Why does your firm use the headhunter you do?

CPI, Amity, Henkel... makes sense. My LMM firm uses one of these 3.

However, when I see firms represented by Carterpierce or Opus or Selby Jennings, it really makes me wonder what compels them to go with the headhunter they're going with. What's the benefit of going with one of these smaller guys?

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Couple of reasons

1) friends at smaller funds have often felt that when working with CPI/HSP et al. they were second priority to their bigger more prestigious clients. Meanwhile the smaller firms (Oxbridge, CarterPierce) feel much more dedicated to smaller clients

2) Certain firms do have expertise in certain areas where you might be looking for a niche candidate with specific skills (e.g., distressed debt, specific geographies, etc.)

3) Personal relationships. Above two points notwithstanding the search funds are mostly fungible and have access to the same talent pool, so people generally just work with whoever they like best. This is why these firms skew overwhelmingly attractive women. 

 

Makes sense!

1) I suspected this—and it makes sense that smaller HH firms may be more dedicated to the smaller PE firms, compared to a CPI. 

2) Any examples of firms with specific expertises? I know CarterPierce has a strong West Coast presence, but niche-wise any firms that come to mind? Just curious. 

3) Makes sense. And I have indeed noticed these firms skew overwhelmingly attractive women (to the point I wonder if they recruit straight out of sorority houses LOL). I always thought it was to improve candidate response rate (male investment bankers), but I guess it applies to PE firms too.

 

Not exactly related but I'm currently in a process with a fund that uses its own recruiting team (no HHs)... and I gotta say, I prefer the process. No middleman to communicate through, just the talent acquisition guy. Responses are super fast and there's fewer bottlenecks in the process. The people I talk to have 100% visibility into the process and timeline (vs. recruiters who are often just as much in the dark as you). 

I understand this doesn't make sense for smaller funds (this fund just raised a $3B+ fund) but honestly it would make sense for some of the scaled folks to skip HHs outright, especially ones with established analyst programs that need a recruiting funnel anyways.

 

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