Please suggest which job you think I should pick....

Hi All,

I am currently an associate covering the restaurants sector at a small sell-side shop. I have interviewed at a couple of places recently, and now have 2 offers - one covering the Food & Beverages sector (eg. PEP, MNST etc) at one shop, and the other offer to cover the TMT sector at a second shop.

I am trying to decide which offer I should pick. Below are the factors I am considering. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

  1. Firm Size / Reputation - Both the firms I have an offer with are almost equal in size and reputation
  2. Analysts - I have spoken to both the hiring Analysts and both are very experienced and well regarded. I think I would enjoy working with both
  3. Comp - Comp is 10k more for one offer but I wouldn't make a decision on such a small difference

So now I am basically left with one factor, which is my long-term goals. So I want to move to the buyside in the long term, preferably at a long/short equity fund. If I choose the Food & Beverages offer, I am becoming more of a retail/consumer "specialist", whereas picking the TMT offer gives me more "diversity" in terms of experience, but also means that I am not a "specialist" in either field.

Would welcome any thoughts, comments & suggestions regarding which offer to pick, and/or if there are any other factors I should consider.

Thanks everyone!

 
Best Response

What sector do you like more? That's really what you should focus on.

I agree that TMT is way too broad of a definition. Maybe 20+ years ago it was a nice bucket for our industry to throw non-traditional businesses into but each is just way too big and specialized today. I've done deals in the T&T parts of TMT and they're just wildly different (tech deserves at least 5 definitions and tcom about 3 if not more each) and media is completely different imo. What part of TMT would you be doing? And would you like it?

F&B: if it's the PEP and KO types, are you cool with being in that world? It's not exact but that's kind of CPG and marketing dominated. Coke and Pepsi already figured out how to produce their product as efficiently as possible so it becomes who markets it better and comes up with an occasionally better marketed product (because imo a new soft drink itself just doesn't matter that much in how it tastes).

From the 30k ft view TMT probably gives you a better, or rather more flexible, background but it really depends on what that entails and what you like.

 

I think tech probably makes more sense. F&B as a sector is pretty played out IMO, whereas the growth prospect of internet & software is more intriguing going forward. You should just make a list and see what it comes down to. I think doing TMT would give you wider skillset, and honestly I don't think as an aspiring l/s analyst you want to be tied down to be a specialist this early in your career. (Inevitably you'll be pitching Long KO Short PEP of the sorts and I doubt anyone's pants will be blown off by that pitch).

 

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