2nd year - Which internship to choose?

Right now I have these prospects:

(1) analyst at a boutique ib - unpaid (2) equity research investment analyst at a 7b investment firm

Which would be better given that its my 2nd year internship, and that I am interested in bb ibd in junior year. would having "investment banking summer analyst" help me significantly more than "equity research analyst" in resume selection for ib sa?

10 Comments
 

Virtually any IBD experience will help you for FT IBD recruiting down the road. You wouldn't be completely out of the game by any means for taking the ER gig though, is that one paid? To be frank, and this is just me personally, I'd be far more inclined to take something paid over something unpaid when both are so relevant. It's not like you're taking a paid insurance internship over boutique IB.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

yes the ER one would be paid, ib unpaid. ER is at a really large fund (7b fund, that has different types of funds for clients with 500k+ to invest).

By giving up the ibd, I:

gain 15k (really bad financial situation, expecting -70k net worth upon graduation) lose the ibd title

im getting compensated 15k for the difference between boutqiue ib and er, the question is, is that 15k worth the difference given that it will likely get me many ib interviews next summer as well? I already have bb pwm and a previous er internship before (1)/(2).

 
Best Response

Oh, good to hear more info. In that case, you may want to go with IB experience. If it weren't for the fact that you've already done ER I'd say go for that, but at this point spending more time in something other than where you want to end up may look like that's your primary interest. It's rough, I know; I'm in the exact same position, probably -$110k at graduation in 2013. If you really think you can swing a FT boutique or BB offer by adding ER now, go for it by all means. If I were you though, I'd be weighing cash now but a less favorable resume for FT vs. more debt at graduation with unlimited earning potential down the road with FT IBD.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 
A Posse Ad Esse If it weren't for the fact that you've already done ER I'd say go for that, but at this point spending more time in something other than where you want to end up may look like that's your primary interest.

I think bankers know that most of us don't have our pickings in the internships that we want to do, so they wouldn't put it against him for doing 2 ER internships in a row. Some people might only have 1 finance internship which is in ER... would the bankers ding him for showing an interest in ER?

 

Personally, I think working for free is the biggest scam out there. I've done three unpaid internships, so trust me on this. First of all, employers take time from you (you can argue that you want the experience, fine), but then to add to that, they have little incentive to give you decent work because what's in it for them? They already got you to work for free, so they can just pile on bitch work until you want to quit or not give you any work at all because it's not worth their time to train you. On the flip side, if you were getting paid, the firm would be more motivated to make you do relevant work because they know they're putting in some dollars to put you to work.

Sure you get the title of IB SA on your resume, but if you didn't do any banking work, then you're going to have nothing to talk about during the interview. Plus, if you're actually working banking hours and you don't do shit all day, imagine how miserable you would be. You have a solid background and an interest in finance, so why waste a summer not making any cash? The 7b AUM shop sounds like it would have a solid name to add to your resume along with good work and cash to boot.

 

I mean, it's the same problem as doing PWM twice or three times in a year starting from freshman year on because it makes people think that's all you wanted to do, not all you had the opportunity to do and you took it because it was the only related experience you could net.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

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