Help me pick a job!

Which job would you take (right out of undergrad)?

1) $5 Bil hedge fund (long only for now) in Stamford CT ~30 people

portfolio management Associate

assistant trader for two years to transition into a research role (salary unknown for now, but "competitive"

Pros
- very nice people
- relatively reputable place
- good work/life balance

Cons
- Stamford CT
- the research role isn't very equity research like, it's more factor analysis. So exit opps aren't 100% transferable to most other hedge funds.
- this is more of a long term career

2) Trading Assistant, at a small prop trading shop in NYC~ 20 people

Pros
- Keep 50% of PnL
- $1 Million book after training program (12-18)months (seems high?)
- 60k base salary (at least through the training program
- training program focuses on catalysts and news trading, not TA. It's primarily equities trading

Cons
- very risky
- very stressful
- not sure if I would be good

Will PM firm names and job descriptions if you guys are interested.

10 Comments
 

this one is easy, id definitely go with option 1

"...the art of good business, is being a good middle man, putting people togeather. It's all about honor and respect."
 

Option 1.

As always there are caveats. One would be if you're already well off. If you have a bunch of money may as well be able to leverage the fact that you're already loaded to take higher risk jobs. Guessing that's not that case though so Option 1 for you.

 

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