Accenture full time vs JpMorgan internship

1) JPM for sure - Accenture won't have near as good exit opps, and the JPM name is very good, just below MS and GS I'd say 2) Depends on how valuable of an asset you prove to be - ask them this though before making a decision 3) I think people in finance will understand your move to banking to JPM from Accenture 4) Had a buddy who worked there...its good, but not great

that said, it depends on what you want to do, career goals, etc.

Is your job a full-time job or a contract?

You'd be a fool to leave a full-time position at Accenture in their strategy group to take an internship at a bank. If you really want to do investment banking (and you didn't actually say that in your post), then the best thing you can do is perform well at your job and try to interview for an analyst position at an investment bank. Unless they explicit say otherwise, you should not assume that an internship is going to set you up for a full-time position -- this does not sound like the same thing as a summer internship program which is used to hire analysts or associates that will start full-time a year later.

Would this internship actually be for the investment banking division (e.g., corporate finance) at JPMorgan? Summer internship programs already started at a few weeks ago.

definitely take JPM, don't even look back...

Thank you for the different comments. This is very usefull in making my choice. I think that Accenture is a very good brand in general but the thing is that I am in Strat which is completly appart from the rest of Accenture (even in term of salary we have our own grid). This is a very looked-after position (particularly during those troubled times. I think that this position can offer me a lot during the next few years and can place me among the top MBA (my profile was good enough for JP so why not for a good Mba ...)

To respond the question above: Yes my accenture job is a full time job

I also think that the job content is more interesting in consulting than in IB as an intern /analyst without taking into account that you have no life in IB.

Finally I can still go there later if I want

What do you think?

Sounds like you have made up your mind already. Stay where you are.

I'd say stick with Accenture. It's a good gig in strategy and you should be able to get into most M7 schools a few years from now although H/S/W are a long shot. The risk of taking an internship at JPM is just not worth it.

I have a prof in school that worked for accenture... he told me he knew guys that got into top schools like MIT Sloan for MBA. I personally think its a great place to start a career, especially in Strat, where you can learn a bit about different businesses. From what I've read, IT consulting starts to get redundant at higher levels, but its interesting when you start. I'm in UG so all this is coming from my prof that I spoke with but just to give some perspective

shouldn't be this risk averse, unless you want to do strat consulting your entire life. who cares if its not guaranteed you won't get a FT offer, go for the JPM investment banking opportunity for sure

If i hear risk adverse used on this forum one more time i am going to puke. Giving up a 70k or more job with great benefits for a chance to work in banking is plain dumb.

I think IB is great dont get me wrong, but lets get real, people are advising him to leave a real job for an internship.

Explain some things first:

1) What type of JPM Internship...explain the role etc.. 2) Is this opp. in America, if not where

Explain 1 in detail.

It seems to me that in the first post youre somewhat leaning towards the JPM internship then all of a sudden changed your mind and decided to stay. Dude--this is an online forum and don't take those post too seriously. It's your career we are talking about here.

Well...the odds will be against him of getting an offer from a top 3 BB bank after an MBA considering he will have a non investment banking background. Of course its possible though, and many people have done it. I guess it depends on how badly he wants to be in IB, it seems from his second post he will be pretty happy to stay in consulting, if that is the case then he should stay on.

Just curious if JPM knows you are working full time at Acc--- Who in their right mind would extend an internship to someone working full time....

JPM ALL DAY DAWG. Are you crazy? arguably the best bank on the street.

Dude stay where your at...its not like your working some bullshit BO accounting job. I am sure you are getting some great experience and I think you can spin a strat consulting gig into geting you into a better B School easier than IB, Also, don't mforget 4 months than quitting is going to look shitty for B-School. Just out of curiosity, what type f internship is this at JPM? Is it a traditional feeder into their FT program. Either way, in my opinion this is a no brainer and it would make absolutely no sense other than to a bunch of freshman who jerk it to lloyd and jamies pictures every night to drop a FT gig doing strat consulting at an MBB for an internship at JPM. If anything keep in touch with the people you interviewed with, build some more relationships and if your still set on banking post MBA. leverage these relationships to get your foot in the door. Finally, what are your career goals? Depending on what your doing at Accenture I am sure you could even lateral to a restructuring arm of an IB, even a top shop or look for PE funds that tend to attract consultants. I am sure a growth PE fund or a distressed fund would maybe work out. Wherever you want to go you can get from where your at now, don't throw that away because of the prestige factor of working in the IBD at a top BB, its just stupid and irresponsible.

Is it a joke??? You're considering the offer at a top 3 BB IBD vs. mid-tier strategy consulting (far, far below MBB)... Even if you fail to receive a FT offer, a long-term internship at JPM will give you more opportunities than bullshit Accenture job.

Stay with Accenture and apply to Top b-school in a year and then let ACN pay for it (you have to work for them for 2 yrs post or pay what you didn't work). I left ACN a year ago (non-consulting, Corp Finance) and a few months before that, they changed their tuition program. Up until then they wouldn't pay for any MBA programs, but they changed that rule.....slightly. Basically they changed it to support Strategy consulting analysts/specialists to go back to school full-time to Top 10 schools and come back to ACN for 2 years, and from what I heard they only changed this because clients were requesting they wanted people with Harvard MBA's and the like working on their projects, plus it makes recruiting easier for ACN (they don't risk losing them to a better consulting firm). Anyone else working there in any other consulting or finance role couldn't participate (otherwise they'd have half of the workforce trying to go back to school). They are trying to make themselves more competitive against McKinsey, Bain, et. al. and have been ramping up that division for the last couple of years. You'd be dumb not to do this, free MBA, you get a guaranteed job for 2 years post MBA with damn good salary and in the meantime you'll get tons of miles and hotel points you can go stay wherever the hell you want for free during school while all your classmates are paying their own way. You're thinking of giving up one of the most prestigious jobs at ACN for and internship that doesn't guarantee you a FT job afterward, pretty damn risky.

