- Getting a job in private equity or hedge funds can be hard, especially for young talent.
- Knowing the right recruiters is often key as many shops rely on headhunters for entry-level roles.
- BI identified the 14 recruiting firms aspiring dealmakers and traders should know for a buy-side job.
Wall Street's buy side, composed of private equity, private credit, and hedge funds, holds a certain allure among financial industry professionals.
Rather than pitching clients on how they should spend their money (a primary role of the sell-side investment banker), private-equity dealmakers and hedge fund traders often get to see their investment ideas through, whether in real estate, loans, companies, or complex derivatives.
Smart investments, meanwhile, can pay off big, thanks to the industry's eat-what-you-kill mentality. And the work demands, while intense, can be less hectic than in investment banking, where bankers are often at the beck and call of clients, especially at the start of their careers.
Of course, breaking into the buy side is extremely competitive, often for these very reasons.
Many private equity firms, for example, will only recruit young people who have made it to the uber-competitive world of investment banking — and they often do it through a grueling process known as "on-cycle" recruiting.
On-cycle recruiting refers to the period when private equity firms suddenly (often without any warning) start reaching out to newbie investment bankers to audition for jobs that won't start for two years.
Last year, private equity recruiting started so early for 2026 associate roles that some candidates hadn't even started their first jobs out of college, as BI previously reported. The pressure to interview can be so intense that junior bankers have been known to cancel vacations or meet PE recruiters in the middle of the night so as not to upset their investment banker bosses.
The recruiting firms that carry out talent searches for Apollo, Blackstone, Citadel, and more are key to on-cycle recruiting and many other buy-side jobs. And while some of these firms work with more than just early-career talent, these gatekeepers remain a specialized niche within financial recruiting, according to John Arbolino, a managing director at Boothroyd & Co., a consulting firm that recruits for Wall Street executive search firms.
"Headhunters who specialize in this type of recruiting have to employ people who will contact the candidates early in the process (sometimes too early), keep tabs on them, administer competency tests, and get them ready to go on interviews the moment the interview process with the PE firms starts," Arbolino said.
BI tapped its sources— including contacts at asset managers, business schools, and executive search firms — to identify the top firms that recruit budding front-office investors to the buy side. While some of these firms recruit at senior levels and for other industries, they each have robust businesses recruiting pre-MBA, MBA, and post-MBA employees.
Here are the 14 headhunting firms BI identified as key to a career in the burgeoning alternative asset management industry.
Editor's note: This story was originally published in 2020. It has been updated to reflect current private equity and hedge-fund hiring trends and the latest information on top headhunting firms for young talent.
Amity Search Partners
Locations: New York, San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, Palm Beach, Chicago
Staff size: 19
Amity was founded in 2009 by Pamela Hickory Esterson and Susanna Nichols after the duo broke off from their former firm, SG Partners, one of the longest-running buy-side recruiting shops.
"We believe that building the right team is critical to success for every business. Helping clients make that happen is our reason for being," Nichols told BI. "Our approach is to build lasting relationships with great people, establish a long-term view of each client's goals and objectives, and act with urgency and integrity in everything we do."
Esterson and Nichols now run a staff of 16 recruiters who place candidates with alternative investment shops across the country and some international markets with dedicated offices now in New York, the San Francisco Bay area, Austin, and Palm Beach.
Clients include Bain Capital, Centerbridge Partners, and Trian Partners, according to the company's website. Per its website, it has placed over 2,000 candidates.
BellCast Partners
Locations: New York office, with employees in Chicago and Charlotte
Staff size: 13
Danielle Caston Strazzini founded the firm with Alison Bellino Johnson after working together at CPI, a veteran firm in the buy-side recruiting space, in the 2000s.
"BellCast was started by two entrepreneurs whose focus was to build a service-oriented business with a hands-on and consultative approach to search," Caston Strazzini told BI.
BellCast Partners works with mega funds, middle market funds, infrastructure funds, impact funds, real estate private equity funds, sector-focused funds, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and credit funds. Their placements span from analyst to partner, which allows them to build "strong relationships" throughout a candidate's career, said Caston Strazzini. Most of the team previously worked in banking or consulting themselves before becoming recruiters.
"Our clients range from first-time funds to mega funds with the majority falling into the middle market category," Caston Strazzini added. While the firm focuses on investment roles, like others on the list, the firm also works on investor relations, co-investment, and private equity portfolio company corporate development searches.
CarterPierce
Locations: Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, Nashville
Staff Size: 25
The firm was founded in 2005 by Jill Pierce, previously a recruiter for Spencer Stuart and SG Partners. The early days of CarterPierce were focused on recruiting candidates to the West Coast, she told BI.
"When I moved to Los Angeles in 2005, I saw a gap in the market. My peers focused on placements in NYC," Pierce said. "The West Coast, among other geographies, often came up short and was never given dedicated time and attention. There is a different level of attention and time that is required to run a search outside of NYC."
But they're no longer the California-focused boutique they used to be, she added. CarterPierce staffs funds across the United States in cities like NYC, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. And they place people in all career levels — from associates to partners — primarily for private equity, growth equity, venture capital, and credit funds.
