I'm currently in my last year of university and have two full-time offers: GS Securities Division (S&T) & MM IBD
GS Securities Divison I started recruiting relatively late for internships my junior year at a non-target school and with enough networking landed a Summer Analyst gig at GS Operations last summer. Since then, my team has been integrated into the Securities Division, making it more cross-functional. The work will still not be the most exciting, mostly involving client service and project management as opposed to advisory - but being in GS Sec Div can possibly allow me to move internally after a year to an FO team withing Sec Div (S&T) or possibly to IBD (I've seen multiple analysts move internally with enough preparation and networking, although its not very common). The offer is at a large regional office, not an optimal location, but has the benefit of a low cost of living although the pay is not great.
MM IBD I also have an offer from a privately held middle market investment bank with about 1500 employees and 500 mm in revenue, but with relatively little name recognition/prestige/Corp Dev exit opps. Its an established firm located in California with strong MM FIG and Consumer deal flow and offices around the country, but since they're primarily based out of the west coast as opposed to NYC, they're not as well known. However, doing a year at the firm would allow me to lateral to an Elite MM or EB (BB if I'm lucky) after a year with enough networking. Past analysts have lateraled to HL, PWP, Rothschild, etc. The pay is slightly under that of the average on the street but still not bad. Just a side note, the overall lifestyle would be much better at this firm as I would be able to live right on the beach in SoCal.
Either way, I'd have to work a year before trying to lateral to a more optimal division/firm. MM IBD has about a 30k higher pay, but after accounting for the low cost of living in the GS regional office, my savings will probably somewhat similar. My career goal is to work IBD BB or EB for a couple of years, or possibly even S&T (If I'm able to lateral to a solid desk), obtain solid deal exposure, and eventually move to a Strategic Finance/Corp Dev role in Silicon Valley.
Would greatly appreciate any career advice! Thank you
It sounds like your interests lie much closer to IBD than S&T. Assuming that's correct, choose I'd choose MM IBD and not look back. It doesn't sound like there is a lot of overlap between this the operations position and IBD, which will make the transition within GS very challenging.
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