Investment summer analyst@wellington? Or SA @ boutique

Received offers for both. Rising sophomore right now doing a search fund internship.  Want to know if name brand is valuable or not for junior SA at top BB. Boutique seems to have good reputation but not sure if its known among bankers in NYC.


I go to a semi target with a lot of sweaty kids, just curious what you guys think will improve my candidacy for junior SA

 
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Wellington stays under the radar. Your parent might not know of them, but Wellington probably manages a good chunk of their retirement. They are one of the most prestigious AMs in the world (probably the most given the company structure). 
 

IMO, go to Wellington and never look back. It’s a place that people never leave. As mentioned, the private partnership structure puts PE/IB comp to shame at the top. These spots are far harder to come by then any EB/IB/MF PE

If you do decide to leave after your summer internship, recruiters at all the top banks will know what Wellington is. Getting an investment job there is next to impossible and will validate your candidacy for wherever you apply. They will see your resume and think (1) what person is stupid enough to leave Wellington for IB and (2) if he got hired there, he is more than qualified enough to be hired there. Once you get there, I doubt you will want to leave though unless you get an offer to KKR or something (and maybe not even then if you like doing research and having somewhat of a life w/o sacrificing comp).

 

Will second this. Becoming partner is very difficult (but as is the case at top PE shops). However, Wellington is true private partnership, so these partners are bringing in ungodly amounts of money and own a stake in a company worth a fortune. Partner at Wellington is probably more lucrative than being a partner at Goldman pre-IPO.

Again, no one in right mind would turn down Wellington for any IB offer (not even GS/EVR). The work is focused on deep research, the hours are reasonable, and the compensation potential dwarfs IB. Probably would still take Wellington over MF PE given the work seems far more interesting and hours are a lot better.

Go to Wellington, get a FT offer, and then delete your resume.

 

Wellington has a very long term orientation and the deep research is focused on major trends and how to best capitalize on them from what I gather. Investments are also very collaborative in involve iterating with peers across the world and across investment strategies (equity, investment science, EM debt, corporates, etc). The place takes the process really seriously--just listen to people from their talk. Wellington looks closer to an academic institution than a financial services firm... Rather than posting academic articles, they just execute on their ideas through trades. 

When you are thinking about how genomic testing will revolutionize the healthcare industry in 10+ years from now, it is better you do the research right than do it quickly. The hours are no means light compared to an average job (I would still expect to clock ~60 as a junior, but this is nothing compared to IB / PE). AM hours are also much more predictable, which makes a big difference. No crazy senior banker or client dropping work off at 8pm on Friday as you're heading out..

 

not OP, but i had a guess if that's the case with firms like wellington than why do most people here/finance undergrad want to start off at IB and not pursue firms like wellingyon

 

Because there’s so few seats it’s not even a possibility for most people on here. There’s maybe 10 (probably closer to 5) firms even in the same ballpark as Wellington, and each of them hire a handful of kids each year. Even from a top target, the chances of landing a seat at one of these firms is incredibly slim.

Also, people on here are naive/prestige obsessed. Everyone thinks banking is the only “good” career path and don’t consider other careers (like mutual funds) that can offer better work life balance with a higher comp ceiling.

 

It's almost impossible to break into a legit FO investment role at a place like PIMCO/Wellington/Fidelity directly out of undergrad. They hire probably 10-15 kids per research associate class while paying near-IB with significantly less hours so you could imagine how competitive it gets. Usual top candidates are diversity, have prior internship experience (top BB, HF, other AM), strong extracurriculars, and networked heavily before interviews. 

 

As others have mentioned, most people don't actively pursue Wellington because its not worth putting significant effort into. The spots are literally impossible to get, so you might as well just drop your resume and then focus your energy on IB/Consulting where there are high odds of landing an internship if you put the effort in.

GS/MS/JPM IBD might take ~30 people just from your school on any given year if you're at a target. The entire class at Wellington/PIMCO/etc is probably less than 30... you are also competing for these spots with people who have IBD experience, consulting experience, or already work at the firm and want to lateral.

 

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