In this video Gail discusses best practice for benchmarking salaries for private equity funds and how to make sure you get your compensation plan and pay grades as accurate as possible.

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Despite the economic conditions, we saw a relatively stable recruitment demand across Europe in 2011 and increasing demand in some emerging markets. In Europe, we saw a shift in the types of roles recruited for rather than any increase in volume. In particular, there was increased demand for fund raising, investor relations and fund investing experience at all levels with more modest levels of hiring in the direct investment teams.

Nevertheless, the direct investment demand for associates soaked up a raft of 2009 bankers and by the end of the year European recruiters were struggling to put strong shortlists together from this depleted analyst pool. Looking forward, the 2010 bankers now have a bit more experience and they are starting to make their appearance on recruitment shortlists. The increased uncertainty experienced in the banks at the end of the year has resulted in some analysts and associates feeling increasingly threatened and thinking about their future. We saw their uncertainty reflected in increased enthusiasm for private equity roles.

We also saw mid-market private equity interest in big four lead advisors and financial due diligence managers throughout the year and we had a sense of improving quality from these backgrounds. More...

Oh for a bit of enthusiasm!  I sometimes wonder where has all the passion gone?  When I started recruiting for venture capital and private equity more years ago than I care to remember there was a real excitement in the voice and demeanour of the candidates that we talked to.   Maybe it's just the increasing professionalization of the industry, but it’s a rare day when we see somebody coming through our door with a real fire and passion for our industry.

There is a huge pressure on young people to perform academically and career wise.   We expect them to have superior technical skills and outstanding academics. We want blue chip firms on their CVs and 'second tier' isn't good enough.  And in order to achieve and obtain the levels of excellence which we require they need to have been dedicated to high levels of academic attainment throughout their relatively young lives. They’ve committed large amounts of their personal time to gaining the results we want to see and they’re driven to succeed in our conventional terms of academic and career progression.  

We sometimes try to balance this by looking for evidence of wider achievement and more varied experience.  Perhaps it's sporting, perhaps it's music, perhaps it’s charitable, perhaps it's more entrepreneurial.  The balance is much harder to find – after all when do they have the time to achieve in these other areas - and a streak of entrepreneurialism an even rarer find. More...

We’ve had a string of junior private equity investors with about three years experience through our door recently who were hired just before investing stopped and are now worried that they haven’t worked on a completed transaction.   And they don’t know what to do.  Should they move to somewhere where they’ll get more investment exposure or sit tight and hope it all comes right? They’re uncertain of the impact this will have on their career and are keen for reassurance. 

If you have people in your team who haven’t ‘done a deal’ then it’s worth spending a bit of time with them to ensure they understand the value in the experience they’ve had over the last few years and can focus on the opportunity ahead.

When they ask our advice – we’d usually suggest they stay put.  To be sure of access to more deal flow they will probably have to move to the lower mid market and this may not meet their future career aspirations.  And moving in itself is a risky option.  After all, their current team knows them, has a good sense of their ability and will be keen to see them succeed.  Moving means that all those relationships, that trust and their credibility has to be rebuilt in a new environment.  We also suggest that they adopt a pragmatic perspective and understand that there are real skills they can learn and experiences they can develop when they’re not investing.  The simple three point list that we give to junior professionals to focus on includes: More...

2010 was a busy year and 2011 has started well. We’re delighted that more than 100 of our candidates started in new jobs with our clients last year. And this year has started equally well with another eighteen taking up their posts in the New Year.

Our placement split by level has remained consistent with analyst and associates entering into private equity for the first time representing about 60% of our placements and the balance splitting roughly equally between mid level and senior hires.  We’ve seen some trends and also some fashions. The main trend has been towards growing investor relations and fund raising teams. There’s also been a significant shift in skill set for these teams, particularly at the junior and mid level. We used to search for communications professionals. That’s no longer the case with a definite trend towards numerate analysts who can also write good English and have the personality and style to contribute in an IR role. Our shortlists for an entry level IR role now look pretty much like our shortlists for an investment associate.

Fashions: well a strong requirement for Scandinavians came and went as demand was satisfied and Turkish speaking is now in vogue. As ever, associates need to be top ranked to succeed in the competitive recruitment market for private equity irrespective of language skills or cultural background.  Bankers made up 75% of our associate placements with consultants and professional service firm candidates representing only 1:4.  I’m not sure if this ratio will remain for 2011 as bankers, particularly at associate level, are pricing themselves out of the private equity market with big packages.  And whilst our sector continues to be inspirational for many people, the lure of associate packages in the banks may well mean we lose some off our shortlists – perhaps that is what the banks want!  So we may be looking further down the tree at more junior analysts or wider afield at more diverse backgrounds. More...

We’re delighted to let you know that we now have a permanent office in the heart of Munich. This is an important milestone in the development of PER and gives us a chance to work more closely with local private equity and venture capital clients as a specialist adviser on identifying, developing and retaining talent at all levels.

Rupert Bell joined PER in the summer and since September has been based full time in Munich. Rupert comes to us with a strong background over 13 years in mid-market investing in the UK, with firms including 3i, Sand Aire and Octopus. He trained as a chartered accountant in corporate recovery with Arthur Andersen, and then worked in the head office corporate finance team at the P&O Group in London for three years before moving into private equity in 1997. He speaks fluent German and French as well as English.

“Coming to Munich to develop PER’s European business is a great opportunity,” says Rupert. “The firm has had many great relationships in Germany and neighbouring countries for years, but being here on the ground full time just allows us to do so much more. The local market is recovering from the recession quite quickly and there is a clear market need for a specialist recruiter who can access high quality candidates from within Germany and outside. In addition, our direct experience as investors ourselves enables us to assess candidates critically at both technical and cultural levels: in a very real sense, we are private equity people for private equity people.”

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In our latest video, Gail McManus talks about how most private equity funds look for a "Self Starter" when hiring a new recruit. What qualities a self starter should have and the type of questions you can ask during the interview process to objectively assess whether or not someone is a self starter. 

If you would like to watch the video and you are reading this through RSS feed or e-mail, please click this link.

Gail McManus - PER

Following up from our previous video, this time Gail discusses the best ways to interview and hire senior staff in private equity as well as the issues you may face during the interview process. If you would like to watch the video and you are reading this through RSS feed or e-mail, please click this link.

Gail McManus - PER