Turn down FT BB offer for MBB recruiting??
Hi all,
Let me preface this by saying how I realize how fortunate I am to be in this situation at all. I know there are scores of kids who would think I'm being a fool for even considering this, especially during COVID, but as this is a big decision I figured it'd be worth asking here.
I recently interned at a "top" BB this summer in a product group. While I liked the people I worked with, I generally found the work less interesting than I had expected and the hours a bit more brutal than expected (staffed on live deals, working 90-110 hours a few weeks). Previously, I had been interested in consulting because I imagine based on my interests that the work would appeal to me slightly more, but had elected to focus my recruiting efforts on IB due to the early deadlines and pervasive groupthink that exists at the school I attend, which could be considered a target for both consulting and IB. To boot, from conversations with people in the industry I gather that the work life balance is generally better (traveling sounds brutal and hours are still tough but weekends sound generally more protected), which I believe I'd value a lot. Also for what it's worth, I believe traveling wouldn't be a huge consideration considering I genuinely love traveling and bumping shoulders with new people.
In short: as someone who cherishes time with family and friends, I really could see myself enjoying the slightly reduced workload of consulting. However, with COVID making recruiting a virtual nightmare and with many consulting firms giving auto-offers to their summer interns, I'm not sure how likely it would be to receive an offer from an "equal" firm in the consulting space as where I interned this summer. On paper at least, I feel as though I would only really be happy with my decision to switch roles if I was able to land a FT offer at MBB. Though I realize how privileged this sounds, I feel as though this would be the only type of trade-off worth the risk and uncertainty of rejecting my current offer.
Any advice or opinions would really be appreciated. Thanks!
i think it's best to accept and renege if you don't hear back anywhere before the BB offer expires. in this economy, it's especially difficult to say no to an offer and I'd have to think reneging is a little more acceptable now. would love to hear others' input however
Reading your post, I can't help but see the next 10-15 years of your life. I've seen it happen so often. Here's how it plays out:
College kid doesn't have Job #1 (banking) but glamorizes it due to "grass is greener" syndrome
College kid gets Job #1
College kid doesn't have Job #2 (consulting) but glamorizes it EVEN MORE because of "grass is greener" syndrome
<<His future>>
College kid gets Job #2, but glamorizes MBA because of "grass is greener" syndrome and because he hasn't figured how to choose a job
College kid gets MBA
College kid chooses Job #3 (Product Manager) realizing it's the Perfect Job. He works for Amazon given the high odds they give for PM roles to MBAs vs. others.
College kid realizes Job #1-3 all suck. He then realizes that all jobs suck and are a means to an end, nothing more except for a very select few who are workaholics or start their own companies.
College kid gets a corporate role somewhere with easy hours and starts a family. He stops living his life based on expectations of others.
College kid lives happily ever after.
OP here.
Not that it matters at all, but for anyone who contributed to this thread who might be interested I actually recently accepted the offer. My main motivations for accepting were 1) economic/recruiting prospects in the next year, 2) conversations with analysts in the group, and 3) after doing some research with MBB and reaching out I found that they were unable to expedite interviews.
Anon. Associate 2's comment above might've been intended as a joke, but truthfully it did help with the realization that this first job does not have to be my career. I think we get so caught up in the short term that it's easy to forget that more often than not the first job for most people won't be too indicative of future success or even career path to some extent (though it certainly has influence). Thank you to everyone who contributed to this post; hope you all are safe and well and that everyone who was in a similar position is able to come to happy terms with whatever they decide on!
-Inc Analyst in IBD