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Internship at no-name PE firm or mid-market bank?
 

Kant's picture
 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 12:02pm

Which position will be better for future job prospects? I want to work on deals and I want to work in Private Equity eventually. I have no banking experience whatsoever.

I have two offers right now, one is for a research position at a mid-market bank, and the other is an internship at an unknown private equity firm. I don't want to do research for my career.

Which one would be best to accept? Is it easy to switch from the research side to the deal side? Which one will look better on a resume? Will people care about the 3 months of live deal experience ?

Thanks!

Tags:
OMS's picture

"I want to work on deals and

PE
(King Kong, 1,886
 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 12:07pm

"I want to work on deals and I want to work in Private Equity eventually."

"I have no banking experience whatsoever."

"I don't want to do research for my career."

Now I'll let you decide...

Something Creative's picture

Yeah, I don't understand why

AM
 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 1:53pm

Yeah, I don't understand why you're asking when you answer your own question? If you want to work in PE you take the PE job.

If I told you I wanted to work as a lawyer and asked for your advice on whether working at a law firm or at a bank would be a better idea, what would you say?

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."

Theodore Roosevelt

cphbravo96's picture

Something Creative

PE
 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 3:04pm
Something Creative:

Yeah, I don't understand why you're asking when you answer your own question? If you want to work in PE you take the PE job.

If I told you I wanted to work as a lawyer and asked for your advice on whether working at a law firm or at a bank would be a better idea, what would you say?

Horrible analogy. If you are going to flame someone for a post, please put some effort into it.

OP, at first glance I would say the PE route. If you are just doing research at the bank and not likely to be exposed to deals then that likely wouldn't be the best place to go. It's really going to depend on what the job responsibilities will be for each position, so take the one that more closely resembles what you want to do long term. Name recognition on a resume can be very important, but ultimately your next firm will want you to explain what you know/learned from your previous positions and how that will be of use, to them, in the future.

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so."
- Ronald Reagan

SlumstoCPW's picture

I have a couple questions

 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 3:46pm

I have a couple questions regarding this topic, please don't flame me for stupidity as Im ignorant regarding this. Lets say OP actually takes the PE internship and does what he's suppose to/doesn't look like an ass, will he get an offer? How hard is it to get a PE/HF internship at a pretty good feeder(Columbia, Dartmouth, Stanford, Princeton,etc-not Harvard or Wharton) and eventually get an offer? Will the analyst hours at a PE firm be like banking, is the pay the same?

OMS's picture

Slum...If you really kick ass

PE
(King Kong, 1,886
 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 3:59pm

Slum...If you really kick ass at the internship then yes...really anything is possible. I've seen non-target kids do a PE internship with no guarantee highly unlikely to get an offer and kicked ass and eventually got an offer FT. This was at a sub $250mm aum growth fund. His starting salary was below street (around 55K plus 50%-75% bonus) working 50-60hours a week. Again this was at a no-name PE shop...but he still got one hell of a deal.

This is very very very rare and it is impossible without serious connections. You will have a better change coming from HYPW...do a search there are plenty of threads on this.

Something Creative's picture

Fair enough. It was't as

AM
 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 4:03pm

Fair enough. It was't as obvious an answer as my example was and I really didn't give it much thought.

OP,

My bad for being a dick more than anything resembling helpful. To expand on what cph said, the specific roles do really matter as titles mean different things at different places. A "research" person at one firm may mean setting up calendars for analyst vs doing modeling or actual research. That said, if it is cookie cutter in the general definitions of the role, and you would not be getting any real exposure to working on deals or getting other really solid transferable skills for PE, I would go the PE route since it is where you ultimately want to end up.

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."

Theodore Roosevelt

SlumstoCPW's picture

oldmansacks wrote: Slum...If

 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 4:21pm
oldmansacks:

Slum...If you really kick ass at the internship then yes...really anything is possible. I've seen non-target kids do a PE internship with no guarantee highly unlikely to get an offer and kicked ass and eventually got an offer FT. This was at a sub $250mm aum growth fund. His starting salary was below street (around 55K plus 50%-75% bonus) working 50-60hours a week. Again this was at a no-name PE shop...but he still got one hell of a deal.

This is very very very rare and it is impossible without serious connections. You will have a better change coming from HYPW...do a search there are plenty of threads on this.

