how tough is buyside traditional asset management recruiting in bschool

I'm talking mostly the larger fund families - Fido, Putnam, T Rowe. Its always been the backup plan, but after hearing some anecdotes, I'm beginning to question how easy it truly is to walk in with a few years of experience at an (under-performing or you wouldn't be there) hedge fund and land a job. better to stay on the street, work the network and lateral (thus kicking potential rec writers when they are down)? I'm pretty much looking at the top 5-6 bschools, and am confident I have the profile to be competitive if I make it a priority.

thankfully I'm not close to this point yet, but would like to know whether it makes sense to prep for potentially applying. seriously, knowing you might go to bschool affect your decision process for a lot of thing you think would be unrelated.

 

I'd prefer not to go to bschool and continue in the industry, but given 2011 its entirely possible those opportunity costs might get a lot lower if you know what I mean. might have been an obnoxious wording, but basically, how different is it from IB recruiting, where analysts that go to a decent bschool and decide to return to IB afterwards get their pick of banks/groups? would it be possible to continue covering certain industries, or do the big guys have no exceptions to their rotational approach the first few years?

 

Based on that semi-rambling mess of a monologue, I'd say you're a 100% shoe-in, man. We're talking Slam Dunk, Home Run, Round One KO, Fax-Your-Old-Employer-A-Picture-Of-Your-Wang shoe-in.

Keep in mind: It's well-documented that the Portfolio Managers at BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, and Fidelity sit on their hands all day, dreaming up ways to underperform against their benchmarks. What's less known is that they're also waiting for -- nay, praying for -- second-tier hedge funds to go under, so that they can poach that second-tier fund's third-tier talent.

To "Walk In," as it were, I'd simply recommend sending HR a link to your LinkedIn profile, and maybe sort of smug comment to let them know how much of a favor you're doing them -- something classy like "To: PM's; From: God."

Now, they might not answer right away. This is due to two things: 1) They all read very, very slowly; 2) They're playing a little hard-to-get. After all, they're jilted lovers: They've been spurned by HF types so many times, it's just going to be hard for them to love again. So... Although you might want to, I'd advise against smearing your feces on their desks during First Rounds. Of course, you need to assert your dominance somehow, so maybe something a little more subtle? Perhaps peeing in their fern, or fucking their wife.

Now, when you get the offer (and you're obviously going to get the offer), I would spit on it and tell them to try harder, and remind them that the only reason you're here in the first place is because your hedge fund -- the one to which you are a contributing member -- is underperforming, and how dare they. (Read: It's at this point that you may smear your feces on their desks). Then, send them a letter of your personal investment performance. Naturally, it doesn't matter if you've lost money ever year of your career: They're just going to be impressed because it's printed on your hedge fund's letterhead.

Good luck, buddy, keep us all apprised!

 
Best Response

haha....lol... love the ignorance of the OP. Truth be told, I didn't appreciate the big mutual funds for what they are until going through bschool. But buyside jobs at the biggest and best funds (capital group, wellington, t. rowe, fidelity, dodge & cox) are 1) some of the best finance jobs on the planet (wall street's best kept secret imo) and 2) extremely competitive. They recruit mostly at H/S/W with a little C/C sprinkled in. And I'd venture to say (based on eye witness accounts) that even at H/S it's easier to get back into PE or HF land than to get one of these top mutual fund jobs. There's just not very many of them. Way more PE and HF jobs out there.

 

Apologies for the terrible post, I wasn't all there when I wrote it. I do get that bschool--> AM isn't easy and certainly not without preparing and improving my track record. My fault for looking for an easy way out and having unrealistic expectations.

 

Yeah, i'll echo everyone else's sentiment. You stand zero chance of getting to a large mutual fund if it is your "backup plan". Trust me on that. Banking is significantly easier from top b-schools, and it's a 100% a product of the number of available jobs. Most IB Associates burn out on the 2-5 year horizon, so there's a constant need to rebuild the ranks. Conversely, the largest mutual funds might have teams of 40-80 analysts globally, and most will stay at their jobs for their entire career, which is ~20 years given that the hours aren't nearly as brutal. That translates to roughly 2-3 FT positions opening up per year at places like Fido, T. Rowe, Franklin and Capital. Each of the top IM programs (H/W/Chi/S/Col) have 40-100 people gunning for IM jobs, so you can see that the odds are pretty terrible. The majority of ppl who start out completely IM focused wind up getting discouraged and switching into other areas by the end, which is why I said earlier, that you've got no shot if that's your 'backup'.

 
jankynoname:
Yeah, i'll echo everyone else's sentiment. You stand zero chance of getting to a large mutual fund if it is your "backup plan". Trust me on that. Banking is significantly easier from top b-schools, and it's a 100% a product of the number of available jobs. Most IB Associates burn out on the 2-5 year horizon, so there's a constant need to rebuild the ranks. Conversely, the largest mutual funds might have teams of 40-80 analysts globally, and most will stay at their jobs for their entire career, which is ~20 years given that the hours aren't nearly as brutal. That translates to roughly 2-3 FT positions opening up per year at places like Fido, T. Rowe, Franklin and Capital. Each of the top IM programs (H/W/Chi/S/Col) have 40-100 people gunning for IM jobs, so you can see that the odds are pretty terrible. The majority of ppl who start out completely IM focused wind up getting discouraged and switching into other areas by the end, which is why I said earlier, that you've got no shot if that's your 'backup'.

This is exactly right. I know several booth students with great resumes who have been unable to get IM or HF jobs thus far. It's very competitive.

I wonder if it's a strike with adcom if you write on your essays that you want to go into IM, given how tough it is.

 

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