I'm starting a corporate finance internship at Goldman Sachs this week, which is a back office job. Although I'm excited to work at this company, I am more intrigued by something front office like IB or PE. That being said, should I:
1) Accept a BO job at GS (if given return offer) or 2) Try to land a FO job at a smaller bank or boutique?
What are the pros and cons of these 2 career paths?
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There are a lot of threads about this on WSO. Try searching for them.
In terms of advice though, the general consensus is that it is pretty hard to move from BO to FO in the same firm. It is much easier to transition from doing one thing at one place to doing the same thing at a different place. Also, if you are intrigued by FO, then why don't you actually pursue it even though it may be at a boutique? That way, you can tell whether you actually like FO.
FO at a boutique. End of story. It's A what you are interested in and B you can try to lateral from a small boutique to a MM or MM to BB eventually.
You won't gain any relevant skills in a BO job that you probably want. Moving from BO Goldman to FO GS IBD Classics will be nearly impossible.
Go for the front office position at a lesser shop, without a doubt.
We've been conditioned to think in terms of brands, but one should always chose function over reputation. There is a Jewish saying "it is better to be a tail to a lion than a head of a fox" but it's one of the few times when the Jews got it wrong. You get to eat more as a head and would not get any shit splatter like you would being a tail.
I don't think the Jews got it wrong. It's just that phrase doesn't apply to the case here.
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