Thanks, so I know you said HYPW but what about Stanford? I'll be headed there next year and really want to start out at a decent PE firm. Im black and poor with no connections but will I have a decent shot at a decent PE(not at blackstone's level)? I know 1st year pay wont be very good at a lower tier PE firm, but at the associate and higher levels, will the pay be around the same as the other PE firms at higher tiers? If I start out at a decent/average firm, will I be able to make a switch to Blackstone, KKR, Bain, or Cerberus ?

guts's picture

SlumstoCPW

IB
 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 4:36pm
SlumstoCPW:
oldmansacks:

Slum...If you really kick ass at the internship then yes...really anything is possible. I've seen non-target kids do a PE internship with no guarantee highly unlikely to get an offer and kicked ass and eventually got an offer FT. This was at a sub $250mm aum growth fund. His starting salary was below street (around 55K plus 50%-75% bonus) working 50-60hours a week. Again this was at a no-name PE shop...but he still got one hell of a deal.

This is very very very rare and it is impossible without serious connections. You will have a better change coming from HYPW...do a search there are plenty of threads on this.

Thanks, so I know you said HYPW but what about Stanford? I'll be headed there next year and really want to start out at a decent PE firm. Im black and poor with no connections but will I have a decent shot at a decent PE(not at blackstone's level)? I know 1st year pay wont be very good at a lower tier PE firm, but at the associate and higher levels, will the pay be around the same as the other PE firms at higher tiers? If I start out at a decent/average firm, will I be able to make a switch to Blackstone, KKR, Bain, or Cerberus ?

was there a point in mentioning that you are black?

SlumstoCPW's picture

guts wrote: SlumstoCPW

 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 5:16pm
guts:
SlumstoCPW:
oldmansacks:

Slum...If you really kick ass at the internship then yes...really anything is possible. I've seen non-target kids do a PE internship with no guarantee highly unlikely to get an offer and kicked ass and eventually got an offer FT. This was at a sub $250mm aum growth fund. His starting salary was below street (around 55K plus 50%-75% bonus) working 50-60hours a week. Again this was at a no-name PE shop...but he still got one hell of a deal.

This is very very very rare and it is impossible without serious connections. You will have a better change coming from HYPW...do a search there are plenty of threads on this.

Thanks, so I know you said HYPW but what about Stanford? I'll be headed there next year and really want to start out at a decent PE firm. Im black and poor with no connections but will I have a decent shot at a decent PE(not at blackstone's level)? I know 1st year pay wont be very good at a lower tier PE firm, but at the associate and higher levels, will the pay be around the same as the other PE firms at higher tiers? If I start out at a decent/average firm, will I be able to make a switch to Blackstone, KKR, Bain, or Cerberus ?

was there a point in mentioning that you are black?

idk

Kant's picture

Thanks guys, and I didn't

 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 5:45pm

Thanks guys, and I didn't take offense to anything. I'll be doing actual research, modeling, and valuations at the ibank which is pretty much what I'll be doing at the PE firm. I assume It'll just be more in depth and I'll get more mentoring at the PE firm because it's smaller. The ibank will most likely be more intense. I am much more interested in what the ER group focuses on than on what the PE firm focuses on. That shouldn't really make a difference for the summer though.

I'm basically curious which one will be better on the resume and which one is better to get into the deal-making/M&A side of things at a PE firm eventually.

There are other factors at play as well. Location is one (one is in London the other in CT) but I have family/friends all over the place so that's not too big of a deal for me. Pay and full time offers are another (PE firm is not paid and won't lead to full-time position, ibank is and will lead to a full time position). A few other things as well, but I was more curious about which one is better if all other things are constant.

To the poor black guy, you'll be fine with Stanford. Don't worry.

OMS's picture

Which MM bank is this? If

PE
(King Kong, 1,886
 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 6:03pm

Which MM bank is this? If this is something like jefferies, robert W. baird, harris williams then you might want to reconsider. paid vs. unpaid gigs make a difference. people pay you because they expect a lot from you so that is something to keep in mind. also if you do well enough at a top MM ER gig you will be able to interview with their IB space.

if you are a sophomore take the ER position and give the PE internship offer to me...plain and simple.

Kant's picture

I guess I should have added,

 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 6:17pm

I guess I should have added, I'm in a masters program (in Economics) and will most likely do an MBA or MSF in the future.

Something Creative's picture

See, now it starts to become

AM
 
Points)
 on 5/31/11 at 7:29pm

See, now it starts to become something worthy of a question. Elaborating a little and giving more details makes this a different story for me.

I think you may be better of going with the paid ER position. It will probably help you more in name recognition for your MBA, it is paid, it leads to a full time position, the modeling experience will probably be really beneficial down the road, and you're already more interested in the ER material more than the PE. I also think you might have some good opportunities at the bank down the road if you do well in ER and find out you like something more than PE.

I don't think that going to a good PE spot post MBA will be that much harder (with the right experience) coming from ER pre-MBA. However, I am not in PE so I hope someone else in that space can weigh in on that aspect.

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."

Theodore Roosevelt

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