FT offer at no name boutique VS SA at Top MM
Hello fellow WSOers,
I’m in a MASSIVE dilemma right now. Please help me decide.
I just graduated and have a FT offer at a no name boutique (pitching all day for 10-30MM deals albeit solid deal flow) and have an offer from a top MM shop (HL, Guggenheim, Oppenheimer etc)
Should I work at the no name boutique and try to lateral or take the SA and risk it for the biscuit?
Please advise?
If you're going to try and lateral from the boutique anyway why not just go straight to the MM and go for a return offer? Seems like the lower risk scenario to me
Thank you for your input. Do you know how Oppenheimer or Piper Jaffray stack up? In terms of name and return offers?
No clue on Oppenheimer. Piper is a well respected MM, I know a couple of people there who have spoken well of it, actually just had a conversation with a former analyst that successfully made a MM PE exit. I have only heard anecdotal info on return offers ranging from 70-80% to as low as 40-50%. Completely anecdotal though and I’m not in a position to give concrete info on their process.
.
No Name Boutique FT or MM SA (Originally Posted: 02/25/2011)
So basically I'm a senior, applied for SA positions, ended up landing one with a MM firm (RBC/RBS/Baird/etc.). However, I'm still interviewing for a few FT positions at a bunch of no-name boutiques (think 5-10 person shops). Do you guys think I'm better off taking the MM firm, then going through fall recruiting again and staying in school an extra semester. Or should I just take the FT offer if I get one? What about a decent MM/boutique (Morgan Keegan/Stephens/FBR/etc.) with good deal flow for FT? What if I got a really small no name boutique or small boutique with decent dealflow (ie. Petsky Prunier) but not much prestige? Would you still take that over the SA offer?
Thank you for your input. Do you know how Oppenheimer or Piper Jaffray stack up? In terms of name and return offers?
I'd take the decent MM firm. Network, work hard and you'll land a BB once FT comes around. Make sure you pick up a minor or something, don't just take 1 or 2 classes.
I would take the boutique. Better be safe than sorry, I've heard of a lot of stories of people not getting return offers. The thing is, you'll never know if you'll get along with the group and not screw up on your projects.
I would say MM without a doubt. You can leverage an MM into a BB for full-time, or in any case an MM is far far far far far far far far far far far far far far far far far far far far far far better than a random 5-person boutique, and I'm probably DRAMATICALLY understating the difference. RBC, RBS, and Baird are all 3 very solid shops, while a 5 person boutique could very probably be just half pitching and half administrative/back office/data entry work since they might not have an office admin.
Contrary to the "boutiques have more deal experience" bullshit (maybe true for MMs and boutiques), I've worked at a no name boutique and a ton (50%) of my work there was data entry, never had that experience with larger firms.
MM>>>>>>>small, dogshit boutique
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Petsky Prunier?
No
Petsky Prunier is a solid boutique that does deals, the firms he referred to had 5 employees
Anyone else got any other opinions?
Bump
I worked at a no name 5 person boutique andc now am at one of the strongest MM. I would personal go with the MM. Incomparable experience.
Bump, this is trying in insane trying to make a decision, especially considering my deadline is coming up soon.
decent MM firm, i'm not sure what the dilemma is. There are no downsides to the MM and no upsides to the boutique. why is this even a question?
Downside? There's plenty of downside.
If I took the MM, didn't get the offer, I'd be graduating another year later and still be jobless.
If I took the boutique, I could have potentially notched 1 year of experience under my belt and lateraled to MM/BB by the time I started at the MM for FT (not to mention all the $ you save from not being in school / make while working / opportunity cost of staying in school).
Shit sorry, did not see No name boutique FT vs. MM SA. stupid of me. just thought it was boutique SA vs MM SA. in this case, it's closer but i'd still say MM SA. depends on the offer rate though, if it's high like 80% or something you'd have to actually not do what they tell you to not get an offer or flake a ton
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