Then got ghosted/haven't heard back and it's been over a week.
My wild guess is these firms are all just dipping their toes to see what talent is out there/get a feel for the market as they consider promotions for any 2 year associates or underperforming ones that will soon need to be replaced (if at all). Given budgets and tight market, these firms aren't so quick to pull the trigger on this since it all is extra $$ to the P&L
Don’t want to be that guy, but the cynical view here is that they simply prioritized other candidates and haven’t gotten back to see how those other processes play out.
Yeah that too, oh well such is life. this was a pretty mediocre shop to begin with and I too was just dipping my toes on them
Any insight for lateral associate hiring? Am trying to jump firms (and willing to move downmarket for that matter…)
Chances hiring picks up in Q2?
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