People will walk along the New York Stock Exchange on April 4, 2025.
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With capital not available, private equity giants and investment banks are fighting a global battle for talent as trading activities recover.
A recent report from Magellan Advisory Partners found that private equity adoption accelerated in the first half of 2025, led by roles in fundraising, investment relations and marketing. After two years of freeze or slowdown, broader investment jobs also recovered.
The employment comes after the private equity sector has been caught up in a holding pattern in recent years as interest rates and market volatility put the brakes on transactions. The exit has been postponed as fund managers have expanded the pipeline of companies that were unable to sell.
According to Bain & Company, shopping activities were featured in the first quarter of 2025, but the momentum quickly faded in the next quarter, causing the investors and stumbling trading pipeline. According to Bain analysis, global acquisition transaction value in April was 24% lower than the monthly average for the quarter, with transactions down 22%.
“The contract flow is periodic, but the need to ensure safe capital is permanent. Companies are investing ahead of the curve,” says Sasha Jensen, founder and CEO of global executive renovation company Jensen Partners.
The fundraising distribution team is the “center of survival” of the current constrained, limited partner liquidity environment, Jensen said. LP liquidity refers to the amount of fresh partners that a limited partner, including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, or wealthy individuals, can commit to a new fund.
“Companies are happy overpayments for their fundraising talent,” said Christopher Connors, principal of Johnson Associates. “It can be a big expense for a company, but it’s a good deed for a company compared to how much income these people can bring.”
While the fundraising has been challenging, many large US companies sit close to $1 trillion in the dirt capital, also known as dry powder. And, in the hopes of interest rate cuts, these companies are positioning themselves for rebounds on a bench of deeper talent, he noted.
Global talent grab
As global investment companies take more resources to the market and ride the waves of trading and rising assets, private equity giant Apollo is reportedly increasing its footprint in Japan and expanding employment in Asia’s wealth arm.
Similarly, Warburg’s Pincus and Carlyle have grown their presence in Japan through new recruits as the country appears as one of the few bright spots for dilming.
Beyond Japan, industry experts spoken by CNBC noted that employment will be cut in all regions. Southeast Asia and India have also opened new offices in Singapore and Mumbai to hire jobs, Magellan Advisory Partners noted.
Despite policy uncertainty in Washington, overall employment in North America exceeds the levels of mid-2022 and 2023, with many US megafunds and growth stocks interviewing analysts in their first year of the start of 2026.
“This reflects the reality that demand for top junior talent in North America is not being imitated. Companies fear they will miss it if they don’t engage in the recruitment race,” the executive search company said in the report.
The European private equity industry is also seeing stronger employment momentum, supported by macroeconomic changes such as the initiation of rate-cutting cycles. For example, the Bank of England has reduced its fees five times since last August. This is expected to drive trade activities, exits, funding and a broader private equity “flywheel.”
“International expansion is a common thread, with US companies expanding to Asia and vice versa. Similarly, private equity companies in the UK often target the US first before moving to Asia.”
Many of these companies began recruiting long ago before potential employees showed they would leave reactive employment, even before they graduate from university, he added.
A war of talent?
However, there is a gap between companies of size and those with fewer ammunition navigating the industry’s storms.
“I think there’s a clear fork between the biggest companies (multi-tactics) and there’s an economies of scale that we can afford to hire,” Connors said. “On the other hand, some small businesses struggle to raise funds, but they don’t actually employ them at all, and some companies are shrinking.”
With large companies hiring, some of them are even involved in the war of talent with investment banks.
Private equity companies have long developed a reputation for raiding the Wall Street analyst pool so much that investment banks have to establish stronger boundaries.
In mid-2025, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan reportedly introduced strict new rules to curb poaching by private corporations. JP Morgan warned that analysts accepting future job offers from private equity companies before completing 18 months are fired and threatened to fire people who missed training for job interviews.
To maintain talent, the bank has reduced the track from analyst to asaite from the current three years to two and five years. Meanwhile, Goldman rolled out a quarterly “loyalist pledge” and asked analysts to ensure there were no outside offers.
At the junior level, traditional investment banking analyst pipelines have been disrupted by early adoption changes, says Jensen of Jensen Partners.
“Banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are tightening their mobility, and[private equity companies]respond by building in-house training programs,” she said.
These moves suggest that the recruitment frenzy, where private equity companies are locked in junior bunkers years away, could be even more competitive.
Private equity carriers may be superior to investment banks because of interest being carried. This is the share of the profits of funds that are taxed at lower capital rates, far beyond annual wages, Connor explained.
Junior Pay appears to be similar in both industries, but mid-levels like senior associates and vice presidents usually start to receive fate interest, he added. At the senior level, the difference is tough. The managing director could potentially earn a salary and bonus of $1.5 million to $2 million, but earning performance-related interest can deliver $20 million to $30 million over time.
“It’s an important financial means to bring talent into the space,” he said. “It’s an economic tool that doesn’t exist in the investment banking world, it doesn’t exist in traditional asset management. It’s unique to the private market industry,” he said.