Stay where you are. Posts like the one by Maverick12 are reasons why you shouldn't come here to get career advice by freshman in college.

1) The number one priority in finding a job is that you like what you are doing. When you work as many hours as IB/consulting it is a huge benefit that you like what you are doing. You could not pay me enough to be a banker, period.

2) A thing to consider is that if you go the Accenture route, that MBA deal is pretty sweet, but the mandatory working in consulting 2 yrs afterwards means you are almost essentially picking a career right now (not a bad thing if you truly enjoy your work, but just know that that will be a tradeoff/consideration). The kids who don't really know what they want to do will all say go to JPM for the brand name, because they are all thinking about exit opps and how it will look on a resume when they are jumping ship after 2-3 years. Eventhough it is 5months, a FT experienced worker will have a stronger resume than a 5 month intern. Traditionally, JPM has hired 75% of interns and only the few that either a) have an attitude disorder or b) fail to comprehend simple concepts after 10 weeks don't get offers. Also, I have heard JPM currently has a huge IBD intern class of about 150...they are definitely in a hiring mode.....You might think that would be bad, but I think that JPM focuses on hiring interns above other FT candidates more than any other bank...Last year, there were interns in ops and Private Bank that go interviews and offers from IBD groups.

--I realize after reading my other post that I did not give an opinion. I think you should stay, I just wanted you to know all the variables.

This might give you some idea about how much ACN is trying to compete salary wise with MBB (not caught up in prestige though). http://www.consultingmag.com/article/ART647748

OP probably knows about the MBA scholarship programs, it covers all service lines within Management Consulting.

ACN and many other consulting firms pay their returning interns' MBA tuition.

While JPM generally has a high offer rate for its interns, and as one other poster mentioned they have a large intern class and are in hiring mode - it is still quite risky to give up a good full-time strategy job at Accenture. I do find it odd that they extended an internship offer to you, as opposed to a lateral 1st-year analyst hire.

OP, it sounds like you do like your current job at Accenture. And it is a good firm and you're in a good group - you should be able to get into a decent MBA school. If you are interested in finance, but you also think you can still learn a lot in the next 1-2 yrs at ACN, then you could stick with it and make a career change and start at a bank as an Associate instead. For myself, I would only take the risk of going from a FT ---> internship if and only if the jobs' responsibilities, long-term exit opps, learning opps are night and day (like... BB back office to BB IB internship). In a worse case scenario, you could end up with no FT offer at JPM, and you'll find it tough to explain the gap/transition in the resume. Also... I presume that after the 5-mth internship, even if you land the JPM offer, you'll have to wait until the summer cycle until your FT stint starts? Some can consider that a vacation I suppose, but if you're strapped for cash or have student loans, that's another thing to consider...

Maybe there should be a general courtesy rule on these forums to first list out what your status is, before giving a guy critical job advice (e.g., 3 years out of school, worked at a BB, etc. vs. senior or junior in college). So many kids here just see the name and jump for it, but there needs to be some common sense here...

You need to really try and get a bearing on how likely it will be to get a FT offer at JPM after the internship (if at all). Since this 5 month program seems highly non-traditional, you can't just assume that the change of getting a FT offer is the same as if you were an SA. You need to figure out why they are offering it to you and what is special about it...If it turns out that there is a significant chance that you won't get a FT offer directly following the internship (>20%), then stick with accenture. As others have said you can jum to IB after your MBA if you are so inclined.

Depends on your risk appetite. Sure you have a stable FT job and will have the chance to apply for a top 10 MBA, but would you give that up for a top investment bank opportunity that might lead into a FT opportunity and beyond? If it were me I would go with JPM internship in a heartbeat because there is a huge reward with that risk of not getting a FT offer. If you are concerned about the FT offer than maybe you don't believe enough in your ability to be a top analyst.

OP, where are you originally from? Are you currently working in the US? I ask because 1) it definitely seems like English is not your first language and 2) I have never heard of a five month IB internship program in the US. If from China/India, then it's a whole new ball game in terms of future career prospects..

So many answers...Thank you so much guys. The internship will be in JPMorgan London. The internship will be in the Investment Banking division. And that is right that English is not my first language ( I am French). The length of the internship is varying from 3 months to 6 months according to what they will need ( they told me the length is not as formal as it seems to be from the career website). Of course JPM knows I have a full time job now but the process with JPM is first an internship then a full time offer ( note that I graduated one year from now so they consider me as a fresh grad).

So difficult to make a choice... and they want my answer for next week...

Personally, and I stress the word PERSONALLY, I would take the risk. I can't see my self doing anything other than investment banking, I love what I'm doing in my internship and I'm 100% set on a career in investment banking for at least the first 3 years of my life. I assisted in some strategy advisory work here and also liked it, but there is nothing like being given autonomy in selecting project drivers and catalysts and using your creativity to estimate the earnings and hence the worth of an acquisition. I love what I've done thus far and I would do anything to do it full time.

Disclaimer: hours in the mid east are quite lax right now due to lower volume of deals - I usually work 7:30 - 5:00. About 50 hours a week..

Go for it. That's all I have to say, just make sure that it's investment banking. If you want to check post the job description here for a few hours and we'll make sure that it is.

OP, a friend of mine from uni did the exact same internship in London office in Jan for 3 months. There were 3 interns in total and 3 other interns had done this just before them. They wanted to hire only 1 person and my friend wasn't selected. The guy who has been selected joins the graduate programme, starting soon. Point is: 1/6 chance of being selected (all people from Oxbridge / LSE) is not worth giving your current full time jobs for. Good luck!