AllianceBernstein Equities Rotational

I might have a final round with AB in a week. Here is the description. Can you tell me if this is a good opportunity? It is a 2 year program with possibility of promotion depending on firm needs and candidate interests.

I want to do buyside research/PM in the long term. Would it be better than taking a sellside research job at a BB and trying to skip these two years and lateral to buyside? It seems to be a new program. Any insight into the firm would be appreciated.

Description:
Our Associate Rotational Program will hire graduating seniors to work in our New York City office. Each Associate will participate in four six-month rotations over a two-year period within the Equities Business Unit of Investment Services. Associates will work with the program dean to map out their rotations. Each rotation will require you to learn a new skill set and knowledge base and/or complete a project that is critical to AllianceBernstein’s ongoing success.

First Rotation: Trading and Back Office Rotation
This rotation should lead to a comprehensive understanding of order execution and the monitoring of portfolios for compliance with legal, regulatory and client guidelines.

Second and Third Rotations: Research Department Rotation
Research Department rotations will involve at least one research project supervised by a Senior Analyst in the Growth Equities or Quantitative Research Departments, followed by another rotation as a “Research Associate.” It is possible that both of these rotations will involve research projects only, without Research Associate responsibilities. Examples of possible research projects are: an analysis of the competitive dynamics of an industry, or modeling an industry’s cost and technological trends; and presenting these findings to the Research Department and Portfolio Managers. Statistical projects involving market-wide variables are also possible. A rotation as a research associate would involve modeling company financial statements, performing valuation analysis, or attending meetings with management and reporting on them.

Fourth Rotation: portfolio management Team Rotation
The last six months of the program will be spent in one of our Portfolio Management groups, encompassing a wide range of investment strategies, including aggressive international growth, domestic growth, and relative-value investing. Associates will be assigned to a role chosen by the head of a given PM group. The role will likely involve financial statement analysis, portfolio-level quantitative analysis (including performance attribution), or reporting on interactions with company managements. This rotation is designed to give the lead PM maximum flexibility in using the Associate in whatever way is most useful for the PM team.