New York Federal Reserve Exit Opportunities

Here are the facts I've gathered from my research:

A) My Economics professor claims that after spending 10 years working for the New York Federal Reserve I will be able to leverage my experience and the connections I've made on the job into a high ranking position at nearly any financial institution. The professor is crazier than ape shit, but for some reason he's rich and he seems to know a lot of wealthy people.

B) The New York Federal Reserve only recruits from ivy leagues and other tier 1 universities. Where as the other regional banks recruit from state schools, not just the elite state schools but pretty much any half decent state school. However, pay at the New York Federal Reserve is only 10-20% higher than the other regional banks in an area of the country where the cost of living is 2-3 times as high. Which makes me wonder, what is attracting all these Harvard graduates?

C) I have not heard anyone else recommend the New York Federal Reserve for its exit opportunities and I can't seem to find anything on google.

Does anyone know if there is truth behind my professor's statement?

 
Edmundo Braverman:
I think you're about to have your answer when Geithner gets kicked upstairs to Goldman as payback for TARP.

NY Fed -> Treasury Secretary -> Golden parachute at GS

More than likely I am not going to make it to the level of Treasury Secretary in less than 10 years. What about the lower ranking members of the hierarchy? I don't need to make $20 million a year, $250,000-$500,000 should be enough to get by in New York. By the way, I loved your recent string of articles on white collar crime.

Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions. -Niccolo Machiavelli
 
iBANKhard:
Do a quick LinkedIn search and then you tell me.

I took about 3.5 seconds, and here's a few of the exit opportunities I found for people who have worked at the NY Fed:

-- Investment Banking -- Auditor at KPMG -- Investor Relations at XYZ company -- Portfolio Manager

You get the idea...

Thank you.

Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions. -Niccolo Machiavelli
 

I was a summer analyst at the New York Fed, and even though it was not in a particularly sexy position or group (think BO), in my experience it has provided very good FO opportunities. I've found that it usually catches the eye of the interviewer and sold well, makes for a very good talking point. Its may not have the prestige of a BB but it certainly has the name recognition. It's all about how you sell it.

 
Midas Mulligan Magoo:
Money does not necessarily equal power. Once you reach a certain level a few dozen or a few hundred million difference is not that much. A high level government gig, however, gives you serious power.

Timmaaay may not make in a year what Blankfein does in a month, but I don't think I need to elaborate on who has more power. Remember POWER>MONEY.

It depends from person to person, but I would take Blainkfein's millions over Timmy's power any day.

I'd rather be the rich guy buying bottle service than the bouncer who has the power to piss you off from time to time at the door one or two nights a week but makes minimum wage.

 
Midas Mulligan Magoo:
Tiimmaaaay is not the bouncer, he's the gangster who's owns that club. He may not have as much cash as you, but the sway he holds over you has immeasurable intrinsic value. Lloyd's bonus numbers are a great example.

I think most people would prefer making millions to being treasury secretary. It's an influential job, don't get me wrong, but he does not set monetary policy like the federal reserve chairman, or introduce budgets and fiscal policy like the president.

 

How about doing it the other way around like Henry Paulson did? I'd like to make a couple of million and then go on to bitch slap around CEOs. That is power.

"The higher up the mountain, the more treacherous the path" -Frank Underwood
 

I think that this advice is most applicable to people with PhDs. Recently, I actually had a PhD at the fed tell me that this used to be quite common (perhaps less so now). Most of the BAs will work there for 1-4 years before going to MBA/PhD/Law schools, or to some other sort of job. I'm not totally clear on the exit ops for MBA employees at the fed.

I don't think that point B is accurate, at least when it comes to hiring research assistants out of ugrad or for PhD students. I've known people at a few different fed banks, and the hiring patterns seem to be similar (ivies plus good private schools).

 

It really depends on what division you are in at the Fed. I have some close friends working there and the work and exit opportunities vary greatly between division. As you know there is the research side and the market side and even within research there's micro vs. macro...etc. Some of the groups such as financial intermediation may be more relevant and have better exit ops. Basically it's like a BB in that there are research positions and practical positions and some will expose you more to the financial markets.

Going to the Fed to work in finance later is pretty silly, as most people go to law school. The second most common exit op is business school. Some people go to different divisions within the bank, and finally others go into the industry.

 

Is this professor your mother? Why exactly do you care what she tells you to do? If you're at a target school studying econ you should have no trouble getting interviews at banks. If you don't want to work at the fed, don't work at the fed.

 

She is not my mother apparently. I took two classes with her, and I was her TA for one semester, so I got many chances to ask her questions about my post-school career plan suggestions. I do not say I don't want to work in the Fed since the name is really prestigious. I just wanted to know if someone who has been a RA in the Fed before could provide me some insightful information.

 
Best Response

Ok, so I was an RA at the fed for a few years. The most common exits were:

  1. Econ or Public Policy Phd
  2. MBA or Public Policy Masters
  3. Startup - Data Analyst Role
  4. Law or Med School

I'm going to be going into consulting after doing option 2.

A Fed RA job isn't really going to prepare you for banking - the culture is extremely academic. It's best for people who are considering getting an econ Phd, and want an intellectual environment and great work-life balance.

The skillset you'll develop is very quant heavy (and in my opinion much more sophisticated - lots of equations and statistical programming, very little banking-style financial modeling). The closest private sector equivalent would be analysis group/nera/cornerstone. You theoretically could also go to a macro hedge fund, but that is more common for Phds.

Also, if you just care about reputation - don't do it. The people who enjoy their time at the fed actually care about economics and are pretty intellectually curious - if you don't enjoy reading papers for fun/debating current issues, it probably won't be a great fit.

 

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