I have an offer from a solid boutique in NYC for an IB summer analyst position, but through a family friend, a small shop Hedge Fund ($3.5B) has offered me a position. Obviously it is impossible to consider every factor, but all else being equal, which experience would be more beneficial in the long-run?
Thanks for the advice!
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How old are you? If you're a freshman or a sophomore, I would strongly recommend the HF this summer. If your ultimate goal is IB then you're obviously going to want to do IB SA after your junior year. In my opinion, freshman/sophomore summers are then there for you to try out different things you might be interested in post-IB (I did PWM/PE, respectively). I'm a big believer in actually trying things out before you know if you like them. Everyone talks about how PE/HF is the promised land, but how do you know if it's for you? Try it out. (Also, in my experiences, not doing IB has provided no sort of disadvantage through SA recruiting.)
That said, if you're a junior trying to get into IB then I would say that getting actually IB experience is of primary importance if you plan on trying to get into a bigger bank for FT.
Thanks for the comments guys...I guess I didn't realize how big that HF is. I'm a junior now, so I'm really looking at my career options. I want to try the HF, but I'm worried it will hurt my career moves moving forward. Thoughts?
If you are a junior that drastically changes the equation. I believe that turns your goal for the summer from simply exploration to a more urgent "I need a job when I graduate." The question of what you want to do long term is still there, though, but it simply is a tiebreaker in my mind. The real question is if there is the potential for a full-time offer at the end of the summer from either of these shops. If yes for both, in comes your preference. If yes for one, your decision has pretty much been made. If no for both, I would lean towards the IB position because it will help for FT IB recruiting more (and FT HF recruiting is almost non-existent).
3.5Bn is not small
No-name HF vs. Elite Boutique (Originally Posted: 07/15/2011)
I have offers for off-season internships during this upcoming academic year and assuming I can't make both work, which would you choose?
One is an IB internship at an Elite Boutique in NY (Allen, Blackstone, Evercore)
The other would be at a no-name HF that I know nothing about and I can't find any stats online.
I don't know if any of you've read Money Business (if not, do) but when one of them makes the switch to a HF he talks about how for the first time since b-school he was actually using his brain again (after 2 years as an associate at DLJ).
So would a HF be a more valuable/educational experience even if it's not at a brand name place? Certainly every place has its unique culture but, generally speaking, which would be better?
Echoing this!! Go for HF, if you don't like it will help you a lot when it comes to recruiting for IB in the future.
eb because of brand recognition which will make the transition easier down the road. And you need to hedge your bets.
but tbh buy side is more intellectually rewarding than the sell side.
Holy cow, yeah I LOL'd when I read "small $3.5B fund".
Definetly take the elite boutique. You typically learn a shit load of stuff and these places have pretty great training programs. I'm assuming at the HF you'll have to learn everything yourself and no one will have time or inclination to teach you anything. Congrats on the offers though.
Elite Boutique, hands down.
And if it's Evercore or BX, that's extremely impressive. Congrats!
elite boutique. at the very least, it will help you expand your network, which is crucial down the road, either for recruiting on business
It's an internship - you won't be using your brain. Go with banking.
yeah EB hands down.
HF/PE will always be there after EB experience
boutique ib vs boutique hf (Originally Posted: 03/05/2013)
........
why would you consider IB when your career goal for next year is S&T? IB will give you a broader base and decent experience. it will give you many options the following year.
but if you know that you really want S&T, then why don't you just work with the HF and see if you can swing it there?
HF any day. I'm biased though
Take the HF offer if you want to end up in S&T.
unknown boutique SA vs. small hf? (Originally Posted: 02/24/2011)
hey guys,
which of the two is the better bet? the hf has 1 bn under management. ideally id like to get into PE straight out of undergrad. if not then a bb FT. would they look more highly on hf experience? or some unknown boutique?
....
$1bn fund >>>>> no name boutique. Not even a question. Wouldn't really even call that a small HF.
Yea dude a 1bn dollar hf is in no way small.
Yeah go for the HF. Unless you aren't doing a lot of FO type stuff there, it'd probably be a better experience.
any more thoughts? how will BB ibds look at HF experience?
L/S HF or Boutique IB (Originally Posted: 05/31/2012)
I'm currently a junior at a target with the eventual goal of breaking into private equity or HFs. I was unable to land a BB IB offer after mangling a couple of super days. Ideally, I'd like to position myself for another shot with the BBs. The L/S fund is reasonably sized with an AUM of around 2B whereas the boutique is about three people with decent deal flow and a focus on smaller TMT deals. Obviously, I'd like to go into FT IB recruiting with some wind behind my back. Which position would best allow me to do that?
