For those of you in LMM/MM PE, how did you get recruited at the firm you're currently at?
Currently having good luck filling our hiring funnel out with proactive outreach but not getting much inbound. This is kind of expected for a firm our size but the former sucks since it's me or my business partner reaching out. Swallows up a ton of time and probably won't scale cleanly.
I've talked to a few recruiters and I'm not really sure they do enough to screen candidates to justify the spend VS paying a platform like LinkedIn to bring in more leads. The other complication with using recruiters is that our firm is a little odd in our approach/strategy and we aren't really after the usual suspects when it comes to junior PE hires as I want more operating experience than traditional IB pathway.
Any other ideas? **Would love to hear about how you ended up at your current LMM or MM firm and why you're working for them. **For example, maybe you like working at a smaller firm because you get to work with portfolio companies directly/influence outcomes more, greater exposure to seniors, etc...
Care to share what the job posting looks like?
OP, I am looking for a LMM opportunity and I dont come from a "traditional" BG. I will PM you.
Could you go down both avenues of recruiters and job posting platform?
How much does GoBuyside cost vs a regular recruiter?
Currently in LMM PE and just transferred from one LMM shop to another. In both instances I was introduced to the firm via HHs. That said, I agree with you that recruiters are unlikely to do much to justify their fees. Unfortunately, short of posting on GoBuyside, I don't see how else you can scale your recruiting efforts effectively (as you called out), even via LinkedIn. For your own sake you need to be able to filter out weaker candidates, and recruiters seem to do an okay job at this.
Understand the desire to prioritize operating experience, but there are a few cons to this in my mind: (a) you'll have vastly more candidates to screen, with much greater difficulty assessing candidate quality / experience given the variability in backgrounds, and (b) there's a lower likelihood of finding someone with strong investment judgement and acumen. Assuming you and your partners have operating experience (hence the focus), I'd be curious what situations you'd envision putting your juniors in where operating experience would be helpful (vs. their learning on the job from you)?
In terms of what drew me to LMM PE, I had a few buyside internships in undergrad and spoke with friends working in MFPE and HF, and I realized early on that those roles weren't for me. I'd much rather be in the weeds working directly with PCs and management to drive outcomes firsthand than being an Excel monkey and combing 10-Ks all day (not to say that I don't still have to do this). Ironically it was tougher for me to recruit because I worked at a BB bank, whereas most HHs representing LMM PE funds seem to target bankers working at either MM or boutique firms.
Happy to answer any other questions if I can be helpful, as I still have some downtime during the transition.
Would LMM PE firms entertain analysts from a credit background (investing throughout the whole cap structure- senior/unitranche/mezz & equity co-invest) that joined a buyside firm out of school, think Audax Credit or First Eagle Investment Management?
Definitely. There's an Associate at my old fund who came in with a credit background. My view is, all else equal, a credit background can actually be more favorable than a traditional IBD background (and I'd encourage you to spin it as such if you're gunning for PE). It's particularly easy to pass on deals in LMM PE, but being firmly grounded in downside risk as opposed to orienting yourself around upside / value creation can be extremely valuable. The number one rule is not to lose money, but given that deal quality tends to be so much lower on average in the LMM, it's easier to loosen your standards (e.g., industry quality, team quality, excessive leverage) in pursuit of getting a deal done. Having a credit mindset is a great "check" against this behavior and could help to avoid material losses down the road. Lastly, you can add a lot of value when it comes to negotiating credit docs, as most guys don't have MM credit (or any credit) experience.
As a current LMM PE analyst, I got "recruited" on Handshake (i.e. LinkedIn specifically meant for undergrads). That is how I got the interview for my current job and from my knowledge is where employers can dictate what target schools they want to release the applications to. This comes in handy because you may get a more eclectic background, especially from some liberal arts schools.
Personally, I chose to work at my current LMM firm because of the co-founders. They have a major influence on company culture and thought they were upstanding individuals who settled into a finance role that was backed by integrity and conviction. Additionally, I had the unique opportunity as an analyst to meet clients, go to management meetings, and work on all parts of the deal rather than being a research or Excel junkie. It also doesn't hurt to have a better work-life balance.
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