Outside NYC/SF, how would you rate cities for finance/consulting/corporate opps?
NYC and SF look to be the top placement cities for almost all the MBA programs. What other cities fall into the top tier of business opportunities for MBAs? DC? Chicago? Toronto? Boston? Dallas/Houston? Atlanta? LA?
I am considering a relocation from western Canada and wondering if there is anywhere worth going with a lot of action and no ridiculous cost of living like SF/NYC. Chicago has always attracted me and I've recently been blown away by how much Toronto has developed.
Also it sort of appears as though LA, although a global iconic city, has fewer typical corporate opportunities and is largely focused on marketing/media/ent/tech... is this true?
From what I can tell, it's
Tier 1: Chicago (lots of Industrial, some Health and some C&R), Houston (The NYC of Energy) Tier 2: Toronto (The NYC of Canada...) Tier 3: Atlanta, DC, Boston Tier 4: Charlotte Tier 5: All others.
I'm an MBA Year 1 so take my advice with a grain of salt, but these are the impressions I'm getting so far.
lawstudent400 to piggy back off of prof_harold_hill geography correlates to industry rather closely with the dominate industry in said city.
For example, Houston will have IB, F500 Corp Finance, Consulting, and even Product Management opportunities but they will most likely tie to the O&G industry, some healthcare, and maybe industrial.
I agree with the tiers that prof_harold_hill came up with but I'd throw Seattle as a wildcard because they are a bit of an up and comer and are obviously strong for tech and MM IB.
This. Houston for energy is great, but not so much for some other industries. Boston is great for healthcare and tech, and there are a lot of asset managers here.
In addition to Seattle, I'd also throw out Dallas (generally), Austin (tech) and Raleigh/Durham (on the lower end of these, but you'd be surprised what you can find there...)
Chicago has many opportunities within industrials, healthcare, and consumer and retail. As far as I know, these are a few of the groups that are in the area:
Goldman: Mostly S&T but a few industrials bankers JPM: industrials, consumer and retail Citi: Industrials and Healthcare (not 100% on healthcare) Baird: Industrials, Healthcare, Consumer and retail Barclays: Industrials Houlihan Lokey: Healthcare UBS: Healthcare
These are just off the top of my head, but all the BB's and most EB's have offices in Chicago, and it would be a safe bet to assume that they have a group for industrials or healthcare. There are also many healthcare PE shops downtown if that interests you as well. Cost of living is very cheap compared to NYC. I rent an apartment in Chi that is double the size of a friend's who lives in Manhattan, but I pay about 2.5x less than him. As for IB comp, base salary is the same for the BB's with a marginally smaller bonus, maybe 5-10k give or take.
Hope this helps.
Finance Cities- Pro’s and Con’s (Hong Kong) (Originally Posted: 11/21/2011)
I’ve noticed a couple popular posts on work & living locations in the forums. Many monkeys were also interested in working in international finance centers- perhaps in hopes of standing out with less American competition in hiring pools abroad.
I am quite fortunate to have spent a considerable amount of time living in Singapore, Dubai, and Mumbai. Through various business dealings, I’ve also often found myself in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and London. With about 100,000 miles flying under my belt this past summer alone, I think I am in a decent position to give some advice about the various financial hubs around the world.
I will also detail banking/investments/girls/vice within the pro’s and con’s. As usual, please feel free to add your thoughts. Hong Kong Pro’s: People go to this stunning city for one, sole reason: money. . Taxi drivers speak English, as do most business people within Hong Kong and Kowloon. Unlike China, you can access Facebook and Twitter. Hong Kong Central is where the financial district lies, and Kowloon offers a little more touristy shopping, hotels, and, of course, breathtaking views of Hong Kong’s skyline (pictured above).
If you’re into Asian girls, this is the place to be. There is no shortage of Eur-Asians, A.B.C.s, and Pan-Asians. I truly believe that the mix of European ancestry and Far East Chinese have produced some of the prettiest girls in the world. Though, maybe that’s just me.
The nightclub scene is utterly insane. Lan Kwai Fong is where bottles of Dom and Cris flow throughout the night. As you will quickly notice, escorts are rampant, even in the most pretentious locations. Fashion is relentless here. Bespoke suits and tailored shirts are cheap, but of extremely high quality, so there really is no excuse to not be dressed like Nucky Thompson.
Speaking of fashion, how could you resist from dressing like a boss when you have some of the most abundant amount of tailors, all located within miles of each other. Take Ascot Chan or WW Chan, some true legends in Far East bespoke.
Con’s: The city is expensive as fuck. Although most people get around through Hong Kong’s MTR (think NYC subway except much quicker and cleaner), dinners, rent, and partying expenses add up exponentially.
Factories based in Shenzhen and Guangzhou also bring in heavy soot. Usually, on the weekends when the factories are closed, the sky is clear. Otherwise you’re SOL. Also, there are Asians every where.
Relative to the other cities that I might detail, blow and trees are easy to find. Nonetheless, penalties for possession are absurdly strict, which makes it seemingly not even worth the hassle.
Which Non-US City Would you do an International Rotation in and Why? (Originally Posted: 01/19/2017)
I was curious how many people here have done international rotations (i.e. a stint of IB in Hong Kong, etc. through your bank/via externship) and how they liked it. Otherwise, I was wondering what cities people have an interest in doing business in and why.
A medium-term goal of mine is to do some sort of rotation in another country through my firm, so I'm trying to brainstorm a list of places and narrow down which ones would make sense for me. That way, I can start expressing my interest to the right people and building a case for them allowing me to do this within the next 2-3 years.
If anyone has some thoughts, that'd be great! I personally am particularly interested in Asia/South America, but really this thread is more for general discussion purposes and not limited to those continents.
Banking in Berlin: the Euro equivalent of equities in Dallas
Finding the "next city".. (Originally Posted: 03/08/2017)
Question is probably geared more towards the developers out there, but obviously open for all. How do you find the "next city" to go to? I've heard many different ways to look at it... port/general transportation traffic, becoming friends with the regional power companies to see where they are laying the "trunk lines" (by the way, utilities providers have some of the best data out there if you didn't know that already), shift share analysis, etc... what do you guys look for?
I work for a development firm so here's a little insight. Really, a lot of our deals aren't based around the "next city". A lot of developers, especially smaller ones, look for quick projects that they can turn around and sell within a year or two after completion. They want their development fees and their return at sale.
However, once you get into a larger developer things start to shift. Developers begin looking at really holding onto these properties. We're always asking "what's the intrinsic value of this property?" This is really where you start looking as to what that "next city" is.
Let's say that City A that we build a shopping center or apartments in (we'll go with apartments in this example) is about to build a brand new hospital and an office tower. Being as simple as possible here, and assuming these apartments are within a reasonably close location to these two new buildings, this would be a consideration for a "new city". You see the potential 10 years down the line for the hospital to expand, more office towers to go up, and more jobs to flood in.
There really isn't a clear cut sign to find those "new cities". Sometimes it's just a gut feeling. Other times you literally just get lucky - I know how terrible that sounds. WSO54321 made a good point. A lot of times you'll be in contact with government officials. The particular city I live in has a mayor who is deeply involved in developing the area. That's something to look for too for a "new city". If you have officials who want to expand and have a long-term vision then you're more likely to be able to create value there.
Ultimately, the goal of developing in these areas is often times gentrification and looking for a potential long-term hold. Not sure if this really answers your question but maybe it'll give you a little insight on the development side and how we assess potential new developments and "new cities".