Internship offer decision -- BO vs FLDP
Hi all,
First post here after reading for a while. For a bit of a background on me, I’m a junior at small liberal arts college, not a target school but strong alumni network, was fortunate enough to get two internship offers for this summer and would love any thoughts on deciding between them.
Finance/controllers division at a BB: Though I’d probably prefer a division/role that’s a bit more engaging, I do think it would be interesting as a start and could use the experience to gain skills, get my foot in the door, and eventually transition into something more exciting for me personally, maybe ER or IB. I’ve talked to some alumni who started in the exact same role and have had success in transitioning into FO roles or roles of higher interest (IB, PWM, Strat, PE), along with many in their intern/analyst cohorts.
Financial analyst with a F500 company in Silicon Valley (no Apple or Google, but well-established): This would be a small cohort with some exposure to different teams, leadership events, presentations, and more, and could very possibly feed into their 2-year financial leadership development program (FLDP) with rotations on teams like FP&A, Treasury, Controllers, Analytics, and more. From talking to alumni who have gone through this program, I have only heard good things about the culture and program and the people in cohorts tend to be ambitious from top schools including Ivies.
For location and comp, both are similar for me. In terms of what I’m looking for, I’m honestly not super sure on specifics or my long-term career goals but I want to be able to think critically, contribute ideas, be dynamic, and have a high level of lateral mobility with good exit opps. I definitely just don’t want to get stuck or pigeonholed in whatever I choose; a lot interests me from working with markets to doing something entrepreneurial to VC to maybe even consulting but I realize I should start to narrow my focus.
Thanks in advance, any thoughts are appreciated.
Bump, deadline inbound
I'd look at it from the frame of where do you develop more real skills that can be used in any environment, not just the job or IB, and the FDLP in my opinion does that. Back office yes technically puts you in the same company as IB, but what kind of work would you be doing and what kind of skills would you really be developing? I think the FDLP would be more developmental for you starting out. Just my opinion--I'm a random poster on the internet and not a life coach.
Edit: also, for some more perspective, I know there's always those one in a million stories of someone who came from back office or a non-target school...but might as well take the easier path. If you do FDLP, that would probably be more interesting work, AND could set you up well for a top MBA program which you could use as a reset button and then come in as a MBA associate. I view things not from the perspective of just checking the box on getting XYZ bank on your resume, but looking at what you actually did there vs. what you'd do at the FDLP. In an interview or an admissions committee decision, they want to know what you did, not just where you were.
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