Hello, I'm seeking some insight from you wall-street-ers about 2 offers. I am trying to choose the job opportunity that will lead to better exit opportunities down the road. I am a recent graduate from a state school with decent but not amazing grades in Applied Mathematics & Economics.
Offer 1: Niche audit position at a respected but regional CPA firm Offer 2: Jr. Operations position at a MM investment bank
They pay similar (aka not much) but thats what I'm working with and I'm happy to hear back at all tbh. I would appreciate helpful responses, thanks in advance!
If I was in audit I would have probably shot myself by now
By exit opportunities I think you really mean mobility or growth opportunities (the opportunity to lateral to a client facing or more analytical role). With that in mind, I recommend the Ops gig, but it really depends on what your goals are.
Not the advice you were seeking, but: there's nothing mediocre about graduating with two finance job offers in hand. Plenty of extremely successful people had far more humble starts to their careers. Run your own race.
This - both these jobs may not be high finance but they are respected roles and you will do well as long as you perform.
Regarding your original Q - I honestly lean more towards audit just because you can exit into basically any firm working in their FP&A, Treasury or acct department. You could even jump into a controller type role at a PE shop. Ops at a bank basically leads to zero transferable skills outside financial institutions.
I worked in operations accounting at a F500 company, and let me say that a good amount of operations jobs don't provide transferable skills. It was hard to get out without lateraling.
I'd recommend audit if you're looking for better exit opportunities.
Audit and get your CPA. Network consistently and feel out what opportunities are available every few months during your first few years. Jump at the first opportunity that gets you aligned with where you want to be.
And cut the "mediocre" shit, act like you've been there.
Audit..and then after 1-2 years you can lateral within the Big4 to something else...possibly consulting..which you will probably enjoy.
I will echo what most have said already.
Audit and work towards your CPA. Plenty of opportunity out there in FP&A, BIG 4, consulting, etc.
Don't sell yourself short, you are defined by a lot more than your university and GPA.
I do ops for a Fortune 500 company , pretty simply job not much stress only work a small amount out of my day and get around 65k in Alabama . Just saying Alabama very low cost of living since not a wealthy state
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