Leave Goldman after 6 months to join a small IB as an M&A Intern?? Can’t decide
Hey all, kind of in a fix here and really looking for suggestions.I joined Goldman 6 months ago in the Risk Department as an Analyst (Poland). I'm currently an undergraduate and have one whole year left to complete my Bachelors. (Jun2024)However, I am getting an offer from a small Investment Bank that does 5mln - 20mln eur ticket size deals M&A. They are offering me M&A analyst intern role which would be a sort of downgrade from my current Full-Time Analyst role at GS.My dilemma is that GS is a great brand name and I am currently learning a lot in my role. It hasn't been a very long time either in the Risk Analyst role. My ultimate aim is to get into IB (GS was/is a dream) and the opportunity for internship that has come along is quite an appealing one for me to gain experience in the industry while being a second year undergraduate.Also note that this IB is Europe based with a very small team of 5 people. The team has ex Blackrock people and a CFA.What would you do in such a situation? Leave GS with 6 months in and join the small IB? Or grind more at my current Risk Analyst role and look for internal transitions after completing Bachelors?
Yes, being front office at a small firm > back office at a big one. Not even a question.
Thanks for sharing your opinion. What do you think of the small team size?
I don't think it matters. Back office is a bad place to be if your goal is to get to front office, it becomes an uphill battle for people to look at you as a serious candidate. I work on a team of <7 people and have been part of <20 person teams my entire career so far.
How do you have a FT position at GS and are also in undergrad?
I hustled hard and it’s possible if you really prove to recruiters that you can manage both. I don’t think it’s as easy in Americas but definitely possible in Europe
Yes do it, no question. GS is not good about internal transfers even if you are in a very close group and sit in the NYC office... Risk in a satellite office -> IB is not likely. I don't think they even have IB in Poland so you wouldn't be able to casually network over coffee. Take the IB offer and run
Hm.. appreciate you sharing your thoughts. do you think that it is a good idea to join with a small team of 4 people tho? i’ll be working on cold-emailing technology company founders to source new deals, putting together teasers and decks for existing deals in pipeline and also doing some current industry M&A deals research work. the experience at this smaller IB is not the ‘actual hardcore M&A’ and they were upfront about it during the interview. any thoughts would be helpful :)
I think you could go there for 6 months to a year and then move to real M&A for sure. Especially since you're still in school and aren't dependent on this internship lasting forever. I'd look up prior employees if they have any.. did they move into bigger IB roles?
Up to you really - if you think you can directly lateral into a true M&A role in a few months, hold out for that. But I wouldn't leave GS as part of the equation here - they are the worst BB for internal mobility and I would say close to zero chance you get into IB from current seat/location. Just depends if you think you can get a better external offer.
GS will not let you transfer from BO to FO, especially when you would have to change geographies. Makes no sense for them since they have like 150 applicants per IBD intern spot. Changing firms would be better but 5 people boutique sounds small and the backgrounds you mentioned are not impressive (Blackrock not relevant to IBD activities, was it at least an investment role? and CFA means nothing).
Only 150 applicants? I would think it is higher.
150 applicants who don't automatically get binned by their filters* probably, more likely a couple thousand who actually apply per role. My relatively unknown fund gets 1k+ applicants if we post a slot.
Is the m&a role also in Poland?
yes, it is
Ah then you would still need to do a further relocation to Frankfurt or London to get to the big leagues. I agree with the other posters - the sooner you can get into front office work, the better. You can take that experience then pivot to a MM bank in DEU or UK, far more likely than continuing at GS. That's if you want to go down that path.
I'd suggest aiming to do a masters in Germany and trying to leverage your experience into something in Frankfurt. Or UK.
Interesting, I really appreciate your input on this situation! I’m not reluctant to relocations after my bachelors given I’m only here for my studies and will most definitely be looking for newer avenues in 12-18 months time! Thanks a lot
Brand name doesn’t matter when you’re back office. Getting to a front office role is the only thing that matters, doesn’t matter the shop.
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