Dilemma with FT Recruiting

seville

SirBarneyFrom what I've heard, usually FT spots go to SA...so yeah you might have some trouble. But seeing as you have a decent past, what's the dilemma?

Right, that's the thing. Most banks recruit their SA to FT. I feel like direct FT positions will be limited and due to that, the competition will be even higher. I do have a decent past, but no BB experience. I ultimately want to work for a BB, but it's going to be hard. My dilemma is if I should take another year of school to use that time to do a summer internship for a BB then eventually crawl into FT. That's definitely a huge commitment though. I don't know which option will outweigh which.

I recruited FT after I got my offer, and my experience was that there were definitely fewer slots open and the process seemed more competitive than when I recruited for SA. Not only are you competing against kids shopping around their offers, but also there are those who interned in different industries (consulting, trading, accounting, etc.) trying to make a switch, and since many banks just hire their entire SA class, many banks didn't even recruit FT.

Despite this, I wouldn't recommend taking an extra year of school just to try and get BB (I'm assuming you're an SA at a MM/boutique right now and do wind up getting a FT offer from your firm). Here's why:

First, there's no guarantee that you'll get a SA BB offer, and even if you do, there's no guarantee you'll get a FT offer out of this, so there's a whole lot of risk involved.

Second, if you have an opportunity to work in IBD fulltime, you can always have the chance to lateral to a BB or other firm, and fulltime work experience will always be held in higher regard than an internship. You'd essentially be foregoing not only a year's worth of salary and paying extra tuition, but you'd also be putting yourself in a situation where you potentially may not end up in IBD.

Personally, I don't think it's worth it to take an extra year of school, but in the end the decision's really up to you. You can always shop around your offer after you get it, and you might also consider looking into MSF programs if you decide to take the 5th year route.