Alternative asset managers ramped up hiring for marketing and investor relations roles over the summer in preparation for year-end fundraising, according to new data from Context Jensen Partners.
The recruiter tracked a total of 336 hires during the third quarter of 2017 — well above the 251 moves recorded last quarter and the highest number Context Jensen has recorded since it began tracking hiring activity in 2013. Private equity firms were the most active segment, accounting for a quarter of all hires.
“The amount of asset raising that’s going on as whole is really contributing to these moves,” said Sasha Jensen, the firm’s chief executive. “We’ve never seen such a high number of hires.”
Private capital managers have been raising capital at a rapid pace in 2017, according to Preqin data released earlier this month. The industry as a whole had raised $541 billion as of the third quarter, with private equity funds accounting for $338 billion.
Although fundraising activity cooled during the third quarter, Preqin predicted that activity would ramp up in the last months of the year as private equity firms closed 2017 funds. Jensen said the hiring activity seen over the last three months is likely in preparation for a fundraising push both at the end of this year and at the start of 2018.
“July and August are supposed to be slow summer months, but it’s been a busy, busy summer,” she said. “Everyone is gearing up for Q4 and Q1 next year.”
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Given that the hiring activity tracked by Context Jensen is primarily for senior roles, Jensen said the surge in hiring this past quarter represented a significant investment on the part of alternative asset management firms.
“These senior roles command salaries ranging from $650,000 to $750,000 on the low end to $1.5 million to $2 million on the high end,” she said. “With almost 340 moves, that’s a lot of money.”
After private equity, hedge funds were the most active in hiring for marketing jobs, with a total of 81 moves. Meanwhile, multi-asset and private credit firms collectively accounted for about a third of total hires.
Third-party placement agents also made a record number of hires for capital-raising roles, with 45 moves during the third quarter.
