So I'm a freshman at a Target school with aspirations to eventually end up in Investment Banking.
I'm not going to act like I know all that there is to know but I do know that what usually dictates your positions in IB is your Junior Year Internship, which can be landed through good Freshman/Sophomore internships. Going off of this I spent a lot of time sending out cold emails trying to get some work in Finance in general(IB, PE, PWM). I had two very positive responses and ended up being extended unpaid part-time offers from both of them.
Assuming that I find an internship for full time work this summer (Business Dev probably) I would most likely take one of these on as part time during the summer as well.
The first is a Search Fund out of Chicago. The guy who runs it is very perceptive to my goals and the reasons that people intern at small firms. He has had 2 previous interns who he has helped and they are now interning at Goldman and Lazard. He says there would be a lot of buy-side and sell-side exposure as an intern (not 100% sure what that offers me) but he was very persistent that it's a very valuable position.
The second is a small PWM firm out of North Carolina. The firm is unique in that they only invest in socially responsibly firms. Would be a lot of research into ETF's. However it is very flexible in that I can work anywhere from 2-8 hours a week.
I'm leaning pretty heavily towards the Search Fund right now. The guy even offered to fly me out to Chicago and train me for a week so I would be prepared to work remotely.
Thoughts?
Thanks
You say you want to work in IB, but is that the IB division of a Goldman or JPM? Or do you just want any division within the bank? If you're looking for a position in the IB division then I'd say you should take the search fund position. Too bad it's unpaid, but that's how all search funds are for now. PWM doesn't do you any favors if you want to get into IB, unless you want to be in an investment division like PWM or Asset Management. In fact, taking the PWM position could hurt your IB chances down the line if it doesn't make perfect sense why you would take that position and then change tunes a year later.
Go for the search fund. I have done both PWM and Search Fund, but people are only interested by the search fund since it is more unique and fun to talk about.
Did search fund internship my sophomore summer and it was awesome. There hasn't been an interview in which I wasn't asked about it.
1000000% search fund internship. Oftentimes you don't even need to explain/talk about the search fund, as it's just a normal PE internship. Gives you a strong connection (likely, at least) with the managing partner that can go a long way. The work can be tedious especially early on (as any internship will be), but be eager and embrace it and you'll be able to likely get your hands on some financials, do some modelling (for your own good) and build a great piece of your resume. Will do you MUCH, MUCH more favors than PWM.
So there is no problem with putting "Private Equity Intern" instead of "Search Fund Intern" on your resume?
...
def search fund compared to PWM
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