Hedge fund sales staff still hot
In the past two months, Goldman, Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan and BNP Paribas have added to their European hedge fund sales teams. Recruiters say other banks are keen to do the same. But hiring in the area is mainly opportunistic.
"Most hedge fund salespeople in the market seem to have had recent approaches from rival banks," says one executive search consultant covering the equity derivatives arena. "There aren't really any new entrants, but all the established players are trying to get additional good coverage people on board."
Tim Cox, a consultant at recruitment firm Morgan Hunt, says banks are equally interested in hedge fund sales people who can sell credit products. "The bigger banks are adding to their teams, but they are being selective in how they go about it," he says. "It's a question of finding people with the right kind of credit skills, plus strong selling skills. Most of the people moving into the area have a history of selling to long only clients."
Cox says banks will hire credit sales people opportunistically when faced with a good CV: "The area is quite candidate-driven at the moment."
Recruiters say demand for hedge fund sales staff has been given a boost by the ever growing number of hedge funds, most of which buy and sell securities more frequently than institutional investors.
