Will you help out a humble monkey decide its future group? Group selection in my BB is coming up and I've ranked both M&A and Industrials in my top 3 (with M&A as a first choice). I'll be interning for the summer in a Top 5-10 BB.
Reasons I ranked M&A first:
- did not want to specialize in an industry sector
- exposure to execution and modelling
- strong group in my BB
- allows me to keep my options open with good exit opportunities in Corp Dev, start ups, etc.
- good fit with an associate I've met from the team (but no news since)
- maybe the only product team that will not pigeonhole you in a few years (which I feel is the case of LevFin for example)
Cons:
- a significant amount of analysts choose M&A with hopes of going into PE with their modelling experience; my ultimate goal is a long term career in banking (10+) and why not have access to key offices in my home country down the road (a lot of government experts were previous IBD MDs)
Interest in Industrials:
- the team is looking to increase its headcount
- great fit; was contacted on the phone with someone who asked me why I did not rank their team first and whether I'd like to change that
- while I will have to specialize in Industrials, you get to work on numerous and very different verticals within the team
- high profile deals sourced by the team in the past
- also a strong group, but an important industry vertical of theirs was recently regrouped with another team
- (more subjective) I like the low-key atmosphere combined with a strong and resilient performance through the years. Not always topping league tables but will consistently appear on one of the highest profile deals of the year.
Cons:
- lower execution to pitch ratio
- I also like working on healthcare, tech, energy...I'd be kind of sad knowing I won't get a chance to see how these firms work from the inside.
