With the help/advice posted on this forum, I was finally able to land two summer internship offers for my junior year. However, I wanted everyone's opinion on which one to take when considering my long term goals.
Two offers: boutique investment bank (M&A) and private equity (~$5.2B AUM)
Long term goal: private equity
Concerns:
Both internships are quality internships; the banking internship is self explanatory while the private equity internship involves a lot of modeling and due diligence (sometimes flying out with analysts or associates to assess management teams, etc). Question becomes, which will get me to my long term goal in the best possible manner?
Brand recognition - The boutique investment bank is well known in its region but less so elsewhere. The private equity fund is not that well known among banks and other pe shops outside its targeted industry.
Location - The boutique investment bank is in a relatively large city which means that I can always network in person on top of my cold-emailing routine. The private equity shop is in a small city and networking within the area is pointless.
Full-time opportunities - Both places don't have good internship to full time conversion rates; more notably the pe shop is highly selective.
So... if you were in my position, which offer would you take and why?
There are two schools of thought on this:
I honestly can't say which is the better choice. If it were my decision, it would probably come down to the quality of each. Feel free to PM me with the names if you want feedback in that regard (confidence assured, of course).
With the information given, I would personally probably end up going with the bank due to location and generalist nature of it.
Congratulations on the offers and good luck.
Gut reaction - if you want to work in PE, then get in PE
Consideration - sounds like the PE shop may be in a niche industry, based on your 'target industry' comment. If this is a RE, FIG or energy PE firm and you are not set on any of these industries, could be a reason to take the banking offer. However, since this is an internship, you'll still have the flexibility to look elsewhere before committing full-time
Question - $5Bn+ AUM decent size/decent, how is the fund not well known? What is the size of equity capital in the active fund(s)?
I agree with you both; if I want to go into PE long term, take the PE internship. But I'm skeptical about the probability of me landing a full-time PE gig after graduation. The "niche" PE shop is 1) in a city I would hate to work in, 2) near-zero chance to convert into full time position, and 3) I'm skeptical about being able to leverage this experience at other PE shops.
So taking that into account, I was thinking that full-time IB after graduation should be my short term goal that will hopefully get me to my long term goal. That being said, would the boutique IB internship give me a significant advantage in full-time recruiting for IB compared to a PE internship?
If the marginal advantage in the IB internship is small, then I might take a risk and try to kill it during my PE internship and pray that it'll lead me to a potential PE gig after graduation.
h3dgehog - I can't asses whether the banking or PE internship would place you better for FT PE
in general, PE internship would put you in a much better position for a PE job / your long-term goal, but sounds like the PE opportunity may have some real warts. Sounds like the banking opportunity is marginal / not a top M&A boutique, so PE still seems to be the best move to me
also, when you say 'for your junior year' does this mean you are a current sophomore / rising junior? if that's the case, think you should take the PE job and not look back, if your long-term goal is to be in the industry
What I meant to say is that the PE shop is focused on one "niche" industry. As a result, only other PE shops focused on that industry or respective IB industry groups are fully aware of their presence.
$5.2B AUM sounds legit as fuck to me. Would be interested in some more info on the boutique bank.
The boutique bank is on the lower end of boutiques with only a regional presence.
Just based on AUM, I agree but the chances to get full-time offer is close to none due to their mindset: "Unless we NEED an analyst ASAP, we'll just keep an eye on you. Come back when you have 3-5 experience elsewhere and get an MBA" (assuming that I kill it during the summer). As many of you guys know, lean PE teams can afford be picky and wait for the perfect candidate.
Like Generals stated, I might lean towards the PE internship. I'll either be a lucky bastard and get a ft offer with them or just leverage it into a ft in IB. Not 100% sold but I only have a week and a half to decide...
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