Operations at a BB firm or investment banking analyst at a small/unknown firm. Which would have better exit opportunities? Which would look better for B-school?
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dude, are you serious? IBD at a small firm is FAR better, provided compensation doesn't suck.
If this is for FT you'd be an idiot to take ops over an actual IB offer. One will put a fancy name on your resume, the other will turn you into a banker. Ops would be fine for a freshman or sophomore internship.
the only cachet here is that the IB shop in question is not a complete chop shop that doesn't pay respectable salaries.
i knew a kid who was offered 30k base salary for an IBD analyst gig at some complete chop shop that had like 5 employees. I would rather take BB Ops gig over this kind of gig, for higher salary.
also, there are tons of prop trading firms in NYC that are complete chop shops. some of these firms offer no base salary but only commissions based income to their 'traders'. Avoid these shops at all costs.
cachet or caveat?
I know a bunch of people that took GS / BB ops over FO at a smaller company. In the short term they (may) make a few more $$$, but aside from that very rare person who jumps to FO, the majority of these kids sincerely regret it over time. A large percent (70% in some groups) of the FO staff at my current company (MM firm) jump to BB FO after 2 / 3 years but maybe 1 / 2% of the BB BO kids ever see the light of day without going back for more education.
If this is an internship, then go with the FO position. You can lever up and intern for a BB FO position next year. The only reasons for BB internships are (1) you want to work in BO or (2) you have nothing else.
If there's more to your story, please post as much information as possible, as there are definitely exceptions to the above generalizations. Year, location, GPA, FT/SA, target/non, etc...
The comments on this trend are very helpful. What is your view on IB at Nomura for summer internship?
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