Retail vs. Corporate Structuring desks
Hey guys, I'm trying to pick between 2 derivative structuring desks and was wondering if anyone in the industry could offer advice on which one seems more interesting.
So one is an Equity Structuring (occasionally other products) desk that deals with US retail clients.The other is an FX structuring desk that deals with emerging market corporations.
The Corporates desk mostly creates hedging solutions for these companies to hedge cross market currency exposures, while the Retail desk makes structured notes/payoffs that really rich people invest in. I think the corporates one is slightly more exotic, but I'm worried that they only create hedging products...do you think working only on the liability side will limit me if I want to move to the buy-side later?
Ironically, the retail structured products position will have more exotic offerings. Neither one of these transfer well to traditional buy side jobs. Most of the retail offerings will be complex..You are not picking stocks or the like. You will become an unbelievable expert in derivatives, which you can parlay into a multitude of opportunities, if you can keep the perspective of the end investor in mind throughout your experience.
I'm not really dead set on going to a hedge fund after 2 years or anything, I'm mostly just looking for the group that would be the best learning experience and give me the most options if I wanted to change something down the line (the least pigeonholing..i guess
If it really only structuring, I would take the retail one. If you have to structure and sell, I would take the other one. Selling to retail, no matter how wealthy they are, is not a fun experience. You are selling something very complex to people that have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Also, you should figure out if you are selling or not...they will likely deemphasize it in the process, since most people don't like doing sales.
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