Local Bulge Bracket Internship at an Overseas office or Local Internship Bulge Bracket

Hey guys,

Need some advice here. Right now I have 2 offers on the table.
1) An overseas internship (Equity Sales) in one of the world's dominant financial hubs with a bank that's highly prominent in my region but not a Bulge Bracket
or
2) A local internship (Equity Sales-Trading, more of execution trading) with a Bulge Bracket locally. Note: This is not SA, just a professional attachment summer programme, usually for first and 2nd years

Which would you advise for someone who wants to do IB?
Note: I am a freshman

I am more inclined towards the Overseas one because
1) Local interns are a dime a dozen and I think having overseas work experience would really make me standout
2) I think equity sales has more overlapping areas compared to execution trading

Advantages of Local:
1) Able to build a network in a Bulge Bracket and perhaps leverage on it

Kindly advise this confused junior monkey =//

 
UFOinsider:
HMMMM, sales at a smaller place or BB OPS? You wanna build the case for a job in ops or a job in FO? The answer to that question is the answer to your question.

Don't think an execution trading role is the same as trade support/ops. Either way, I'd go with the equity sales gig for the reasons you mention AND: 1. Sounds more interesting given your interest in IB vs trading 2. the fact that you'll be at a major financial hub can potentially give you more access to IB professionals if you are proactive.

 
Best Response

It's awesome that you're a freshman and already have these opportunities! You'll be way ahead in either case.

From what I've heard, it can be extremely hard to leverage an internship in BO/MO (though as Value_added said, it's hard to tell if the execution trading role counts as that) to a FO role. But in any case it's better to start off doing something closer to what you eventually want.

I also think that it would be interesting and worthwhile to work abroad this summer. I interned abroad in my freshman year, and it was an awesome experience. Plus, since the overseas firm is dominant in the region, I assume it's also somewhat well known back in the U.S.? Even though it's not a BB, you'll still be in great shape for recruiting later if you have a brand name firm on your resume from freshman year.

One last thing - when you say local internship, do you mean in NYC? I still think you should do the overseas one, but if "local" means your hometown or some other city in the U.S. that isn't a financial hub, then your choice is even clearer. London/HK, for instance, would look better on the resume than working in a more peripheral U.S. city in my opinion.

 

I come from an Asian target school and hence when I say local, I'm referring to Hong Kong/Singapore. As for the overseas internship, it is in New York.

As for FO/MO, I'm pretty set that I wanna be in IB after graduation even after reading all the negativity that surrounds it.

Also, what sort of internships apart from boutique IB/PE, Big 4 Corp Fin and Asset Management would you guys recommend for someone wanting to break in BB IB? Would Equity Research be more valued over boutique IB/PE?

Thanks for the advice so far and I hope to get more advice from you senior monkeys here! (:

 

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