People directly familiar with the recruiting chaos that has engulfed numerous private-equity firms in recent days said interviewers at some mega-funds received emails from their external recruiters on Monday evening suggesting they begin taking meetings with candidates as soon as possible — or run the risk of falling behind. (Most sources spoke to Insider under the condition of anonymity to speak freely about industry proceedings and preserve relationships.)

One KKR employee with knowledge of the recruiting taking place at the firm’s Hudson Yards offices in New York said interviews had taken place well into the night, with some interviewers finally getting to head home at 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning. This person also described a junior banker being stationed in a conference room on Tuesday morning juggling his or her investment-banking day job via a laptop while awaiting interviewers to come and talk.

Two people — the current KKR employee and Asif Rahman, founder of OfficeHours, a career-coaching organization that works with investment-banking and private-equity hopefuls — said that the first-year investment bankers participating in this year’s on-cycle recruiting process have little to no professional experience to speak of because they had just begun their first full-time investment-banking jobs right as private-equity recruiting began.

“I don’t think they’re as burned out because they haven’t worked that long. We’re trying to sense aptitude because we don’t have anything to go off. There’s no transaction experience,” the person at KKR said.

As a result, according to the KKR employee, interviewers have been relying largely on theoretical questions to probe candidates’ understanding of deal structures and technicalities. Questions may include: “What’s the nature of the work that we do? How do you think it’s different than what you do [in investment banking]? How much do you know about it from what you’ve read?,” this person said.

The KKR employee said that candidates could expect to endure as many as 10 interview rounds with investment professionals at the firm, including modeling exams as well as the qualitative questions. The person described feeling enthused by the quality of this year’s talent, saying it was clear that junior bankers had brushed up on financial models and other technical assessments during their undergrad years — perhaps more so than usual.

The process appeared set to wrap up at KKR by roughly midday Tuesday, the person said, less than 24 hours after it began. And the acceptance rate was incredibly competitive: “It is common practice for teams at firms such as KKR to interview well into the double digits of candidates and give one or two offers.”

An email sent Monday evening from Silver Point Capital — a fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut, that focuses on credit, special situations, and distressed investments — urged candidates to let the firm know as soon as possible if they wanted to partake in recruiting, underscoring the time-sensitive nature of it all.

“Happy Monday! As you have already likely heard, On-Cycle recruiting has now officially kicked off,” read the email, which was reviewed by Insider. “Please let us know if you are interested in interviewing with Silver Point Capital’s Public and/or Private teams… Interviews are taking place tonight, so please let us know ASAP,” the email added.

A race for top talent

The process of private equity recruiting, which seeks to hire junior bankers for roles that won’t start for two years, is typically frenzied. But this year appears to be more intense than ever as firms race to grab top talent, industry pros say. The result is offers being made before Labor Day, which some say is a first.

“Some of the bankers haven’t hit their desks yet. It’s ludicrous,” one industry headhunter told Insider via email on Monday night.

This recruiter isn’t the only person left scratching their head over what industry insiders say amounts to an illogical process that forces young people fresh out of college to make huge career choices under extreme pressure.

Rahman, a former PE associate and founder of the coaching site OfficeHours, agreed that the process’ unprecedentedly early kickoff is problematic. “I think you’re kind of forcing these analysts to take a career path before they have any idea what the finance world is like,” Rahman said in an interview.

“Sure, they had a six- to eight-week internship over the summer when they were 20 years old. Why are you committing to a career path and a job that’s not going to happen for another two or three years when you have zero deal experience, and you really don’t understand if you like it or not? I think it causes a lot of burnout.”

Not all firms have agreed to participate in pushing the cycle earlier than ever, however.

Warburg Pincus, the $85 billion New York City-based growth-equity investor, is not participating at this time, according to one current Warburg employee who told Insider that the process is “just too early” this year. A spokesperson for Warburg declined to comment.

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