Offer Decision Help Needed

Hi all,

I am a current junior trying to decide on which internship offer would give the the greatest probability for a successful career. I would like to eventually end up in PE ideally focusing on tech or consumers. Apologies if this is too lengthy of a post. That being said, I am currently deciding between three very different offers in detail below:

1) O&G PE Internship: opportunity through one of my best friends at a relatively new shop that is growing very quickly. Internship seems to be with the intention of them either placing you into an O&G IB program at a bank they have connections with and then return you as associate or start you off as an analyst internally. Everyone here seems to be doing very well for themselves. Concerns with this is that I'd pigeon hole myself and be stuck in this industry even if I don't truly enjoy it. That being said, the upper level guys are really taking great care of my friend (he is a college senior now and they invite him to meet them places during the school year, they joke around with him and are always calling him to check in to see how he's doing, and I think they genuinely have his best interest in mind) and I think these relationships may be worth the pigeon hole.

2) Regional Boutique IB Internship: Small shop (think 10-15 people) but decent deal flow given size (think 8-12 deals this year and usually around this number in years past). I really clicked with the people here during my Superday. Pay for internship on lower end, which isn't what I'm placing emphasis on relative to the experience I would gain, but I am concerned about what FT pay would be if given return offer. Internship is designed to return interns, but I have also seen past interns go on to work FT at BB's. Generalist program.

3) Tier 2 S&T Internship: Think BMO/RBS/SocGen S&T position. Intention for this would be to try lateraling into IB FT following internship. I have seen this done before and this would obviously give me the biggest name if I was able to make the switch. This is also best paying and arguably the best location (NYC) for future IB/PE recruiting. How feasible is this though? How would I go about trying to lateral?

Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

In my opinion I believe the people you work with is one of the most important factors in taking an opportunity. The O&G PE seems like it would provide you the best opportunity in terms of having potential mentors, chance at placement into IBD, and is potentially in the industry you would like to end up in.

I am not positive on how easy it would be to go more generalist after being in O&G so I can't comment on that.

Regardless congrats on the opportunities man best of luck to you.

 

As someone who's worked in IB in energy, it's a sector that's very specialized, and I find hard to get out to other industries as a full-time employee. If I were in your situation, I would take the regional boutique just because there may be some more transferable skills in IB with a generalist position, allowing you to have more of a fighting chance to lateral.

However, if you are considering a career in O&G even a little, I would probably take the PE position. A relationship similar to what you have mentioned with your co-workers really can make a world of a difference, and would probably help you get a good IB position in energy if their networks are good (which they probably would be). I would avoid the third option.

 

Based on your goals, I'd go with the first option.

If you end up liking O&G, great follow through with the plan you laid out. If not, you can still spin it for FT recruiting as you trying something unique and interesting, not liking it but learning a lot, and looking to move back toward something more generalist and traditional ( IB ) for full time.

O&G does pigeonhole earlier than most other industries but it won't pigeonhole you after one summer internship.

 
Most Helpful

I am no expert in O&G valuation (which should be clear in the following), but to my knowledge it would also depend on the focus of the PE shop as well.

E&P does tend to pigeonhole (not after one internship) as the valuation techniques are fairly unique in the use of NAV models and the multiples and financial statement analysis is fairly specific. This is a super interesting and very technical topic, so would not be bad to get exposure to.

For Downstream and OFS this should be fairly transferable to any industrials group or the like, if that is the direction you want to take it. OFS seems to be the place where smaller PE firms tend to play (unless it is A&D) as the capital requirement is not as big as in E&P.

Midstream is a little special due to the MLP structure, but with the new tax structure many seem to be moving to c-corps anyways, which should make the skillset more general. I know there is some PE activity but i would imagine larger players, without being totally sure though?(I think Blackstone Energy partners has some midstream assets?)

 

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