I know the answer is going to be, “It depends on what you want to do” however, I was wondering if you guys could give a little more detail. I have an internship offer with a very small PE firm based in NY (about $350 million under management) and I also just received an internship offer for a mid-range IB firm also in NY. I was wondering which one will be best to take. By best, I don’t mean “more money” but more along the lines of which will be more impressive to a larger cohort of people on my resume and also which one will I learn more in. Some details are below: - The PE firm has made it clear they won’t be making any full time hires from the summer associates, but the IB firm has not said yay or nay. - With the PE firm, I’ll be working on a live PE deal. Doing valuations, working next to the associates, and getting real experience with PE. The IB firm, I’m guessing will be a typical IB internship. - The IB firm offer is within the Energy sector. This is not a bulge bracket firm but it’s not a boutique firm either. It’s a solid mid-sized IB firm. The PE firm is pretty much unknown, and the IB firm is pretty well-known. I just got both offers today. Literally 5 minutes from each other.
Clearly IB - The point of a summer internship is to lock up the offer BEFORE senior year so you can b@ng broads and party.
ASSet_MANagement Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Clearly IB - The point of a summer internship is > to lock up the offer BEFORE senior year so you can > b@ng broads and party. truer words have never been spoken about summer internships
depends what your status is. if you want to learn more, i think you would with the PE gig. if you want to learn the basics and possibly get an offer go for the IB.
I’m in grad school by the way. I guess I should have added that. Getting my MBA.
Often times name recognition outweighs the knowledge gained in an internship. Since neither is offering a FT gig upon graduation, I’d go with what looks best on the resume.
ASSet_MANagement Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Clearly IB - The point of a summer internship is > to lock up the offer BEFORE senior year so you can > b@ng broads and party. haha, yea I figured that would be a plus. I won’t be doing much partying though, I’ll be finishing up my mba, starting a new one year masters program, and (hopefully) studying for level 3.
BValGuy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Often times name recognition outweighs the > knowledge gained in an internship. Since neither > is offering a FT gig upon graduation, I’d go with > what looks best on the resume. Which one would look better though? A very small PE firm? or a mid-level IB firm? Also, I would rather get a job at a PE firm after graduation as opposed to IB. Would an internship at a PE firm be better in that regard?
Go with the IB job. You will be coming in as an associate which means you won’t have to put up with analyst hell. Moreover, if it’s a relatively well known firm, it will get you into “the street”. It’s pretty hard to make it in unless you’re coming from college. Once you’re in, you can move around and will be more visible to larger PE firms, etc. Another benefit is that you will probably see more deal flow. Trust me, working on a single deal for 2 months can be very tedious. Even if you don’t see many (if any) live deals, the pitches alone should provide decent experience.
kant Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > BValGuy Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Often times name recognition outweighs the > > knowledge gained in an internship. Since > neither > > is offering a FT gig upon graduation, I’d go > with > > what looks best on the resume. > > > Which one would look better though? A very small > PE firm? or a mid-level IB firm? Also, I would > rather get a job at a PE firm after graduation as > opposed to IB. Would an internship at a PE firm > be better in that regard? My comment was largely based on your remark that “the IB firm is pretty well-known”. An internship in the specific area you are most interested generally would seem to make the most sense. But in this job market, there are no guarantees and I would choose the position that I believe to be the most marketable, which in this case would appear to be the IB.
IB gig all the way judging from the criteria submitted.
since its summer internship and not a full time offer, you gotta go with the name and the IB. a recognizable name on the resume is worth more than solid hands-on experience for a 3-month period at what-was-the-name-of-that-firm-again
Thanks everyone. I guess it’s pretty much unanimous. I’ll accept the IB offer later today.
Btw, congrats, that’s a great position to be in
Black Swan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Btw, congrats, that’s a great position to be in agreed. congrats
Thanks guys
IB dude - you will get good experience and people will know the brand name. you can think about getting a real PE job after you do your IBD stint if you really want it.
Good job on the offer. Getting offers this late in the year is awesome.
I’d roll with the IB offer for several key reasons, based on the information you’ve cited: (1) better brand recognition; (2) most likely organized training program; (3) structured learning experience; (4) potential conversion to a full-time offer. All of these things will position you better for full-time recruiting which is what matters most. Happy to discuss in more detail as needed but it sounds like you already have your mind made up, and I would agree with the decision. Having spent significant time working in private equity and also advising clients in similar shoes as you, the four factors I mentioned are the ones that I think are the most critical levers and it sounds like IB wins out the most. Of course, if your ultimate goal is to work in private equity, it does help to get principal investing experience, but the type of work you’d do over the summer would be fairly similar to what you’d be doing in IB, with the potential disadvantage of not having as much mentorship…which is what you really need right now so that you actually have some clue about what you’re doing. Good luck and congratulations!
Where did you end up for the summer, Numi?