FT or SA? How many people did you meet at each firm (approx)?

What position level you apply to, and where are you located? SA in NYC is one thing, FT analyst in Moscow is another, Associate in London is also different in this respect.

Ok

1) It is for a full time Analyst position in London. Both have offered a 1 year transfer to NYC in year 3 if I wish to do so.

2) I have met the whole team in the less prestigious firm and I have meet 1 VP, 2 asociates and 1 analyst in the prestigious place.

Its a really tough call for me.

In London, working for a more prestigeous firm is a better option, I think. Though, it may also depend on the group within the prestigeous bank - it happens that some groups pretty much suck even in the best banks. Not often, though

Yea, and a transfer to NYC is not needed, London is now a better place to work in IB. Better opt to transfer to some booming emerging market for a year, this kind of experience will be times more valuable down the road (as well as you will be earning more money this way)

Thanks for the info guys. I know that London is rocking in terms of IB, thats why the transfer to NYC is optional for me.

Also the team I would be joining in both of the banks is the same - both of which are very highly regarded in their sector. So the experience gained will be similar.....

Dilemma - Very friendly team and good guys - little prestige or the Possibility of having a team full of d**ks with lots of prestige.

Although I will say you can get a pretty good idea of what people are like in an interview, in no way are you going to get the full spectrum from everyone. Sure that VP or MD might seem "cool" right now, and he or she might very well be a great person - but you won't know who they truly are until you are working under them.

Once you start producing material for them, the personality in the interview is often a lost memory, as your new relationship depends on how demanding/critical/understanding they are towards you. Remember this job boils down to sales - and the guys at the top are good at selling things, so don't let a decision of Tier B with good guys versus Tier A with possibly good guys come down to a 30 minute sales pitch.

(In the end your gut instinct is probably correct, I am just playing devil's advocate here because it can seem quite silly to base the next 2-3 years of your life off one day meeting new people).

I'd pick the better culture if you know its good for sure. you can always make more money or get better exit opps, but that's not going to make you happy in the long run.

Thanks Buck thats a real good point - although the less reputable firm carried out 6 stages of interview. So I def got a good insight into the guys in the firm. And as you say and I feel = the prestigious firm is the most rational choice.

Thanks Dosk

Here is my position:

This is for a full time analyst position. After my BB summer internship I had numerous m&a offers inc Goldman and MS, so getting my foot in the door with a BB is not a worry. At this stage I was also interviewing with a number of the top boutiques ie Evercore, Greenhill. During this process i was invited to interview with a very good restructuring shop (top 3 but not as good a brand) in which I really really liked. The guys in the firm were awesome, they seemed enthusiastic and very driven. I had no thoughts or feelings about the BB offers I had been made and signed the contract there and then. A bit rash maybe!

After this I let GS, MS etc know that I had now signed a contract and that I was declining their offers.

Now I find myself in the position where a very prestigious restructuring shop (more well known for their PE) has invited me in for a chat. Assuming that I will get an offer from them - I am in a position that will sacrifice either - the prestige or the guys the i liked in the first place.

"From having interviewed for buyside jobs, I can tell you it really doesn't matter at that level... a bulge bracket is a bulge bracket. Coming from smaller places, you will have more trouble getting your foot in the door though."

dosk, do you think this holds true for the top boutiques? I thought places like Greenhill and Lazard place just as well (if not better) on the buyside...

A bit of a side question, but what do the hedge fund opportunities look like coming out of Greenhill/Lazard? I know PE gets a lot of discussion, but I was curious about other buyside positions.

Sounds like you're deciding between Blackstone and Houlihan- right? In many casse, it is very important to choose the bank where you like the people the most.

However, if it is indeed BX vs. Hou, I personally would choose BX.

take it. Rescind it afterwards if you don't like it if the offer is exploding now

100% take it.

Take it. Just like interviewing is an imperfect method to find the candidate who fits best with the firm's culture, it's also impossible to tell the culture of a firm through just a couple 30 minute interactions.

Who knows? Maybe you'll end up actually liking the people.

Unless you have other options take it.

this is more like job. vs unemployment

take it. congrats.

Take it, you could at least try to leverage it for something else.

If you have to ask I feel like you don't deserve the answer

If you don't have any other offers I'm confused where the question is. Take the offer you have in hand and you can leverage it, or worst case scenario you end up with a job with people who you don't get along with that well...at least you'll have a job with a firm that gets recognition and will provide you with some exit opps.

Take it now, transfer later

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Normally, I would say fuck it, but not in this economy. BTW, who works at these firms for the culture? I hear all of them are horrible as far as junior bankers go.