11 Comments
 

Depends on what you want to do long term. If you want to go to B-school having a brand name might help but personally I would rather have the acquisition experience early in my career.

"Ric Flair Drip"
 

a lot of personal preference in this one, but if it were me, i'd always take acq at a small shop - unless it was one of those weird shops where you look at the backgrounds of the employees and scratch your head. and even then i'd consider it.

 
Best Response
prospie

unless it was one of those weird shops where you look at the backgrounds of the employees and scratch your head. and even then i'd consider it.

Ha! so true. Acquisitions usually trumps AM in my book, but like prospie stated, this is a huge personal preference.

To muddy the waters a little bit... Some of my friends (on both sides) think the grass is greener on the other side. One of my friends in acquisitions complains about his work life balance and says that the people in their shop on the AM make more than enough to justify the better quality of life. Then my friend in AM says he likes what he does, but wishes it was more interesting & he was able to do more of the underwriting. This is at the same shop btw.

I focus in acquisitions and have had a AM type role in my last job. Acquisitions is way better in my opinion (all else equal, just comparing job functions for a company of equal footing).

 

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