Freshman decision between unpaid search fund internship and paid MM fixed income risk management summer internship
I'm having a really tough time deciding between continuing with my unpaid search fund internship or pursuing a paid fixed-income risk management internship in LA. The partner I'm working for at my search fund told me I need to think about the long-term vision of my career (My end goal is HF/PE) and heavily encouraged me to stay onboard (he invested time to train me), but I'm worried that I'm passing up a great opportunity to get paid and learn a MO role which I can leverage for an IB internship next year.
Am I being short-sighted for wanting to get paid this early on in my career? Can anyone else who's worked for a small PE Firm or Search Fund tell me about how it helped them break into PE or IB? What are the advantages of working in fixed income risk management?
Thanks!!!
Unless the search fund is beautifully ran, I would recommend doing the paid risk internship. My search fund experience wasn't great, it's a decent talking point, but I wouldn't say it would be better than your other option.
Did you feel like the experience prepared you for working in a big PE firm like Blackstone or Bain? Did your boss write you a rec letter and if so did it help?
You are absolutely not being short sighted on getting paid. I do not know your financial situation, but college costs $$ and this $$ you would be making could help in some respect. If this guy was really interested in your career and not just looking for free labor, he would offer to pay you something to keep you there.
Another point I would make is that you are a freshman, you have no idea what you want to do, and getting the opportunity to experience a different part of the industry could change what you end up wanting to do long term. Since the job is in LA, I am going to assume the FI risk gig is @ an asset manager, you could end up liking the FI markets and wanting to get a full time job in FO (analyst/trader/PM) on the buyside or maybe you want to try your hand at S&T.
You also already have this search fund experience on your resume so you will have some talking points for any future IB interviews.
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