Hello all,
I am a rising senior that wants to do IB for full time.
My options are :
Boutique IB - guys there are pretty nice. Most upper management people are from BBs/ MMs. They will provide training for modeling. The task will involve cold calling, valuation, and research, whichever is necessary.
Real Estate Advisory - I will be responsible for underwriting/ modeling. This is a fund that values real estate properties for buyers and sellers. It occasionally puts its own fund in there,too.
Product Analyst Internship - This is for an insurance company doing due diligence on insurance products, etc.
Private Equity Internship - a $3B PE fund. However, the interview kept on telling me that the internship will NOT involve financial modeling, although they have a whole team for it. I will be responsible for looking at different proposals that sellers/IBs submit and doing a lot research on those companies. Basically, I will provide whatever information necessary to the fund via research. The PE fund is involved in some interesting stuff. However, I am afraid that the lack of financial modeling will hurt me a lot.
Which option should I choose to better prepare me? Thx guys.
Eric
I'd got with #4. From what I've heard, not even some SAs at BBs get to model during their internships. When I was interviewing for FT IB @ a BB, they told me I wouldn't touch modelling until 6 months into the job.
I doubt you will be at any disadvantage whatsoever. Plus, #4 sounds like the most interesting option and $3B is a pretty decent sized firm.
I had an internship in PE (small boutique, $1 B AUM) before recruiting started last fall. You should think about what you want long term. Are you pursuing IBD because you want to move on to PE/HF, or because you want to give banking a chance and test the waters of finance? If it's the former, go with the PE internship, and make sure you have a good idea of what the chances are that you could get an offer to return. Otherwise, I think A. might be best. One question that always came up during interviews was what I thought of working in PE, and the key was to tie the work to banking (not hard, but still, it will come up often). That is, if you had the choice of interning in IB and PE and you want to work in IB, it would make sense otherise to take the IB offer.
How about this boutique? How big? Do you think the senior guys are well connected and since it's a small group, you could get them to help you set up offers this fall? Could you get an offer there?
Think those things through, and I think your answer might be a bit more clear. Hope that helps.
Thanks for the insights. Anyone else?
To Alphaholic,
I want to join venture capital firms or run my own business in the long term. I don't think I will get a return offer since most guys in there are either experienced ex- bankers or people who have worked for 2-3 years in other PE shops/merchant banks. However, I can ask.
If I have the choice of working PE or IB, I would definitely go with the PE offer. However, I just heard the chance are really slim for an undergrad to move onto a decent PE shop, and most require 2-3 IB experience.
The boutique is about 20-25 people, with around 8 MDs. The senior guys are coming from the MMs and some BBs that are pretty good in LA ( Houlihan, CS, JPM, etc.) However, I am not so sure about asking them to help me out for the fall recruiting, since I don't think they are ever in the office. I will need to ask the people there to see if they give out full time offers.
Thank you for your input!
If you're trying to get a BB ibanking job, then I say go with the boutique ibank. Your description of #1 seems like it will involve more banking work anyway as opposed to research/whatever (bitch work) the PE will give you. Also you will learn modeling. Choose the job that you think you will LEARN the most and get to CONTRIBUTE the most, so you can talk about it better in full-time interviews. Also, if the upper management people are from BB's, they can provide you with connections/references.
Lastly, go with the firm that seemed that you would enjoy as well. Where did you get the best vibe and the feeling that you will get to learn and work a lot?
The thing is, I have a friend who is starting at boutique now.
However, he has been sitting around doing nothing much for the past 2 days because the whole office is out for pitching. Is this normal?
Also, supposedly the bank is bringing one or two live deals this summer, would the bank let me have the chance to work on them? Or would I be doing something else?
If I was a FT banker, there would be no way in hell I'd let an intern do any of the modeling, but I ain't a banker :P
I think, if anything, the work will pretty much be the same whether you go with #1 or #4, both will require you to do the bitchwork.
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