BARCLAYS VS. GS INTERNSHIP...HELP!!
Hi,
I recently accepted an internship offer to work at Goldman as a spring analyst in Financial Controllers. The spring program is a feeder into the Summer program which obviously could lead to a full time.
However Barclays just offered me a position in Operations for the summer. The pay is better at Barclays but being an intern I just want to set myself up in the best way for the future.
I have always targeted GS and thats been my number 1 for a long time but after going several times to Barclays and meeting people I really enjoyed the people and culture. At Barclays, I feel there is much more room to travel and explore new opportunities as a full time employee which is something I really like.
Neither Operations nor Controllers is what I want to be doing 10 years from now, however I would like to be at one of these 2 banks in 10 years. I'm wondering if anyone knows which bank offers a better chance for internal movement from back to front office or between departments.
Ultimately, should I just work GS until the summer and then go to Barclays? Or, GS being GS should I ride it out through the spring and summer?
Please any and all advice is helpful to make this decision!!!
If not overlapping, do both. In case GS offers you a summer, be honest: say you already have a commitment and ask to have the GS summer offer transferred to the following year / sometime in winter/off-cycle.
This is a win for you as long as you are tactful.
Go with Monkey's suggestion above.
Thanks guys thats good advice but I'm still on the fence. I don't want to be stuck in middle office forever and I know Barclays has gotten bad press about its reluctance to move back office employees to front office & GS from what I've heard also isn't the ideal place to move back to front.
Also, I know that GS's spring program is a feeder for the summer and I feel that it would reflect negatively on me if I go to Barclays for summer in regards to returning to GS possibly for a full time.
Any other advice or help please?!?! anything is appreciated once again
I also got an offer for JP Morgan Chase operations but haven't thought much about it as JP wasn't as appealing to me as the others, but if it could translate to a better opportunity for the future I would definitely consider it.
So can anyone else help?!
None of these opportunities is ideal, although I'd say out of the three (JPM Ops, Barclays Ops, GS Finance) the GS offer is best. Also, by financial controllers are you actually in the controllers group or are you just in the finance division? I know they offer a part-time credit risk internship, so if that's the program you're in, you should take GS. Credit risk provides a solid chance to lateral into banking.
Ill be in the controllers group. I saw that they also offer the Credit Risk position but didn't interview for it as I had already been given the offer in controllers.
Bump
What did you end up deciding to do? Also, I know someone who did this spring part time internship in controllers (not sure if this is the same program that you're in), and she was then offered a summer internship, and she said the pay is higher for the summer internship.
Would you mind sharing the pay for Barclays? Trying to explore, and I thought that controllers jobs always paid higher than ops but maybe that's changed?
hey right now im doing a dual internship at GS & a boutique IB firm to kind of get experience on both sides- if she did it in the spring it was probably the same program I'm in now
I have held off my decision date to Barclays and had it extended to the end of January BC I'm still hoping that an IB offer comes before then (wish me luck) but PM me and I can give you more info about the Barclays offer
Barclays or GS ER Internship Decision (Originally Posted: 02/10/2013)
Hey everyone,
I'm a long-time lurker, but this is my first post on the site. I've been fortunate enough to land two positions for the summer and am looking for advice. The first offer is with Barclays Equity Research while the second is with Goldman Sachs GIR (will be placed in equities).
Barclays is ranked #2 overall on the Institutional Investor list and has a number of well-respected ex-Lehman analysts. GS is ranked #10 on II and is "not aiming for an II model" (not quite sure what that means). Obviously Goldman has the better overall name, and a number of my contacts on the street were not even aware that their research was not ranked as highly.
Basically I'm trying to decide which is more important: overall firm prestige or II rankings.
Another factor to consider: I've heard Goldman's conversion ratio is not very high (50-60% for S&T - not sure about research), while Barclays says they like to home-grow their analysts.
Finally, both offers are generalist. That means I'll be assigned to an analyst later in the spring based on need/fit/preferences. Obviously I can improve my odds of working with an II analyst by picking Barclays, but their is still some variability.
Which would you guys suggest I choose? I either intend to stay in sell-side research or move to HF/AM.
From everything you've said I would choose Barclays. I think quality experience (higher ranked in research, better chance of getting II analyst) should trump prestige. And for the jobs you're likely to apply for - staying in ss research or going to HF/am - the "prestige" doesn't matter as much, because the people interviewing you will know that Barclays has better research (assuming that's true from your post, personally I don't know), or you worked with a great analyst or whatever.
I'd go with Barclays, lot's of cool people there, and it's better. and the exit ops are probably better too.
Thanks for the input! Does anyone have any further perspective?
Careful there, anyone will say they like to home-grow their analysts. Consider other factors regarding the conversion ratio, such as poaching.
imo, Goldman is Goldman.
Thanks for the insight. I'd never considered the poaching aspect of the conversion ratio before. Though I still suspect it would be easier to convert a full-time offer at Barclays than Goldman. Would you say its worth the risk?
Clearly, you want to be in equity research. It follows that you'd want to be in the best equity research group possible. Barclays' sounds pretty damn strong.
Seems like a no-brainer to me.
Bump. Any further perspective? Deadline is approaching...
Not sure if other will disagree but I don't put much of a premium on the Goldman name when it comes to ER. In IB they're obviously best in class but I would not automatically credit their ER division the same level of prestige.
Working for the best analyst is the right way to go. Sounds like the Barclay's has more high-quality analysts.
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