Top boutique in London vs. Top3 BB in regional office vs. BB in London
Hi guys
I was fortunate enough to receive an offer to join one of my top choices (which happens to be one of the top boutiques; think Centerview, Evercore, Greenhill, Houlihan, Moelis, Perella) for their 2015 graduate class in London. However, I also received an offer at a Top3 BB in a regional Continental European office (think Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, Paris). Lastly, I'm at an advanced stage with one of the other BBs (think Barclays, BAML, CS). All positions are for IBD / M&A.
I pretty much made up my mind and plan to go with the boutique, mostly due to the great fit and their culture. However, I feel like there is still a "BB or bust" mentality in London and boutiques aren't as strong as they are in the US. I haven't made up my mind on what I want to do in the future, but I obviously don't want to close any doors so far. Lastly, I prefer to work in London rather than in the regional office.
Any perspectives on my "dilemma"? Would it be silly to turn down a place like GS / MS / JPM, even if the position wouldn't be in London? Would I be better off joining a BB instead of a boutique in the first place?
Any recommendations, thoughts, and perspectives are highly appreciated.
Thanks a lot.
I would rather be in London. It has been discussed many times but EB's in London give you the same range of exit opps than a BB most of the times. I think Centerview & Perella maybe slightly less so as Perella focuses more on banking in the long term for its hires and Centerview is less known/present. Houlihan places very well in the distressed world and most big HF would be in reach if you went there (more so than from any BB). GHL placement in the last years has been so so but there are people at MF from there so it should be within reach as well.
Regional offices are always a notch below London in terms of deal quality and people so I would try to avoid them (also making the move to the buyside (while not impossible) is much more difficult if you are not based in London
Go with boutique in London - as discussed you won't close any doors. But more importantly banking can be a real grind at times and being at a bank that you really like with people you get along with will make it infinitely better.
Great advice, thanks a lot guys. Have some bananas.
Any other perspectives?
Go for the top boutique As said above, the fact that you feel there's a better fit in the boutique will make it way easier for you to go through your analyst stint. You don't want to be working 100h weeks with people you don't really like when you can do the same with better people and still have a really good name on your resume
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