Deciding Offers - Private Equity vs Capital Finance

Hey WSO,

Have opportunities to work for Wells Fargo Capital Finance as an intern or a Private Equity firm, but not entirely sure which is better. My ultimate goal is to move in investment banking in the future, so which would set me up best for FT recruiting season. I know WF has the name brand, but I would be focused on assisting with credit lending and asset-based lending. I don't know how many people transition to IB from that. At the PE firm I would be working on analysis of deals and acquisition.

Thanks

22 Comments
 

If the PE firm is not totally unknown and does not appear in danger of going under in the next 2 years, I would take the PE offer...

xoxo

[quote=Dirk Dirkenson]Shut up already. Your mindless, reflexive responses to any critical thought on this are tedious. You're also probably a woman, given the name and "xoxo" signoff, so maybe the lack of judgment is to be expected.[/quote]
 

I agree completely. With my goal of being able to move into investment banking, I think working at the PE firm will give me better experiences, deals, etc that I can talk about while applying to FT work. Plus, the WF internship encompasses so much, but never touches on IB at all since WFS does that. Just worried that when applying to MBA comes around WF may have been a better choice.

 
thecoldburns

While $4b is a lot of money and is likely to be quite a decent firm, what's more important (or fun to me personally) would be the dry powder within the firm. I would rather do investment analysis over portfolio monitoring or creating fundraising materials. Just my 2c.

He's deciding between this and effectively working on borrowing base redeterminations at Wells... I agree if you are evaluating a PE fund as an exiting analyst the dry powder, industry focus, et al should be of chief concern but in this context he can't afford to be all that picky. Take this given your offers and then reevaluate in a year whether or not you wish to stay...

xoxo

[quote=Dirk Dirkenson]Shut up already. Your mindless, reflexive responses to any critical thought on this are tedious. You're also probably a woman, given the name and "xoxo" signoff, so maybe the lack of judgment is to be expected.[/quote]
 
Louboutins and Leverage thecoldburns:

While $4b is a lot of money and is likely to be quite a decent firm, what's more important (or fun to me personally) would be the dry powder within the firm. I would rather do investment analysis over portfolio monitoring or creating fundraising materials. Just my 2c.

He's deciding between this and effectively working on borrowing base redeterminations at Wells... I agree if you are evaluating a PE fund as an exiting analyst the dry powder, industry focus, et al should be of chief concern but in this context he can't afford to be all that picky. Take this given your offers and then reevaluate in a year whether or not you wish to stay...

xoxo

excellent advice as always 3

 
Louboutins and Leverage thecoldburns:

While $4b is a lot of money and is likely to be quite a decent firm, what's more important (or fun to me personally) would be the dry powder within the firm. I would rather do investment analysis over portfolio monitoring or creating fundraising materials. Just my 2c.

He's deciding between this and effectively working on borrowing base redeterminations at Wells... I agree if you are evaluating a PE fund as an exiting analyst the dry powder, industry focus, et al should be of chief concern but in this context he can't afford to be all that picky. Take this given your offers and then reevaluate in a year whether or not you wish to stay...

xoxo

Understandably, but isn't he choosing between 2 internship offers? I always felt that the actual work done during an internship was more valuable than the title of PE/IB. I guess I misread it! (:

 
Best Response
thecoldburns Louboutins and Leverage: thecoldburns:

While $4b is a lot of money and is likely to be quite a decent firm, what's more important (or fun to me personally) would be the dry powder within the firm. I would rather do investment analysis over portfolio monitoring or creating fundraising materials. Just my 2c.

He's deciding between this and effectively working on borrowing base redeterminations at Wells... I agree if you are evaluating a PE fund as an exiting analyst the dry powder, industry focus, et al should be of chief concern but in this context he can't afford to be all that picky. Take this given your offers and then reevaluate in a year whether or not you wish to stay...

xoxo

Understandably, but isn't he choosing between 2 internship offers? I always felt that the actual work done during an internship was more valuable than the title of PE/IB. I guess I misread it! (:

So then it's even moreso the case that you should want to be doing PE work instead of whatever he would be doing in the other gig...

xoxo

[quote=Dirk Dirkenson]Shut up already. Your mindless, reflexive responses to any critical thought on this are tedious. You're also probably a woman, given the name and "xoxo" signoff, so maybe the lack of judgment is to be expected.[/quote]
 

People could be missing here what the actual work involved is -the fact that the PE internship might just be a glorified secretarial job, is that what you really wanna "learn" ? Talk to other ex-interns and find out what they actually did and how they fared post-internship.

"I'm making the day night till I die"

-Xoxo

Winners bring a bigger bag than you do. I have a degree in meritocracy.
 
Financier4Hire"I'm making the day night till I die" -Xoxo
Cute! That's like my signature! I likeeeeee!

xoxo

[quote=Dirk Dirkenson]Shut up already. Your mindless, reflexive responses to any critical thought on this are tedious. You're also probably a woman, given the name and "xoxo" signoff, so maybe the lack of judgment is to be expected.[/quote]
 
Financier4Hire

People could be missing here what the actual work involved is -the fact that the PE internship might just be a glorified secretarial job, is that what you really wanna "learn" ? Talk to other ex-interns and find out what they actually did and how they fared post-internship.

"I'm making the day night till I die"

-Xoxo

Doubt that will be much different than what he does at WFCF.

 

Take the PE job. It helps in getting first rounds FT. You might be doing secretarial stuff, but try to learn as much as you can, prep for banking interviews, and spin that shit. I know a lot of people would steer you towards experience, but its a summer internship. Speaking from personal experience; I had similar choices a few years back for internship.

 

Take the PE gig. Worst case they have you doing secretarial stuff -- you can always make up for it by getting as much real finance exposure as possible, doing some self-studying and spinning the experience later on.

I'm going into PE this summer knowing full-well the internship experience is shit, and I'm doing the above.

 

PE offer definitely sounds good. However my sophomore summer I worked in capital finance at one of Wells' competitors and got great experience/ tons of interviews for junior summer. Gaining credit analysis experience is great for your resume, employers/interviews love it, and you will get to work on live deals which you can spin perfectly for IB interviews. Both are good, just wanted to provide some color from the capital finance underwriting perspective (Wells also would have a great brand name for junior recruiting and would catch employers eyes immediately when they skim through resumes)

 

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