HF / PE for SA /FT from undergrad
Is it possible to get a FT (or even junior SA) at a hedge fund / PE that doesn’t typically hire from undergrad, but only hires very competitively after 2years of IB?
What makes someone with 2 years of IB experience a much better candidate than someone with very strong technical knowledge, passion for investing, and 3 undergrad internships in banking (after freshman, sophomore & junior year) who hasn’t started FT IB yet?
I’m asking mainly for the top funds (e.g. Oaktree, Monarch, Cerberus, GSO) that typically never hire from undergrad (not Blackstone or Warburg which usually take a couple undergrad analysts for SA/FT? Is there any specific reason (apart from presumed lack of tech knowledge) that those funds don’t hire from undergrad?
And, even if they don’t recruit from undergrad, would it be beneficial to start networking with such funds as early as possible (during undergrad) or would they just ignore you & is it better to wait till formal FT IB recruiting?
Thanks.
I thought oaktree hired undergrads? I remember signing up for an office visit and networking event they had posted on my school's career site and the event description mentioned something about an internship iirc - I may be wrong though
Someone I talked to told me that it's possible to network yourself into top funds for SA/FT that typically don't hire directly out of undergrads (I have had a couple of interviews and know some people too who have had interviews at funds which I assume match your description through networking). That's what I'm trying to do now too
It does happen but only very rarely, and not at HFs as big as the ones you mentioned. There are a couple that regularly recruit and are very good, but it’s an incredibly risky path to join a HF otherwise because of the lack of training/structure among other things.
So your title says RX intern and you listed a couple funds who's bread and butter is distress, so I'm guessing that's where your mind is at. In that case, I'd try to get into Silverpoint out of undergrad if I were you (they have an open house coming up and will give interviews to I think everyone that finishes in the top 3 of their special sits case competition held in the spring). I've seen BB special sits groups (GS, Citi, etc.) hire out of undergrad as well. Otherwise, Point72 has a competitive undergrad program, as do several quant funds for some reason. I'm sure if you do a linkedin search, you'll come up with lots of names.
To answer your question though, think about it. Idk which shop you're working at this summer, but no matter how lean it is, as an intern for 10 weeks, how much experience are you really going to get? Even if you had a previous banking internship, given how technical RX is, there is very little chance that you are immediately asked to do the heavy lifting on anything you get staffed on at first. Maybe by the end of the summer, you now have the tools to come back as a 1st year and run a process, but how is that going to compare to an analyst that has a section on his/her resume that says "select deal experience", and has seen the complexities of an iHeart, or Toys, or Caesars? They'll understand the intricacies that go behind a Claire's or a Hovnanian, and will have heard from the senior people on the different interests of the various constituencies. They'll know stuff like when to use the threat of litigation as a tool to get concessions from debtors, as well as when to join forces with the debtor to fuck over a different part of the capital structure. They will have listened to seniors with decades of experience on how to structure countless exchanges, and will know when to fight over basis points. If you worked at Baupost or Third Avenue, would you take one of these guys, or would you rather take a college kid who just learned how to read a credit agreement with "a passion for investing", which realistically anyone who has a paper portfolio can claim?
Idk, maybe I'm completely wrong and you've been interning at HL since your freshman year, and are now deciding between offers from all the funds you listed. However, I have a feeling that if that was true, you wouldn't be asking this question.
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