Asking help for an internship decision

Dear,

I have two internship offers from a small PE firm and a global asset management firm. Below is the job description for each offer:

PE firm
o Fundamental Industry research
o Assisting with the email origination effort
o Creation of personalized outreach communications
o Identification of investment targets
o Assisting with due diligence

AM firm
• Research projects as selected by senior team members to support, challenge, and improve the business
• Gain exposure to investment and operational due diligence, transaction execution, deal pipeline management, portfolio construction, risk management, and investment monitoring and reporting efforts

Where would you go if your goal is to end up at IBD after graduation?

Thanks very much!

 
Most Helpful

Ah the ole search fund vs wealth management decision. PE is most similar to IB, but you'll probably just be doing a bunch of sourcing and cold emailing. I would still say the PE firm because you'll have an easier time spinning and relating it to IB during interviews, that said I've heard of quite a few people who do wealth management their frosh/soph year at a reputable bank and are able to network within the firm and get into the IB division the following summer, plus having a more well known name on your resume is always good. idk man its kinda hard for random people on the internet to offer advice purely off the internship descriptions as so much more goes into this kind of decision than what HR put on the initial job posting.

 

Thank you very much! I understand the info is not enough for informed advice.

The PE firm is rather smaller (founded in 2018) and focuses on the MM market. The job will be more like a supportive role as you mentioned but the culture there is very encouraging and they want the interns to learn.

The AM firm is bigger and established, but not as much "branded". The interns will gain training in hedge fund, private credit, other alternative, and traditional investment and operations functions. Both are based in NYC, and potential to extend to the summer intern.

I am a sophomore (and international if that helps) at a target school but not in its business school. I'm pursuing an IB role after graduation and I like doing analysis. Hope this helps!!

 

Hello, I would go for the PE. You will probably work in a deal oriented environnment and that will make you very marketable for IB recruiters, futhermore you will be staffed on tasks that are very similar to what IBD analysts do (DDs, deal origination etc) + you will have planty of stuff to talk about in interviews. The only reason I would go to AM is if the company has a big powerful brand, that in any case will look very good on you resume (in Europe at least is like that). As a former IB junior, I would be more interested in talking in an interview with a guy with Pe internship experience rather than AM.

 

Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts! The AM firm will also let me gain training in hedge fund, private credit, other alternative, and traditional investment and operations functions. Would this affect your mind? Or still you think PE internship will be better for me?

 

Choose whichever area you’re more interested in. Both can be good experiences prior to IB. If you’re more markets oriented choose AM and if you like deal oriented work choose PE.

"Truth is like poetry. And most people fucking hate poetry."
 

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