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oh and hes doing a PT MFin while working.
Which Mfin program if you don't mind me asking? Thanks.
I'd take the internship, he's going to burn bridges with the pharma company but if he was only doing it to pay off loans anyway then worst case scenario he could probably find something similar in a few months if the SA doesn't turn into an offer. If the ER is exactly what he's looking for then accept it and run with it, imo any amount of relevant work experience will be more valuable than....job security?
He should go for the ER. If it's his dream industry. Much better exit opps to buy side.
Thanks for the insight. Anymore feedback would be great to help make a decision.
Def the ER internship, it will make his resume much better and easier to break into finance. Furthermore, the pharma work wasn't interesting as you described it and he prob wouldnt want to do it forever.
with his non-traditional background...in this economy...for his desired career path...no brainer. he should take the internship.
SA ER
ER internship gives him the credibility to apply to other FT front office finance roles.
Take the ER internship. Obviously the pharma company will be upset, but it doesn't sound like he's giving up anything too amazing by leaving there. If you're really passionate about getting into Finance, you don't want to spend your life wondering what could have been if you only took this one internship.
If you are talking about one of the San Diego startups on one side, and a solid MM bank with recognizable name on the other side, here is my opinion:
Jump ship from the startup, don't even think about it. San Diego has hundreds of fly-by-night small biotech/pharma companies. Burning a bridge with one of them is no loss. Besides, not a good time to be in pharma these days.
ER Internship, no brainer.
UCSD...the most underrated non-target school in California...
ER internship, if he's only been at the pharma company for a few days or even a few weeks and is afraid that the short stint will look bad on a resume he can just omit it. Even if he doesn't get an offer from this MM ER firm that he's working at he has a good shot of landing a FT somewhere else that is similar to ER/finance.
Take the ER internship forsure. Positions in pharma are much more abundant and will always be there to fall back on.
I would disagree with that. Pharma is a shrinking industry still axing jobs. Entry level finance/BD positions in those companies are almost nonexistent these days.
The same could be said of entry level ER positions though, could it not? I was speaking in relative terms. The OP said he is currently in operations/back office so I was thinking more along the lines of having the ability to obtain operations-type positions (e.g. clinical, quality, regulations, supply chain, etc.) in the future opposed to having the opportunity to obtain an entry level ER position. From my experience, it has seemed much more difficult and competitive to land a position in ER than an entry-level operations position at a pharma company.
Agree on that. If by operations you mean quality/manufacturing/supply chain positions, there are plenty of entry level positions there.
I think the OP means more along the lines of a financial analyst - compiling information on products to forecast current drug trends, market strategies, product pricing etc.
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