A Focus on Investor Relations
Within the first half of the year, we have seen a slight decline of external hiring when looking at Senior roles within Investor Relations / Fundraising. Most alternative asset management firms are now ensuring that internal pathways of progression are accessible to their junior hires, which in hand has created more attractive and appealing opportunities to candidates with <3 years’ experience. A key factor in the decrease in senior mandates is the continued lack of new launches, which can often cause a ripple effect in the market when they hire at senior level.
Within the hedge fund space specifically, the consolidation of the market (specifically the movement towards the platform models), has without doubt created a bit of a vacuum when it comes to senior asset raising mandates. These multi-strat’s are often closed for new investment, and regularly have several allocators already lined up to invest new capital or increase existing allocations, so the need for senior fundraisers to target new investors is often not there.
Where we have seen activity in the senior market is where firms have opened a new product line / fund offering, and are looking for a specialist to raise capital for it. For example, if a firm known for their equity offering launch a new credit product, and therefore require someone with specific credit expertise to drive asset growth.
There has, however, been significant activity within the junior – mid level space, with the competition for talent within the 2-5 year post graduate experience level as fierce as it’s ever been.
When sourcing talent for these types of mandates, there are several pull factors for candidates. Aside from the obvious factors (compensation, company etc), company culture is a core component, with firms who conduct the first interview in person as opposed to VC often having an increased chance of securing their preferred candidate.
Firms are also having to be more creative with where they source talent from. Generally, there are simply less buy-side institutions to recruit candidates from, so when hiring at the more junior level, firms are targeting soft skills as opposed to trying to tempt someone away from one of their competitors. Individuals coming straight from an investment banking graduate scheme, and candidates looking for a move out of a more technical role (product control / risk etc) into something more client facing are two popular alternatives to seeking candidates currently in similar IR roles.
Written by:
Matt Proffitt | Managing Director
Matthew is the Founder and Managing Director of OCR Alpha, and oversees all teams internally. He founded OCR in 2015, and has overseen the firms growth since then. Matt is a graduate in Media and Business from the University of Leeds.
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