Head-hunter Etiquette - London
1. Do you reach out to them or do you wait for them to reach out to you? I have seen some summer analyst friends at my bank and similar ranked banks were reached out to for networking breakfasts etc. I was not connected so I don't know if I did something wrong or maybe because my LinkedIn headline didn't say IBD etc? Idk if its a "first one who makes the move loses" vibe or if I should just go ahead and add a couple of them on LinkedIn - Tempted to reach out and ask for advice but don't want to make the wrong impression. Is reaching out to connect before you start your IBD role full-time too early or does it give a positive impression as someone who is v. motivated given some of these HH help PE firms with graduate recruitment in London as well?
2. Do you tell them what kind of firms you're interested in or do they tell you what processes would fit you best? What if you're not a fan of the ones they want you in and want to be at maybe a smaller fund or different industry vertical for example that you know/think you know they run
3. Will they stop being helpful if you reject an offer at a process that they run because of a "you had a good offer and you should've taken it, how do we know your not gonna waste our time more" vibe
4. How do you politely prevent getting your time wasted for opps where comp is just really off your expectations, how do you discuss this and at what stage of the process
Thanks for the help in advance!
Happy to help. I've fairly recently made the transition from IBD to MM PE in London.To answer your queries.
1) it depends on where you're at. If you're at a BB or EB then expect a lot of recruiters reaching out to you organically. If you're at a tier 2 balance sheet bank or tier 2 boutique then you'll need to huddle a bit and try get your profile in front of them.
2) If you haven't hit the desk yet, I would wait to start before you start building up relationships. These recruiters have short memories. It's a bit of sprint and not a marathon IMO when it comes to london PE recruiting.
3) if you turn down an offer then don't expect that recruiter to work with you again, unless there was unexpected circumstances (e.g. they low ball you on comp at last minute)
4) I always asked for about comp upfront to avoid issues.
More generally, I found recruiters in London quite painful. The big player is PER/KEA and they land a lot of mandates, however you have to be a strong candidate to get their attention. In any event, I would recommend going to recruiters' offices to get to know them - they used to offer this before covid. If you like MM and LMM then getting referrals through employees of the funds is arguably the best route in.
Good luck.
Can I PM you? Currently at a US BB and looking to move to MM PE
Sure
Can I PM you? Currently at a US BB and looking to move to MM PE
Thanks, that's very helpful! On your MM/LMM point - sorry to be painful but to clarify those referrals would come through either pre-existing personal connections, reaching out to employees of the funds for a coffee chat while your in IBD to get to know more about them and the fund or through having worked with/for them on a mandate.. or all the above?
For the second one, isn't it kinda of obvious your reaching out to them because you want to move to the buyside - or is it a case of yes its obvious but same with IBD, its a culture of paying it forward and wanting to attract good people to their team so they'll be happy to have a call
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