General Thoughts on BlackRock?

Guys,

I have searched through the Forums and it primarily speaks about summer analyst and entry level analyst positions. I am trying to get more general thoughts and perspectives on BlackRock (NYC)

Opinions? Thoughts? Suggestions? This is supposed to be open-ended.

 

What division? PMG is notoriously difficult to land a gig in and pretty much the best place you can be in AM as a recent graduate. Don't know much about GCG or the other teams but I would assume the brand name is enough. It is afterall the largest AM in the world. Very different work culture too - they keep on to their employees for a very long time and it's rare to find BlackRock employees on the job market. They are also very much against creating superstars internally and prefer team recognition. Overall I'd say for AM this is it - some of the very best minds in the business.

 
englandwales:
What division? PMG is notoriously difficult to land a gig in and pretty much the best place you can be in AM as a recent graduate. Don't know much about GCG or the other teams but I would assume the brand name is enough. It is afterall the largest AM in the world. Very different work culture too - they keep on to their employees for a very long time and it's rare to find BlackRock employees on the job market. They are also very much against creating superstars internally and prefer team recognition. Overall I'd say for AM this is it - some of the very best minds in the business.

This. And also have heard that there is a decent amount of mobility between groups here. Have a few friends in PAG that know of former PAG --> PMGs. None of my friends have made the jump as of now (recent grads), don't know if it's just something they sell the PAG group on. Nevertheless, most groups in BLK are going to be tough to get into and great to stay in. Agree with englandwales that it's pretty much the gold standard in regards to AM.

Sometimes lies are more dependable than the truth.
 
Best Response
englandwales:
WhiteHat:
englandwales:
What division? PMG is notoriously difficult to land a gig in and pretty much the best place you can be in AM as a recent graduate.

This is funny.

How so?

I think it's a little bold is all... to say Blackrock is the "pretty much the best place you can be in AM as a recent graduate."

I'd agree that it's one of the best super-sized highly-accessible multi-strategy asset manager to work at as a recent graduate, but that's about it. There's a handful of places that crush BLK and are way better talent factories. Certain groups within certain asset managers are significantly better than others, and that kind of stuff should be taken into account, not just as simple as Blackrock = best, Dodge = great, Fidelity = good, and so on. For example I'd much rather be in Large Cap Growth at TROW than Blackrock and would never work in Small Cap Value at Fido, etc.

 

90% of PMG lies in index funds. You do the same thing today as the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day...growth is slow as the company is slowing down.

PAG is affectionately called the firefighting group. They invest in operations people instead of improving IT so they man up on supporting their crap software products. Somewhat a move for job security, but ironically results in a ridiculously stressful work environment.

Overall, bonuses are down 15-20% and will continue downward as investors move from higher fee investment products to lower fee pproducts.

BlackRock looks good on the resume. Get 2 years on there, and then run for the hills!

 

1) PAG - total sweat shop like Nabooru said. You'll work with many different types of businesses and fight their fires. You'll learn about different groups in finance and what they do. Very tough job, I don't envy these guys. IF you do well and put your name out there, it can make it happen for you in the long run.

2) PMG - you're in a very regimented role. You'll do the same thing every single day, and promotion/progress is highly independent of your performance. You'll do better here if you know exactly what you want and you want to be a portfolio manager.

Bottom line, I would say again, is get 2 years here, and run for the hills.

 

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