Two mid-tier MC internships or one Big 4 CF internship?
Hey!
My goal is to start working in a top tier strategy consultancy in the spring of 2019 after my last semester, which I will spend augmenting my Strategic Management master with highly qualified quant studies in finance.
Now, due to some lucky circumstances, it seems likely that I have a choice between these two scenarios (can't have another mix than the ones presented because of scheduling):
1) Do one 2 month strategy internship at a 2nd tier strategy consultancy focused on financial services in my hometown (known brand amongst European consultancies), followed by one 2 month management consulting internship in the inhouse department of a big and global industrial firm in another country. Summary: 4 months in total spread across two internships, two countries, two different focal industries, inhouse vs external.
2) Do one 2 month corporate finance summer internship, at one of the Big 4, back home. Great learning experience and will probably be a lot of fun, but still think I want to do strategy consulting in 2019.
The second option means one month off before last semester as opposed to 4 months of killing it in the first option. If you think the math is off it's because I have to option to leave uni one month early if I have a good reason for it.
Both are obviously great options and I would be happy to do either one this summer, but I would like to hear some informed opinions about what would be the "smarter" choice, and why so. To add knowledge regarding my position, I'm doing a masters degree away from home and did one international internship (although the latter is in another field). I will also graduate with honors from a European top tier business school and have an exchange from a comparable institution. Though, my grades from my bachelor studies were pretty poor and from a non-target school.
I'm torn because I dread a possible lock-in effect of corporate finance as opposed to the strategic trajectory, but I still think I will learn "better" things from corporate finance. Still, the thought of getting two internships down in one summer is almost arousing.
Help me WSO, you're my only hope.
Did you have full-time work experience before returning for a masters degree, or is the masters tacked onto your undergraduate? I'm not a big believer that there's a "lock-in" effect for internships if you've never worked full-time before. Internships are partly so you can explore what you like about a field and get that experience. I think employers are very understanding if you say "I tried x with an internship and it was a great learning experience. It made me realize I wanted to do y." If, however, you've already been in the workforce, I think your internship choice is more of a signal to employers of what you want to do. By this point you should be at least a little familiar with your chosen field, so an employer may ask, "if you knew you wanted to do strategy, why didn't you do a strategy internship?" I still think it's plenty possible to make the transition, but it may raise an eyebrow or two.
Thank you for your answer. I did not do full time before masters. In that case, I think I'll be able to sell it either way. So, then the main question can be posed like this: How much will it beef up a CV to have two different, good internships rather than one that's slightly more qualified (and a better learning experience)?
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