Would You Take the Better Role in a City You Hate?

Recently reconnected with a former manager at a large asset management firm where I previously interned in a product/client PM function supporting fixed income strategies.

The team brought up the possibility of returning full time after graduation. It’s the only serious offer I have, and the role is objectively strong: PM exposure, product strategy, institutional-facing work, direct markets exposure, and generally more substantive work than a lot of entry-level finance roles.

The hesitation is mostly lifestyle/location related. The role is based in a city I’ve already spent undergrad in and honestly did not enjoy very much. Most of my friends have already graduated and moved out, while my girlfriend, family, and broader personal life are centered around New York. I also would not be paying rent if I moved back home.

The manager also mentioned he would help if I pursued another internal path closer to NY. The realistic alternative would likely be some kind of executive office / wholesale business management role supporting senior leadership across markets and banking. From the posting, it seems more like COO-office work, presentations, meeting prep, internal coordination, and strategic initiative tracking than actual investing. Better location and probably broader corporate exposure, but also the type of role that can drift into polished corporate BS work if you are not careful.

Comp also complicates things because the pay range for both roles appears roughly the same. Realistically, if I stayed in the first city, I’d probably end up coming back to New York constantly anyway.

Given the current job market, part of me thinks beggars can’t be choosers and I should just bite the bullet and take the stronger AM/product role because it is more relevant to investing and probably harder to break into later.

The other part of me wonders whether taking the NY-based executive/business management route could eventually be leveraged into something better.

For people familiar with these paths:
- would you just take the stronger AM/product role?
- or try to leverage the executive/business management route into something else later?
- and what realistic exits actually come from those executive/business management roles?