Jensen Partners: Best Investor Relations & Asset Raising Recruitment Company – The increased interest in ESG and impact investing is creating diverse hiring and marketing needs among general partners. As this trend continues to gain traction, it creates opportunity and challenges for the professionals building investment teams and those looking to market this new crop of strategies.
Sasha Jensen (pictured), CEO, Jensen Partners, elaborates: “The private equity industry, as well as the financial services industry as a whole, is latching on to the demands for not only diverse talent, but also marketers that are highly specialised in ESG and impact investing.
“Several prominent PE firms have launched impact funds or expanded their ESG capabilities in the last couple of years, and we foresee this trend continuing. This creates both an opportunity and a challenge for experienced marketing professionals, since the ESG/impact space requires such a unique skillset. In 2020, we began tracking the movement of marketers specialising in ESG and impact investing and will publish the data and insights in our quarterly newsletters throughout the year.”
The element of diversity is also taking on greater significance in the search for investment professionals. Jensen comments: “There is an increasing demand for diverse talent across the financial services sector, particularly in the PE space. We’ve noticed that some clients have insisted that as part of their search mandates, any candidate list include at least 50 per cent diverse candidates.”
She notes that several clients have taken the extra step of conducting a diversity audit analysis after the search to ensure that at least 50% of the shortlist came from a diverse background. “Other firms have instituted quotas to make sure they hit a minimum number of new diverse hires. This means that more diverse candidates are getting to the final round, and getting offers, than ever before,” Jensen adds.
The private equity landscape in general is facing a very competitive hiring landscape. As one of the most common landing spots for marketers Jensen Partners notes that the PE space now has another competitor – wealth management firms. The firm has observed a surge in demand for access to alternative investments rises among high-net-worth investors and family offices.
Jensen says: “As these hiring trends shift, we’re watching them closely and doubling down on our own strategies to meet the needs of our clients. We know we’re going to have to work hard to source the best candidates possible and are confident in our network and data centric model which will help us find fits for mandates across all industries.”
Looking ahead, Jensen expects an inevitable deal-making slowdown following the positive cycle the industry was just on. However, she notes, this will not mean hiring will slow down in the PE space. “We’re seeing an increase in private credit fund launches, which will absolutely bolster hiring numbers and activity. As we enter and begin to navigate this new environment, it will be crucial for private equity firms to double-down on their own operations and ensure they have the best talent to fair market conditions,” Jensen concludes.
Sasha Jensen
Founder & CEO, Jensen Partners
As CEO of Jensen Partners, Sasha Jensen leads a team of senior recruitment specialists and data scientists dedicated exclusively to the sourcing, recruitment and placement of capital raising professionals for leading alternative investment firms. Sasha works directly with CEOs, CIOs and CMOs to help build out specialised distribution teams for her clients, leveraging her firm’s proprietary 360° Investor Referencing™ Methodology to gain qualitative and quantitative insights about each candidate’s asset-raising capabilities and investor relationships.