The firm's client list, provided to BI by partner Stacy Levine, reads like a who's who of some of the biggest firms in private equity and credit: from megafunds like Blackstone, KKR, Bain Capital, and Ares, as well as credit specialists like Sixth Street and entertainment and sports specialists RedBird.
Their website says they have a 94% acceptance rate and a 96% client retention rate and that they "personally meet with and screen more than 5,000 candidates annually."
CPI
Locations: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco
Staff Size: 62
CPI sources talent across the spectrum, but it specializes in shepherding the pre-MBA and post-MBA crowd into an array of investment management firms, from private equity and credit funds to hedge funds and VC firms. Founded in 1996 by CEO Brian O'Callaghan, it's one of the longest-tenured players in the field.
"CPI has been a leader and pioneer in the recruiting industry for 29+ years," CPI recruiter Renee Hylton told BI.
According to its website, the firm assesses 3,000 candidates annually, sourcing from analyst programs at more than 50 investment banks and consulting firms, as well as top business schools like Wharton, Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia. CPI also has clients in Latin America, Asia, and Europe.
Dynamic Search Partners
Locations: New York
Staff size: 20
Dynamic Search Partners is a top recruiter for alternative-investment shops. While 65% of its candidates end up in hedge funds and private-equity firms, according to its website, partners Keith Mann and Josh Grauer also have inroads in many other areas.
"We work with all types of investment firms, including hedge funds, private equity, growth, venture, public and private credit funds, endowments, foundations," said Grauer, who is in charge of their PE practice.
Mann has been recruiting on Wall Street since the early 2000s, launching DSP in 2008 to focus exclusively on the buy side.
"Our team was small, but our drive and motivation was huge. There were many late nights and sacrifices made by my staff, but with persistence and hard work, we were able to break into the alternative investments recruiting space," Mann writes in a letter on the firm's website. "Our end goal was always to be an all-encompassing buy-side recruiting firm, by expanding slowly and steadily."
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Glocap Search
Locations: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco
Staff size: 30, per its website
Glocap, founded in 1997 by Adam Zoia and now run by CEO Annette Krassner, has a diversified recruitment operation — they handle Wall Street investment searches across the board, but also media, technology, and entertainment mandates.
Its longest-running and largest practice places young analysts and MBA graduates at hedge funds and private equity firms.
That business is run by managing directors Katie Cunningham and Sarah Armstrong. While most of their work focuses on the buy side, they collaborate with teammates on investment banking, corporate development, or real estate to ensure candidates can find the right fit.
"As a firm, we offer the widest variety of exit opportunities," Cunningham told BI in 2020. "Everyone on our team has spent time at an alternative investment firm or investment bank, so we have a good understanding of how the ecosystem works."
While the firm excels in placing junior and midlevel talent, it also handles mandates at the senior levels.
"Many of the candidates who were candidates as young bankers are now really important clients and relationships," Armstrong said. "It's a very natural, organic way in which we built the firm."
Their remarks are from a previous version of this story. The firm did not respond to a request for comment for the 2025 update.
Gold Coast Search Partners
Locations: San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles
Staff size: 11
Gold Coast was founded in 2009 by a trio of recruiters who left CPI — Anna Brady, Janelle Matthews, and Beth Grossman.
Like their previous shop, Gold Coast specializes in placing junior, midlevel, and senior talent in buy-side investment roles, including private equity, venture, and growth equity.
When the firm launched, TPG and Thoma Bravo were their main clients, making their focus (as their name suggests) placements in the Bay Area. But since then, Gold Coast has "grown significantly" to work with firms with large presences across the country, too, Brady told BI.
The firm did not respond to BI on the 2025 list but previously said it has placed investment professionals from pre-MBA to senior levels at firms such as Advent, Bessemer Venture Partners, EQT, Elliott Private Equity Arm, KKR, ICONIQ, and Spectrum Equity.
Henkel Search Partners
Locations: New York
Staff size: 27
Former managing director in investment banking at Morgan Stanley Eleni Henkel now runs Henkel Search Partners, which helps place pre- and post-MBA candidates and more senior-level principals.
Henkel and founding partner Leah Trabich started HSP in 2011 after working together at SG Partners, one of the longest-running competitors in the space.
The firm has made more than 2000 placements since its founding, and clients include Carlyle, KKR, TPG, and Warburg Pincus, per the firm's website.
The firm did not respond to a request for comment.
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Odyssey Search Partners
Locations: New York
Staff Size: 20
Odyssey Search Partners specializes in private equity and hedge fund searches, recruiting pre-MBA candidates up through the most senior levels of the corporate hierarchy. The firm was founded by Adam Kahn in 2010. Kahn and Anthony Keizner are Odyssey's managing partners.
"We specialize in placing investment professionals at fundamentally driven alternative investment firms, including private equity firms, hedge funds, and credit firms from associates to partners," Keizner told BI.
