So I just received an offer for the SA IBD position at Bear Stearns for this summer, and I am hoping to recieve an offer from Houlihan Lokey as well. If I end up with the choice, what does everyone think about which firm to choose in terms of best summer analyst job, as well as future career options.
Also, monty09 has been a great resource for me in prepping for my interviews. Send him a PM if you have questions.
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Bear
Definitely Bear.
I'm not sure why you're even debating the two options.
I would take HLHZ... but that's just personal preference. I'm not a big fan of Bear and have always admired HLHZ.
HLHZ is admirable because, when compared to other MMs it looks great. Bear never looks great because it's compared to BBs. But Bear vs. HLHZ is pretty easy - assuming your criteria is size, prestige, name recognition, deal size etc.
hands down bear
Bear for sure..things will get better eventually
We need a poll option on this board...
Bear Stearns, for sure.
I personally believe it depends upon the group. HLHZ has a great Restructuring Division that is very respectable, more so than most groups at Bear. Plus, you will have gret exposure to the current mess, which will allow you to leverage that offer into something even bigger. Furthermore, the people/culture at Bear is certainly not for everyone...
I will echo the post above me. If you want to do resturcturing you should def. go with Houli. If not, name recognition of a BB is always a plus.
HLHZ restructuring is one of hte best on the Street. Regarding their m&a, i don't see how it is such a definite choice. People who haven't heard of HLHZ are high school and college kids, but people konw they are the best MM firm and have solid exit opps. At Bear, you'll be second tier to the JPM CITI...etc, which are second tier to GS/MS.
Distressed debt is going to be an interesting place to be over the next few years so it might not be a bad idea to get exposure to a restructuring shop. Regardless of which SA gig you take, I believe your full-time fall interview opportunities will be exactly the same. If you don't like the experience, you can always trade up to a more "prestigious" restructuring shops or BB in the fall.
Yea. I know their restructuring is the best which in this market is a pretty big plus. But the market will inevitably recover, as will Bear. Keeping in mind that the goal of the SA is to turn it into a full time offer/career, which does everyone provides better advancement opportunities within the firm, as well as exit ops?
a kid from my school interned at HL this past summer and he had a hard time getting offers with BBs for FT. I think he eventualy went back to HL.
People act like because Bear got hit hard with subprime and a couple of their funds blew up that working in their IBD is somehow different than it was 6 months ago. Newsflash, guys, it's still business as usual in the office at Bear. You still get the same experience as a summer there as you did last year (except less dealflow - which is true all around, not just at Bear).
That being said, I would honestly think hard about what shop you would rather be at full time. Sure, it's quite possible to take an HLHZ or Bear full time offer and leverage it into a full time offer at another better bulge. But I think next year the first year analyst classes will be smaller, with a higher percentage coming from returning summers (meaning less open positions for anyone else). So, in the event that you're stuck with your full time offer after your summer and can't leverage it into anything else, give some thought as to what bank you'd rather be at. Personally, my vote goes to Bear. HLHZ is a great shop for what they do and I have alot of friends that work there, but trust me, the exits are not the same. Just like the exits (in general) are not the same from Bear as they are from Morgan.
HLHZ. You want a company on the way up, not the way down.
I'm not so sure HLHZ is on the "way up".
They seem pretty comfortable in the middle to me.
this thread really tells in retrospect
Sure it does. Hindsight is always 20/20.
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