Can anyone shed light on the senior associate recruiting process and timeline? As an associate about to enter the second year of my associate program, when should I start reaching out to headhunters to discuss potential lateral options for summer 2021?
Additionally, it’d be helpful to hear about the interview process for senior associate hiring, notably any key differences you’ll see vs. the standard associate recruiting process
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Following this as well
interested as well
Have you ruled out going for an MBA? And is there an opportunity to stay on with your current firm post 2 years or is it a strict 2 year program? If not being promoted would they at least let become a 3rd year associate?
The process for these roles is much less structured, things open up as per requirement of firms. Good to be in touch soon (next few months) with the recruiters and tell them you’re not planning to go to business school and looking at senior associate roles. In terms of process it is going to be more drawn out over the course of weeks and not what you see for pre mba roles.
Some lateral firms will make you do a 3rd year as an associate with them before officially promoting you FYI.
Thanks MBA@PE, I really appreciate the advice. On MBA, I have considered it and am keeping an open mind, but I would prefer not to go. Certainly an option and I think I would have a good shot at HSW.
I would also be able to stay as a third year associate at my current firm, but there isn’t really a path to VP. So I worry about spending another year where I am currently and then facing the same options I have now. Ideally I’ll move to a firm with a path to VP, spend another two years as a senior associate, then get promoted. I feel like if I stayed on as a third year I would still have to do those two years at another firm before getting the VP nod. I guess what I’m trying to ask is, will that third year benefit me in any way for lateral recruiting, or should I just move on at the end of my two years since I know I’m not going to be a VP at my current fund?
No problem. I guess my point in asking about the 3rd year was to get a sense of your timelines - i.e. are they going to kick you out at the end of your 2nd year or can you stay on for a few months while you look for track roles. If your current fund is pretty open about this all, then all the better.
I would also suggest in this process to be more in touch directly with funds if you have any good contacts. Most of the larger funds will use recruiters, but LMM / MM funds may not. If you've seen funds with a history of either 1) Direct promotion from associate or 2) Lateral hires without an MBA, see if you have anyone there you can get in touch with. As you're aware I'm sure, there will be a certain percentage of funds where it is a non-starter without an MBA, so you'll need to figure out where to target. A quick search through their team pages on the website can tell you that pretty quickly.
I was in a fairly similar position recently of recruiting for Post-MBA roles (Senior Associate / VP) and not particularly interested in doing an MBA. One of my mentors in the industry suggested to apply (to the top 3 or top 5 schools, whatever it might be) and recruit for roles as well, to keep both options open. In the case you land something you're happy with, go with that, or you get into an MBA program which is not a bad back up option. For me the few offers I ended up getting weren't great and would have been compromising on brand quality just for the sake of a track role, so I decided to go down the MBA route. Without a structured timeline or process to these roles, you can end up recruiting for months, which gets pretty exhausting. In my case I felt I was also starting to compromise on my focus / interests in roles (i.e. responding to HHs that I would be open to other strategies), just because the quantum of roles that fit what I was looking for was so limited.
Hope this is helpful. You can DM me if you want any specific other details / to discuss anything further
Bump, could someone who lateraled after 2/3 year associate stint shed some light on:
1) the interview process (how many rounds/cases)
2) title/career track (sr associate vs. VP, etc.)
Thanks!
I made this move. I think it was around 10 total rounds, with 2 of them being case study / modeling. The new title is senior associate - it's meant as a trial period before a promotion to VP. Associates are 2 and out, senior associates don't have a set timeline but goal is a year or so to VP
I'm a second year and I've started to get some recruiter outreach about senior associate opportunities over the past couple weeks
following here as well
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