CITI Operations Internship - Good Foot in the Door?
So i have a question.. I go to a small state school, no name brand at all. However, i am a finance/accounting double major and have pretty good experience compared to many i am surrounded by (Fortune 50 company FX analyst internship, broker/dealer internship, startup company internship). I realize it is extremely difficult for someone who is not in a target school to get into front office positions at BB's but.. would taking an internship in Citi Op's that could lead to a full time offer be a good idea? I've heard it's not prestigious and everyone on this blog seems to bash operations but i have also been told you learn the basis for trading, etc and it's a good way to understand the business.
That being said, from someone who started in operations, what are the expectations to move into something more front office, banking type role from here? How about salary and growth for operations?
I mean, sure, it's better than nothing. There is no basis for comparison because we don't know the opportunity cost. If you told us that, maybe we could give you some advice.
I know someone who went from BB Ops internship --> Another BBIB internship --> Analyst BBIB offer in consecutive years. It's doable, but tough.
Okay, well to talk a little about the opportunity cost, i also have an offer from PWC on the table (audit). I have no interest in accounting but i figured because i dont have a name brand school, perhaps having a name brand firm like PWC on my resume can help make the transition into working for a BB easier. Also, i have an opportunity at a Hedge Fund in CT (SAC Capital Advisors- being looked into for insider trading right now apparently, makes me a bit nervous) im not sure what type of position i would have there as i just got an email from them inquiring about me, and also, a lot of small investment advisory firms.
This is my last summer to internship before i graduate the following december so unfortunately i wont be able to apply for other BB internships. Do you guys think Op's is a good exiting position where i can progress into bigger and better things? Or ... once in ops... your resume is stained with it forever and i wont ever make it into anything relevant.
Okay, well to talk a little about the opportunity cost, i also have an offer from PWC on the table (audit). I have no interest in accounting but i figured because i dont have a name brand school, perhaps having a name brand firm like PWC on my resume can help make the transition into working for a BB easier. Also, i have an opportunity at a Hedge Fund in CT (SAC Capital Advisors- being looked into for insider trading right now apparently, makes me a bit nervous) im not sure what type of position i would have there as i just got an email from them inquiring about me, and also, a lot of small investment advisory firms.
This is my last summer to internship before i graduate the following december so unfortunately i wont be able to apply for other BB internships. Do you guys think Op's is a good exiting position where i can progress into bigger and better things? Or ... once in ops... your resume is stained with it forever and i wont ever make it into anything relevant.
sorry, not investment advisory, investment management firms******
Also, why have you taken my picture
Take the ops job. It will be a better deal if you want to get into business school.
However, if you're not going to business school at all, or at least have no plans to, accounting knowledge will be more valuable
Citi Ops Internship: What is it good for? (Originally Posted: 11/27/2011)
What future internships could it help me get other than those in Ops? (e.g. Consultancy, IBD)
Its my ultimate goal to work in IBD. Its not in an office with an IBD so networking would be extremely difficult, if its even possible.
I wrote about being forced into this internship in a previous post, at the time I believed that my careers office may let me out of it but its obvious that they aren't budging (don't ask those guys are just assholes). I have nearly considered dropping out of my college for this, my grades are good enough for Oxford/Cambridge/LSE its just that I thought it would have been a lot of hassle as there in a different country. Furthermore, dropping out could be risky as its about more than grades in the UK.
Should I try to make the best out of it (if that's even possible) or seriously consider dropping out?
Letting yourself be forced into an internship =/= proactive.
I agree. I have sent emails and went to meetings and its highly apparent that I have 2 options:
Tough cunt of a situation...
do it if you can't get anyting else. but even if you were on the same floor as an IBD unit. That does not matter. IBD people don't talk to ranfom ops people, let alone ops interns. There is no reason for it.
On the bright side. It is an internship, which means that you don't owe the ops department anything after it is over, and can go on your way (if you have an opportunity to).
Well, you have access to the outlook directory. I wouldn't waste that.
Is this your first internship? I wouldn't discredit how much knowledge you may gain in that sort of role. I did a BO internship my sophomore year in college and leveraged that exposure/knowledge to a FO internship the next year. I don't know enough about the Citi program though...
You can leverage this into a FO-type job. Just depends on your smarts, how likeable you are, how well you interact with people and ultimately, luck. You will have the advantage of having the database of C employees to reach out to. If this is on the trade support side then you can interact with traders/other FO staff. I made the jump from ops to FO, but its not the end of the world if you do this as an internship, as long as its not FT. But, something is ALWAYS better than nothing,especially in this climate
stay out of ops at all costs.
Even if it means dropping out and starting a different degree in the UK? I have been kinda considering it..
Thanks for the optimistic response. Hopefully I can get some emails or telephone numbers of the FO Citi guys in the US out of it; unfortunately there is no FO guys in the office (or indeed the country) Im working in.
Its in settlements etc. so I think there is a certain amount of interaction with FO people, just not in person. I think the knowledge gained would be at least superficially useful in FO but mainly in S&T or CM I guess (I was aiming for IBD because my degree is in Business which isnt particularly quant).
Its not the internship itself that gets to me; anything is better than nothing. But its for a program whereby we leave school early to do work experience, the opportunity cost of me taking this is huge because I could have got an CF internship at a Big 4 or an MC, I had a few interviews lined up, this would have been ideal sophomore experience for IBD... But now its all gone to fuck.
Tired of moaning about it just wanna get myself out of this fucking beartrap haha
ops is a dead end. don't let anyone tell you otherwise. any counterexample is pure bullshit. it will prepare you for a exit op setting up phones at a verizon kiosk.
Citi Operations Analyst SA Question (Originally Posted: 03/11/2012)
Does anyone know how rigorous the Operation division is at Citi? How would you compare Operations to other divisions in terms of difficulty?
Rigorous??? You won't be working more than 50 hours a week...
I hope you're not a junior because if you want to do IB next summer you'd best rethink your idea of rigor
I guess I used the wrong term. What I'm basically asking is compared to other divisions (not just IB), is Operations one of the easier divisions to get into?
to get an internship in BB Ops, you will need: 1) a functioning brain 2) general knowledge of the company with which you are interviewing (names of the divisions, name of the CEO, stock price, etc.) 3) a compelling reason for wanting to work in Ops (tip: refrain from using jargon. Don't call it back-office during the interview. Make no mention of other divisions since most SA ops programs are pipelines and they don't want to lose people)
so to answer your question, yes, it's easier.
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