The rising stars of headhunting everyone on Wall Street should get to know

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Competition for talent on Wall Street is fierce.

Banks, hamstrung by regulators on compensation and battling the stereotype of an onerous work culture, have seen a talent flight to investing firms and Silicon Valley.

For their part, alternative-asset managers have experienced massive growth and a flood of inbound capital, requiring an ever-larger stable of investment professionals to manage the load. There's a perfect storm for hiring in private equity right now, and firms are starting their hunt for the next crop of young analysts earlier each year.

Making the right hiring decisions has rarely been more critical. And headhunters, often unseen to the outside world, specialize in making sure C-suite execs, managing directors, and portfolio managers get it right.

Introducing Business Insider's list of the best up-and-coming headhunters on Wall Street.

After surveying finance stalwarts who regularly employ recruiting firms — as well as the upper brass of recruiting firms themselves — we've assembled a group of headhunters who have excelled at placing talent early and often in their young careers.

This list is by no means comprehensive. To be eligible, apart from sterling endorsements and a strong track record, we asked that nominees be based in or around New York City and be 40 years old or under.

Here's our list of the top young headhunters everyone on Wall Street should know.

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Hilary Wilson, 26, Amity Search Partners

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Hilary Wilson had something of a serendipitous journey to finance recruiting. She studied history at Princeton University and didn't have a clear idea of what career path she wanted — except that it needed to feature a steep learning curve and great people to work with.

A mentor at a hedge fund suggested headhunting and put her in touch with a contact at Amity Search Partners. It checked her boxes and proved the right fit; she joined after graduating in 2013.

Since then, she’s focused on recruiting young banking analysts and consultants for roles at megafund alternative asset managers. Wilson manages 10 to 15 searches for private-equity firms and hedge funds at any given time.

Joshua Fitzgerald, 27, GQR

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Joshua Fitzgerald, 27, a vice president at New York-based GQR, focuses on placing tech talent at Wall Street's largest banks and trading firms.

Fitzgerald grew up in Hong Kong before moving to the UK to study accounting at Brunel University. Fitzgerald got his start at BAH Partners, a headhunting firm in Hong Kong, where he focused on front office investment banking technology. He joined GQR in 2015.

Fitzgerald started off working in the systematic and trading division of GQR but has shifted to the development technology division. He has placed more than 100 senior executives in the financial-services industry.

Alexandra Dean, 28, Goldsmith and Co.

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Alexandra Dean, 28, has worked in asset-management recruiting for New York-based Goldsmith and Co. since graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010.

Dean joined as one of the first employees of the boutique search firm, and she focuses on hiring investors, particularly direct investors in the public and private-equity worlds, as well as allocators, on behalf of endowments, family offices, and foundations. Dean has worked on searches for capital raisers, relationship managers, and C-level executives.

An investor who was placed by Dean touted her many connections within the elusive family-office space in particular, saying Dean's vision was instrumental in landing this investor their current role.