Sophomore Internship: BB Sales & Trading or v. small Boutique IBD
Hi there,
I am a sophomore at a target in the US, and I want to get a top Investment Banking internship in the US next summer, and was wondering which of these summer would better help me get an interview/looks better on a resume:
1) HSBC, Sales & Trading, Fixed Income desk in S.E. Asia (not Singapore, HK, Taiwan or China, but one of the smaller capitals around there). I will be working mainly in Sales.
2) Very small boutique I-Bank, financial advisory firm in the US
I think that I would learn more inv. banking-related materials and skills, and do more at the small boutique firm, but am worried that the name is no where near as recognizable as HSBC. The firm is also very small, and so I won't get as good a corporate experience as at HSBC. Which one do you think I should take?
Thanks very much
I would go with HSBC for the brand recognition. It also provides the groundwork for a story that can be spun when you go for banking recruiting next summer. Although I think experience is important, I'm not sure whether the boutique can deliver in giving you any modeling and due diligence work. I think banking skills are something you can pick up in your junior year internship.
Congrats on your offers. Sophomore here too but from what I've seen - something more structured and brand-named will really validate you more. You're at a target so it won't be as hard b/c I see kids doing IBD SA after only having MS PWM on LinkedIn..
SA IBD regional Elite Boutique vs S&T BB in NY (Originally Posted: 02/11/2012)
Have an offer from a good bulge bracket in NYC to do S&T (Citi, Barclays, CS) as well as an elite boutique (Lazard, Greenhill, Evercore) on the West Coast-SF/LA.
At this point, I think I want to do Investment banking to start my career and my preference is probably for NYC. Talking to people at the bulge bracket, it seems that assuming things go well over the summer, it should not be too challenging to transfer over to the Investment Banking side for full time. On the other hand, the boutique seems to have a great culture and I like thats its smaller in size. I am just not sure how big a discrepancy there is from a smaller regional office compared to the hub in NY. A full time offer at the boutique would only be for the regional office.
In terms of long-term opportunity, I would love to get some advice from people on the board about the pros and cons of the decision. Don’t have to long to decide!
Big question here - are you at a target/somewhere with OCR?
yes at a target with OCR.
I wouldn't worry too much about NYC then. I'd take the boutique, personally. Get the offer, and use it as leverage/to spin your story. IMO it's easier to say "I enjoyed my time at Lazcorehill last summer and received an offer to return for full-time, but I'd rather work in a BB environment/continue advisory work in NYC" than it is to say "I liked S&T but I'm more of a banker-type", you know?
Since you're at a target, you don't have to worry as much about this being your one shot at NYC.
Others may have different opinions, but that's how I'd approach your situation, personally.
Congrats on the offers, by the way.
Agreed with the above. If you're trying to make the S&T to IB transition, you'll have to come up with a good story. And if bankers that interview you want to be dicks about it, they can ask 'well, did you interview for IB in the summer'?
Actually, if you feel you want to do IB, doing your SA in IB may be a good test. I've had peers in school who did an IB summer and then after that went into consulting or S&T because they realized they didn't like it (even though they thought they would pre-SA).
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