Help me select from 4 internships for FT MBB recruiting in London/Middle East

Hello,

I'm a penultimate year student at an EU target school. I'm a non-EU international student so I'm interested in landing MBB/T2 ideally or IB/Asset management in London or the Middle East. I have received 4 internship offers - however, none of them are directly correlated with my goals. Which of the following would be the best for graduate full time role applications?

1) Public sector PR/Communications consulting at a firm in Brussels. The firm is not very well known but has quite a few decent clients. I have been told that the client I will work with will be an EU public sector organization focused on tourism, and I will also have the chance to work on big pharma clients during downtime. Most of the work here will be writing annual/quarterly reports, communications strategy, and social media strategy. (6 months, unpaid)

2) Public & private sector PR/Communications consulting at a firm in Saudi Arabia. I have been working here remotely part-time for the past 6 months. Many top notch clients, but not a very recognizable name globally. I think it may be best I work at a different company to get another name and different experience on my CV since I've already gained a fair bit of experience here. Most of the work here will be writing annual/quarterly reports, communications strategy, and social media strategy. (3 months in-person then continue remotely as I am now, paid)

3) Supply chain role at AI startup in Luxembourg. Fairly new company and I would be given a lot of responsibility. The job description states I will build the inventory ordering model, improve demand forecasting, conduct data analysis to solve business problems, and lead the development of self-service reporting. They have also received VC funding and seem to be doing fairly well. (6 months, pay is nice)

4) Internship at a consulate of the 3rd world country I belong to. It seems to be quite an unstructured role with administrative work consisting of passport/visas, death/marriage certificates. There is also a side of diplomacy involving commerce and trade as well as helping individuals of the country I'm from in immigration matters and getting them out of prison - lots of illegal immigrants. People were quite nice and interview was fun with interesting foreign policy type questions. (3-6 months, little pay)

Thanks!

Comments (2)

Most Helpful
  • Principal in CorpStrat
2mo 

The AI startup sounds the most interesting and would give you some diffentiating experience. Lots of FT hires at MBB have interned for startups, even smaller ones. 

Second choice would be Brussels/KSA. If you're looking to work in the ME, then being physically in the region helps a bit. Take the PR consulting gig if you feel you're lacking in actually consulting internships (MBB will require you to have done at least one consulting internship, ideally at a T2 or reputable T3/boutique). 

 The consular internship is great if you're looking to go into public affairs or for master's programs, but less so if you're trying to apply in another country of where that internship was. (E.g. working for the US State Department is great when applying for a US-based job, but not if applying for a job outside of the US). 

Good luck! 

2mo 
windoflife, what's your opinion? Comment below:

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