HF no brainer.
I would take HF as long as you are doing FO investment analysis work. A case could be made for the boutique, but seeing as it is sooo small, I am skeptical.
I ended up taking the HF offer. Any insight into what type of positions open up for FT recruiting? Would I be competitive for an FT offer from a larger HF ie Citadel or SAC?
boutique vs hedge fund (Originally Posted: 06/19/2014)
Hi Guys, I know this question might be difficult to answer given the lack of company names i provide, but do you guys think as a HIGH SCHOOL INTERN, working at a boutique investment bank will give me more valuable experience than at a hedge fund? Or are they pretty much equal?
It will depend what you want to do in the long run. It will also depend on what you will be doing. If you do meaningful work at one but not the other, it's best to go where they will give you meaningful work. Also, as lame as this sounds, the one with the more recognizable or respected name will be a leg up in your resume going forward. But as a high school intern, either opportunity is really good, especially compared to the opportunities of your peers across the country.
Thanks for your response. The problem is I don't know which one is going to give me more meaningful work haha, I think the hedgefund will give me research work? Is that good? No idea for the boutique. The problem is I dont want to email both of them and if they both offer me a position, i dont want to have to decline one of them because i feel that's pretty rude especially since im only in hs.
It sounds like you still haven't reached out to them, haven't been in touch with them and don't have offers from either of them, am I correct? If that's the case reach out to both. Getting an internship in college is tough, in high school even tougher. Unless they're both family members who will definitely both give you internships and it'll make it awkward at the Thanksgiving dinner table, you'll probably have to reach out to more than 2 firms anyway. That's not meant in a demeaning way at all.
If you really have no idea what each entails just go with the better brand name or the one you're more interested in. If you're trying to break into IB, go for the IB internship and same with the HF. If you have no idea, just go with the one that you think you will build better connects with.
I echo Dingdong08. First get the offers (barring them being family members/friends) and decide. Sometimes it takes emailing more than just 2 firms to get a job offer.
Any sort of work would be good enough. If you haven't taken any finance classes, they won't expect you to do modeling. Even if it's getting coffee and sitting around the office, at least you can see how a firm works and learn from the people around you.
Thanks guys for the advice, I'm only thinking about two firms so far because i have a unique connection with these two firms. It's not a family member connection, but I'm part of this business program and both these companies are actively involved in this program. Again, don't you think it might be a bit rude if I reached out to the the IB and HF and they both offered me a position? I feel like that would portray me in a negative light.
In terms of brand names, I'm not sure. The HF is on the list of top 20 largest HFs based on wikipedia. The IB is much smaller. However, it is part of a much larger privae financial services company (think fidelity).
So why don't you just write one firm today and wait for their response? It's probably not going to take weeks to get a "no" which with all due respect might be more likely than you think even though you have a unique connection. At both firms I would expect you to do research so it doesn't really matter. Given the apparent size of the hedge fund and the usually shorter decision-making process in HFs (which means you might see more about "how things work") I'd go with that option.
EuroLocust, that's exactly what I plan on doing, i'm trying to figure out which one to emal first tho, and get a response. Based on these responses, I think i'll go with the HF first. Thanks guys
I think I was playing Quake around your age.
I say go for the hedge fund. It will be applicable to almost anything you plan on doing in finance and it will open doors for you as a college student looking for internships.
Seriously given that you have a unique chance at both firms, and that the HF is recognized, you should go with the HF.
Turns out this thread was pretty much useless because I can't even find the person's email for the HF haha.
nevermind, i was able to find it by randomly guessing haha, google is amazing
I think people people completely misunderstand "connections", especially this OP. A "connection" that you can reasonably rely on to get a job or internship is one you've consistently communicated with and developed a relationship with (whether it's a family member, random acquaintance, or anything else). If you "can't even find the person's email" you are so far away from having a connection that it's not even reasonable to expect him to reply to your email, let alone help you get a job.
@looparbitrage I understand what a connection is. I'm not claiming I have a traditional connection, all I'm saying is that the person at the HF has a very unique connection to my program and therefore I have a higher chance of landing a job than some random kid emailing him/her. It's kind of like emailing college alumni and asking for job opportunities, but in my case, the program is much much more exclusive as in there are far less people than a college.
But, @bobster it's almost late June and you're in high school. I think you're really underestimating how hard it is to get a job, even if it's within a special program. I hope the best for you but even emailing college alumni doesn't always lead to a job offer.
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