"For junior professionals, we provide guidance in navigating their early career journeys and identify top talent from a broad pool of candidates," he said. At the senior level, the firm uses its networks to connect clients to "top talent with proven track records of creating value and delivering results," according to Keizner.
On its website, Odyssey reports having completed searches in 19 cities across the US, with more than 1,500 placements since its founding.
Opus Advisors
Locations: New York, San Francisco, Connecticut, and opening up a location in Boston this spring.
Staff size: 13
Holly McCarthy founded Opus Advisors in 2006 from her spare bedroom after working in executive search at consulting giant Korn Ferry and other firms.
The firm initially focused on investment banking, landing placements for Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs. It also did some recruiting for Goldman's internal funds, McCarthy told BI. When the Great Recession led banks to slow investment banking hiring generally, Goldman kept Opus on board as a private equity recruiter.
Now, 60% of the firm's business is in private equity and credit investment associate recruiting, and it counts among its clients L Catterton, the private equity firm connected to luxury giants LVMH, and HarbourVest, a pioneer in buying secondhand interests in alternative asset funds before they mature, or secondaries.
The firm also finds professionals at all levels for middle-market private equity firms, specializing in consumer and tech investments. More recently, it's also become a top recruiter for sports private equity, helping to build out the entire team at Dynasty Equity, a recently launched firm that has taken a minority stake in Liverpool Football Club.
McCarthy told BI that Opus's 19 years of success is the result of its practice of putting people first.
"If we all have skin in the game, and we're all pushing the ball forward, we should all financially benefit," McCarthy said, noting that when she closes a role, she even gives her nanny a bonus. This attitude has led not only to sticky retention of recruiters but also of the firm's clients and its candidates.
Oxbridge Group
Locations: New York, Los Angeles, Greenwich, Nashville
Staff size: 25
When it was founded in 1988, the Oxbridge Group originally focused its recruiting efforts on investment banking professionals. Subsequently, as private equity investing gained momentum in the 1990s, the firm pivoted to more intensive PE recruiting and added hedge fund recruiting in 2011. Today it does searches in private equity, growth equity, distressed, credit, venture capital, hedge funds, family offices, and select investment banks.
Nina Swift founded the firm, but veteran recruiter Marty Brady joined her six years later and has been helping run the firm since. Their current team of 12 Managing Directors has been working together for 12 years, she told BI in 2023.
"At Oxbridge, Managing Directors and Vice Presidents are hands-on throughout all aspects of the search process," said Brady. "We interview all candidates prior to presenting to our clients."
The firm did not respond to a request for comment on our 2025 edition, so we are running their quotes from 2023.
Their website says they have placed over 1,500 candidates in 23 states in the last five years. Of the firm's 3500 total placements since its founding, 52% are in private equity, 28% are in growth equity, and 10% are in hedge funds, per its website.
Ratio Advisors
Locations: New York, Boston, San Francisco
Staff size: 19
Ratio Advisors recruits pre-MBA and post-MBA talent, as well as students currently enrolled in MBA programs, for jobs at private-equity firms, hedge funds, and alternative asset managers. The firm is led by Vedica Qalbani, Ratio's CEO and a managing partner, formerly a director in mergers and acquisitions at Time Warner.
Qalbani and fellow managing partners Lindsey Mead and Jessica Wu worked together at Amity Search Partners for several years before breaking off to found Ratio in 2017.
"We function as our clients' outsourced marketing arm" in pitching clients to pre-MBA hopefuls looking to land their first bulge bracket jobs, Ratio says on its website, and notes that it is also active in "a wide range of VP and principal searches."
Search One Advisors
Locations: New York
Staff size: 12, per the firm's website
Michael Garmisa founded SearchOne in 1998, two years after graduating from Indiana University, and has maintained an exclusive focus on recruiting investment professionals for hedge funds, private equity, and other alternative asset managers.
The firm excels at matching younger candidates with buy-side opportunities, but, like others on this list who have been at it for a couple of decades, long-standing relationships mean they handle ample mandates for senior roles as well.
SearchOne says on its website that 80% "of mid-to senior-level candidates placed have been in touch with SearchOne throughout their careers." Its website also noted that it has completed "more than 1,000 projects" for its clients.
The firm did not respond to a request for further comment.
SG Partners
Locations: New York, South Florida, San Francisco
Staff size: 30
Sheri Gellman, the founder of SG Partners, is one of the original gatekeepers of the private-equity industry — she helped popularize the investment-banking-to-PE pipeline in the early 1990s, long before private equity exploded into one of the largest investment asset classes on the planet.
SG Partners, founded in 1991, remains a top player in that realm today, though Gellman has expanded the remit to include hedge funds, real estate, and investment banking, among other specialties. The firm places candidates across the US and in select international markets as well.
SG Partners has placed 3500 candidates since the firm was founded. Of those placements, 39% are for junior-level private equity roles, while 25% are for non-investing roles, managing director Emily Christenfeld Grad wrote to BI.
The company's enduring presence and success have spawned offshoots: Several competing firms cut their teeth at SG Partners before leaving to hang out their own shingle.
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