In an interview or in general? In an interview I can’t help you since I’ve never gone through the process myself, but in general you question is much easier to answer.

1.) IB gives you more exit opportunities. You can lateral from IB to PE, HF, VC, Corp Fin/Dev, etc. From an HF it’s much harder to do the same.

2.) More job security. HF and trading is based on your skill and if you don’t perform well one year you’re going to suffer the consequences. It’s a much more volatile and skill based industry. In IB you have to perform well, but you can get away with more as in IB, your tenure and seniority carries some weight. There’s more wiggle room. In HF you’re only as good as your numbers.

3.) You want to stay in IB for the long term. If you want a client-facing role — that of an MD — then a HF makes no sense. The two jobs are fundamentally different. One is servicing clients to do deals. Another is investing and creating investment strategies.

 
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I used to do Asia-Pacific PE (kind of like FoF). Now I do something else but happy to try and answer questions on that stuff.

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