Renege EB for niche buy-side opps?
Currently a second year at a target. Signed at a top EB for junior summer, however, two niche buyside opportunities have recently come up that I am much more excited about. One is at a top VC and the other is at a hedge fund with ~60B AUM. I am pretty confident about landing either of these two roles, given that I’ve networked heavily with the VC + have had multiple VC internships and the HF intentionally reserves two junior summer spots for the super small org I am a part of on campus. These are truly once in a lifetime opportunities. Admittedly, getting a return offer for full time at either of these places is next to impossible, but alumni who summered at these places have all exited to top VC/GE/MF PE/top BB IBD groups/MBB, so I am not too worried about full time prospects.
The biggest issue for me is the EB. The opportunity came about pretty early on in my recruitment process, and I was told by many that I would be stupid not to take it. But I am pretty disillusioned with IB (especially EBs) and already have plans to recruit out full-time. My biggest fear is that if I renege that it would hurt me reputationally at an early point in my career given that it’s a top EB. My long term goal is GE/VC. What is the best route to take here (assuming I get one of the buy-side offers)?
PM was in a similar situation
I personally would not renege, but would be curious to get other people's perspectives.
With the current market environment, I would take the top EB offer (assuming its one of PJT, EVR, CVP) and not even entertain anything else
will get you the same looks after the internship as the 2 gigs you got (better looks if its something like PJT RX, evr m&a or cvp), will guarantee that you have a FT offer if you perform well (vs the buyside where its impossible to convert as you mentioned)
alternatively, if you go to the eb, stick it out for 2 years, you’ll be able to exit to wherever you want incl GE/VC.
i know that the buyside opportunities sound more interesting, but its just not worth the risk in general, especially in the current market
you've already had the vc experience too, so not sure what you’ll get out of it if you do more VC/ge internships. Yes, more experience is great but once you have a base level experience, no one really cares as you are still a grad. unless you are doing it for brand name
if you just want them because its what you want to do/like, just hold out for a while, take the eb summer and revaluate with a FT offer in hand (when the market is clearer)
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