Hi fellow monkeys, I'm in a bit of a pinch right now but to get straight to the point:
- SA19 M&A Boutique (Relatively new/unknown not on the same level as EBs but has global presence)
- SA19 Treasury analyst BB
To give brief background on myself: interested in M&A, went to target, borderline 2:1 GPA which is min requirement but I'm aware of the competition. This internship would have been in my junior year but because I wasn't able to land a M&A BB so I decided to take a gap to get more "relevant experience" via internships to be more competitive (eg. Currently taking a markets & securities off cycle internship). Basically I will be doing off cycles to delay my final semester so that I qualify for another SA. This would mean that the SA19 would be for sophomore year and I would have another summer to do SA in 2020. So in technically speaking, I have 2 more summers + 1 more off cycle internships I can do.
Here's the problem. Initially I was very very interested in M&A as mentioned but wasn't able to land a BB for summer. In a weird turn of events, during my application process the BB that offered me actually invited me specially to apply for this treasury position - didn't think much about it, didn't even know much about treasury but went through video interview with some light internet research to prepare for it. When I got the first round invite I reread my mail because I didn't expect it but also shat my pants because I had no clue but treasury was about and didn't want to come in and embarrass myself so I did deep research and learned everything about it to prepare. As I studied more and more, went for the second & third rounds - I started to develop an interest in this area, especially trade finance. Through the several short interactions that I had with the interviewers at the BB I began to really really like the firm's people and culture. Also hit it off right away with one of the directors in trade finance - I knew he liked me as he was saying things like "when you join us you can..."
As for the boutique M&A , I went through standard interviews, given a case to do with some simple valuations and interviewed with the managing director. I have built good relationships with all the interviewers from the analyst to the director and managing director. Everything was great but felt like there were some "red flags". I'm too inexperienced to tell if it truly is red flags so hoping to get some opinions here as well. Anyways basically I felt that the organization was pretty unorganized eg. twice had to reschedule timings - this could be due the relatively small sized team which seems to be the norm in boutiques. After interviewing there I feel like they have a pretty laxed culture actually, their working hours are extremely good for IB (kudos to the analyst who let me in on this) and the director didn't seem to be as aggressive as I expect in the IB space. Disclaimer* while there is nothing wrong with having such a culture, I just felt like it was odd compared to everything that I know or thought I knew about the nature of IB. I Also felt like the fit here wasn't as good as compared to the fit with the BB which I love - My gut feeling tells me that if I go here, I wouldn't be learning as much as I want to and probably wont enjoy working here as compared to the BB due to the fit (is a big thing for me). But anyways, it is a somewhat reputable firm and they seem to be doing well in recent years (growing in size). Also want to bring up the matter of exploring treasury (and what could be my potential career direction) since I have time to do more internships vs risking having no ib experience under my belt when competing with other applicants who have several ib experience.
So right now, I would say I'm still interested in IB and am still aiming to land a BB stint but at the same time due burgeoning interest in treasury I am willing to explore.. If I took the M&A boutique I would have relevant experience which could hopefully propel me into landing IB stints at bigger firms but the name doesn't stick , versus a BB name but at a totally different role, where I will be going a structured program, proper training, network and also getting the opportunity to work at my dream firm (really really super duper in love with the culture & people here).
This is tough decision for me to make so hopefully WSO will be able to help a monkey out!
Do you want to do IB or treasury? The choice seems extremely obvious to me. Kids who go to firms to network into IB usually do it if they did not have an opportunity to do IB elsewhere. The better option is to take the IB internship, do well, and leverage that experience to get to the firm you really want to be at (ie. BB or Elite Boutique).
That's the thing, I was so sure that I wanted to do IB and nothing else but right now I'm starting to develop interest in treasury as well. So Im considering trying it out to see if I really like it then take off from there, in light of longer term ease of finding a job in treasury as compared to IB (ib job market in my country has declined significantly in recent years - it's saturated by remaining ib workers who are clinging on to their jobs). Also despite the pay cut, treasury definitely has better working hours. On the other hand what's attractive about IB is that it having it will give better exits opportunities, plus im still interested its just a pity that its a boutique shop with no guarantee that it will really help make me stand out against other applicants with like 2/3 ib experiences under their belt when competing for BB SA role.
If you want to do IB, do the boutique. If you want a career in Treasury, do the BB. Be in the industry that you want to be in.
I get you man, trying to decide exactly that - exploring treasury while I am building interest but will risk having no exp in ib which puts me bad when competing with other applicants w ib experience for BB SA's.
Think about the long term. What are treasury exit ops vs. banking exit oops? Where do you want to be in 5 years? Make your decision based on that.
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