If you want to work in hedge fund marketing, it’s no longer sufficient to know various wealthy people and a large collection of fund of funds managers. These days, you need to have an inroad to real money (ie. pension funds, insurers).

The change is leading to a major rethink of the profile of the perfect hedge fund marketing professional.

“Nowadays, it’s all about marketing to UCITs funds, pension funds and endowments,” says John Godden at hedge fund consultancy IGS Group. “It’s a completely different skillset and a move away from the accepted wisdom.”

The change hasn’t gone unnoticed. Barclays Capital yesterday produced a report highlighting hedge funds’ increased appetite for marketing and investment relations professionals with, “strong project management skills who can manage multiple leads and follow through to secure assets.” Conversely, it said the “traditional rolodex” of contacts has become a less desirable attribute.

One hedge fund headhunter says the new breed of marketeer is being drawn from investment consultancy firms and long only asset managers. “These days, you can’t raise 100m by simply showing a few slides,” he says. “Hedge funds need boring people who they wouldn’t have hired before, painstaking people who will take their time and satisfy pension funds’ more stringent demands.”

However, Godden says the migration of investment consultants to the world of hedge funds is nothing new. Stephen Oxley, managing director of PAAMCO Europe was a former senior investment consultant at Watson Wyatt, for example.

“Hedge funds have been hiring out of investment consultants for a while,” says Godden. “But is it accelerating? Absolutely.”