2 Offers- HELP
I received the two following offers and I need some input on which would have the best exit opps. My end goal is consulting.
1. BB Business Analyst (Rotational)- Doing project management type work to support FO. Not in NYC. Pay is 60K
2. GS Ops Analyst-(MO-Credit) Doing run of the mill ops with some project work. In NYC. Base pay around the same
The plan ill ultimately involve bschool then try to get into some consulting type of role. I'm a hustler so I don't mind working hard, Which of these opportunities do you think would afford me that?
I suppose it depends on what type of consulting. If it is management/strategy consulting, clearly the first option would prepare you best. The second option may have an advantage for niche positions in consulting with financial institutions.
If you want to get to the trading floor, GS Ops.
If you want to maybe become a technology consultant, the BA role at the BB.
BAs are the low man on the totem pole at banks. IT is back office, and within IT, they're the guys who don't know how to code. It is very difficult for them to get to the front office.
I'd much rather see you in marketing or business development at a bank. And I'd much rather have you aiming for a trading or PM role than consulting given your two options, but given the choices we have in front of us and a fairly clear goal (consulting), the BA role is going to help you develop a lot of skills for listening, organizing, and speaking a lot of different languages in technology.
@"IlliniProgrammer" Advice on GS Ops-> trading? I want the position that puts me closest to products and it being in NYC def helps as opposed to the BA role which is in Jacksonville FL
GS Ops would certainly do that relative to being a BA in IT in Jacksonville.
Most traders don't wind up as consultants or leave trading willingly. Trading doesn't develop the same kinds of transferable skills that consulting or banking does. Just be aware of that.
GS traders tend to be very shrewd and very smart. In some ways, it's easier to make it to the trading floor from Ops at Citi, because the bar at GS is so high in the first place. Please don't go in thinking that a move to GS trading is a certainty or a likelihood or a strong possibility- merely a small possibility; perhaps 5% of the people who want to get to trading make it there from Ops at GS; this figure might be 20% at a Barclays or Citi for someone who could get hired into GS Ops.
One sketch here is that you take GS Ops, work there for 3-4 years, and apply to grad school. Depending on your GMATs, recs, and undergrad, I'd like to think an ops guy at GS* would have a decent shot at, say, Kellogg or Columbia, maybe Sloan, maybe Booth. Maybe not HBS or Stanford, but who needs that if you land Kellogg? From there, you go on to being a consultant at one of the elite non-MBB shops (IE Oliver Wyman).
I might get criticized for this assessment of OP's MBA chances, but I still think that most MBA programs respect the GS name a little more than the average BB on the street and the fact that they don't hire- or keep- average employees in any department. As OP sees how careers play out for GS Ops employees in his first year, he'll be able to make more informed decisions than any advice here.
One last thing is that this decision needs to be made based on who you would like to work with. If you liked the people in Jacksonville, go there. If you liked the people at GS, go there. The last time I interviewed with GS (a long time ago), I met a lot of people in an IT group there who did not seem like they wanted to be at work. I chose a Quant Development role at Lehman Brothers instead. Even after the bankruptcy, I still think I made the right choice on that. If the people you met in Jacksonville seemed happy and the people you met at GS seemed unhappy, that should tell you something.
BB in Jacksonville? Hmmm...
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