Sales Vs Trading(Need some career advice)

I recently got a SA 2021 offer from 2 BBs(APAC based). One is from GS GM division, in the equity sales team, and other is CS Global Trading Solutions Team where I would be in rotation for hybrid trading and cross-asset structuring.

Although GS has more prestige considering the brand value, I thought it is important to choose one that matches my prospective career in finance industry.

Although I'm not totally familiar with the hybrid trading and structuring, I heard from the interviewers that they implement programming for setting strategies and pricing derivatives/options. 

Considering that I want to apply for Financial Engineering Graduate degree in the future,(US based) what would you guys prefer btw these two options, in perspective of which one would be more helpful for admission.


I thought definitely CS would be the better option, but some opinions for GS included:

  1. Doing internship for Sales Team would give me broader perspectives and involvement in the market so I could have better chance to develop market insight. -> helping me to get more confidence when looking for jobs after the graduate program.

  2. Both internship for S & T does not really help for applying to Financial Engineering graduate courses so it is just better to choose one with better brand value. 

I think both points seems legitimate? But it would definitely help to fetch some insights from professionals in this forum for giving more considerations for decision.

(P.S. please excuse my ignorance about this industry if you felt that way)


Thanks in advance!

 

I wouldn't choose on the basis of the brand name, but on the job itself. First, they are both solid brands. Second, what do you want to do in the future? It sounds to me you aim for more "technical" positions, which are usually structuring or trading. It isn't that easy to swap from sales to trading, so it's better to go there directly if you can. Although I think the GS brand looks a bit better when applying for grad degrees, I would go with what you want to do as a job.

 

If you like technical stuff the hybrids team is a no brainer. It's one of the desks that's not gonna get automated anytime soon vs equities which is almost all algo. Plus if you like technical stuff you'll find it enjoyable. I used to work on exotics and equities and it was one of more interesting desks. 

 

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