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Private Equity Jobs Hiring Trends Spring 2008

Ignore today’s negative news about the Private Equity Jobs overall market and related job growth – the media is painting a much worse scenario that what is real – there are still great opportunities for private equity jobs if you now how and where to look for them. Especially if you target small to medium sized hedge funds that are not in as leveraged a position as the much larger Wall Street firms and that are concentrating on deals that the larger firms cannot afford to work with.

Private Equity Jobs via Niche Firms

A lot of the strong growth that is occurring in the private equity jobs market is occurring with smaller or niche private equity firms, not the larger firms on Wall Street that many job seekers target automatically. You want to identify a niche job board that targets private equity jobs and then upload your resume to it and/or look at private equity jobs via this type of a site.

Many of these smaller hedge fund firms are hiring because they don’t have the capital needs of the larger firms and/or need external funding. In most cases these types of firms are working with less borrowed money and as a result, the credit market does not negatively impact their growth and related job opportunities.

Since the credit markets are experience so much turbulence these smaller private equity funds are unearthing more investment opportunities that are more aligned with good business practices, as again, they are utilizing their own capital, not borrowed funds. And, many of these smaller deals would not generate the type of ROI that larger hedge funds need to stay in business; enabling the smaller firms to work on deals that are smaller but lucrative.

So, target these smaller funds for a private equity job as you move forward, as they can be a valuable source for a position based on their leveraging their smaller size and the overall financial structure of their deal flow. And, starting out in a smaller firm can be a good career move as you will develop a broader skill set based on your working.

How to Find Private Equity Jobs Working With Recruiters

It’s critical to know how to work with a private equity jobs recruiter if you want to get your resume in front of the right private equity hiring firm and to give personal brand broad distribution to a group of targeted private equity job recruiters. Here are some basic rules of the road to utilize to work for/with private equity jobs recruiters:

1. Understand that most recruiters are “retained” to find private equity job candidates that would be a good fit for a private equity job that they are work on. They are all busy looking for that “right” candidate – so, when you are on the phone with them make sure you have a career highlights script you want to review with them, which can be a summary of your background to date.

2. Always take a call from a private equity jobs recruiter – they are an important source for jobs and it is always in your best interest to have some meaningful dialogue with them about your background, compensation and/or optimum private equity job you are looking for.

3. Some of the specific points you want to discuss with a private equity jobs recruiter include: what their specific focus is in terms of jobs (hedge fund jobs, private equity jobs, back office financial services), will they treat your resume in confidence and not shotgun blast it out to companies and via the web, do they concentrate on a specific geographical are, what is timeline to hear back from them.

4. Identify a small number of private equity jobs recruiters that you want to work with who are focusing on private equity jobs and maintain some regular contact with them. Building a long term relationship with them is a good thing, as they have access to a steady flow of private equity jobs that you might not find via any other source.

5. If a recruiter contacts you about a private equity job then ask for a job description first and then analyze it to understand if it matches your skill sets; if not, don’t waste their time, as they will remember this moving forward and refer them to someone that you know may be a better fit or simply let them know your background is not a good fit.

6. Do refer your friends/associates to your recruiter network for any type of private equity job – they will remember you for the valuable referral and this will help to cement a relationship with them – it’s called building valuable mindshare.

7. Compensation is typically come up in conversations with private equity jobs recruiters – be honest with them about your current position (don’t pad your numbers!) and what you’d like to make for your next position. They can give you valuable perspective about what other peers are making in the private equity jobs marketplace.

8. Remember private equity jobs recruiters are paid a percentage fee based on the total compensation package that they negotiate for/with you – it is in their best interest to get the absolute best compensation package for you.

9. Always ask a private equity jobs recruiter where they will be sending and/or posting your private equity jobs focused resume; you don’t want your resume being posted across web sites without your permission or knowledge, for obvious reasons.