Leave boutique IB internship for start up hedge fund internship ?
I recently took up an IB internship at an unknown boutique bank, but I'm hating it after just a month on the internship.
My bank isn't doing too well, and the one thing I really hate about IB is that you depend entirely on the senior guys - as a junior guy you can't really take the initiative to do anything. The amount of downtime because of the slow dealflow is killing me. Also, I wouldn't mind the hours but I find the work mind numbingly boring.
I knew this all along about IBD, but I still went for it like an idiot and I regret it. I was planning to suck it up and go the usual IB -> PE/HF route but I really don't think I can do it. I don't mean to insult anyone who's doing or has done IB - it's my own shortcoming that I can't hack it.
Last week, I was told by a friend that there was a long/short fund started in early 2013 by 2 ex-BB MDs. They were looking for an analyst, so I called them and said that I could intern instead. I interviewed with them, and they made me an offer.
They're doing pretty decently - They're up 12% YTD. However, they have AUM of only 50 MM. That's not even small - thats almost non-existent. However, it would just be the 3 of us in the fund, and I'd get to learn a lot about the nuts and bolts behind the HF business. I've always loved analyzing stocks more than looking at deals, which is the main reason I'm drawn towards this internship.
I can't really figure out what to do now: quit my IB internship and go to this tiny unknown start-up HF, or just continue in my current internship as IB generally looks like better experience on a CV? I'm not going directly into FT recruiting this year but will be pursuing MSF opportunities - so my main aim would be to leverage this internship into a better internship (hopefully in trading/ER/AM/HF) next summer before my MSF.
I know that I sound like a stupid kid who can't make up his mind - and in all honesty, I am. It's just that I can't afford to make any more mistakes - not in this job market. Hopefully you guys on WSO can chip in, and please feel free to be as blunt as possible. Thanks in advance for your advice.
TL;DR: Doing IB internship, Hate IB, got tiny HF (~50MM AUM) internship, dilemma.
You dont sound like a kid who cant make up your mind, you have your mind made up you just dont want to do IB. I would take the internship, it sounds like you can get some good experience and its much more relevant to what you want to do in the future.
On a side note, why are you skipping full time recruiting to get a MSF? The MSF should be your backup plan in case FT recruiting doesnt work out.
Go for a HF. If you can get there without IB that would be awesome.
At quick glance, I'd say unknown, mini HF > unknown, crappy boutique. Go for it.
Definitely go for the HF internship - better than wasting time at a boutique with crappy deal flow. Depending on the strategy of the fund, $50MM isn't that tiny, given they started this year.
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