Use WSO with caution

I've been on WSO for a few years under various usernames. I've gained a lot of knowledge from this site and the resume review section was really helpful in perfecting my resume. I'd say that I check WSO almost every day.

I recently accepted a full time offer with a group that is touted a lot on this website. Having spent some time talking to people in the group after having signed, I realized that a great deal of what was said about this particular group on WSO was incorrect, especially with respect to exit opps.

I turned down some really appealing offers in order to take this one and I'm only realizing now that it doesn't live up to the hype. Now, I'm stuck having accepted this offer and I have to turn down super days that are being offered to me.

WSO can be a great resource. Asking the forum questions about different groups and banks can often lead to good advice. However, be advised that there are a lot of college kids on this site that don't necessarily know the full story and might give inaccurate information based on hearsay and rumors. Be sure to take everything with a grain of salt.

You should also be aware that there are analysts and even more senior people that read this website and will sometimes post biased information to make themselves look good.

Lesson: Use WSO but try to get other perspectives as well when you're deciding between offers or making other important decisions. If you can, talk to analysts and PE associates that are actually working in the field to confirm what you read on here.

 
Whiskey5:
Lol...

You made it in banking and you don't know what due diligence is? You should have done some diligence on the group you joined prior to making the commitment.

Just like when you're spreading consensus revenue... do you only use one equity research report? No.

This is a fair reply. I should have clarified. I spoke with a number of people that I trust in IB and PE about the decision and I got very mixed responses. Some said the group had good placement and others were skeptical. I spoke with a few people in the group prior to accepting and I think they were just telling me what I wanted to hear when I asked them pointed questions about the group. With the limited time frame I had to accept, I made a decision based on all of the information I could gather. Not sure what I could have done differently.

 
Best Response

I sympathize with the OP. I don't think graduates realize the extent to which their perception of the relative merits of various careers is manipulated by decades of PR/marketing from prestigious firms willing to drive hiring costs down and increase their intake.

It's a two way thing of course, you also benefit from having gone to McKinsey/GS as the 99% of the graduate world who hasn't thinks you are a genius as a result (until they deal with McKinsey :P - I actually quite like GS alums) and truly believes you were the very cream of your class, selected amongst thousands. You will get the best jobs, people will look up to you, you will be paid more than your peers ("I managed to hire a McKinsey!") etc.

This extends to the very employees of such firms. In order for the McKinsey/GS teams to perform well despite their lack of experience, they are indoctrinated into a further reinforcing loop/culture of "you really are the best, smartest, most rational". When these profiles exit the golden path traced by this early career and hit the real world, this lack of alignment between belief and reality hurts.

Go for the brands if you want the branded life ("exit ops"?) - but then go for the proper brands, don't choose Bain over McKinsey, JP over GS, etc. Be more careful if you want to learn. The smartest kid in my class joined some no name tiny PE fund after graduation, and was working on 10m USD distressed deals (at the time I was thinking, "what a waste, this kid could easily have gone to GS"). 6 months later, he transitioned to a much larger place and was doing the same job with 1-5bn USD deals (that's 6 months after graduation!), managing the bankers, consultants and lawyers. Good quality people able to execute are very rare and hard to find, and end up getting paid their weight in gold.

Since you, dear reader, are probably a fresh grad I will add, look abroad. There are another 5000 Ivy grads gunning for those few coveted spots in New York; how many are willing to go to Brazil? Don't take my word for it, check out e.g. the MIT "where have our grads gone" stats. Sovereign wealth funds, investment banks in 15% growth pa markets and Asian hedge funds also need talent. Promotion is faster when there is fewer people in the way and more opportunities than your team has time for, and it's damn cool living in those places.

 

The best firms and groups within firms to start out at after undergrad are rarely, if ever, mentioned on this site. So don't let an internet forum (on which 80% of people who give career advice or talk about firm reputation are college sophomores) influence you.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
BlackHat:
The best firms and groups within firms to start out at after undergrad are rarely, if ever, mentioned on this site. So don't let an internet forum (on which 80% of people who give career advice or talk about firm reputation are college sophomores) influence you.
So why don't you mention them.
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 
happypantsmcgee:
BlackHat:
The best firms and groups within firms to start out at after undergrad are rarely, if ever, mentioned on this site. So don't let an internet forum (on which 80% of people who give career advice or talk about firm reputation are college sophomores) influence you.
So why don't you mention them.

No you're totally right, Goldman or bust.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

Everybody should remember to make career decisions for themselves and what opens up the greatest opportunities for them, given their goals. They should not make them based upon what others perceive as prestigious or whatever else other people value. Way more than half of the roles that people aspire to on WSO would be horrifically bad choices for someone like me starting their career, even though, in the abstract, they are 'good jobs'.

 
SirTradesaLot:
Everybody should remember to make career decisions for themselves and what opens up the greatest opportunities for them, given their goals. They should not make them based upon what others perceive as prestigious or whatever else other people value. Way more than half of the roles that people aspire to on WSO would be horrifically bad choices for someone like me starting their career, even though, in the abstract, they are 'good jobs'.

Bingo...also, before accepting a job, it's pretty easy due diligence to ask where analysts from the past 2-3 years have landed. More specifically, if you can connect with some of them who have left that are on LinkedIn, you will also likely get a much more honest and direct response. You don't ask the people that are trying to sell you the job.

WSO is great for initial research and to get a feel of what working in certain groups is like, but you should ALWAYS do your own direct diligence to make sure the firm you are going to will help you reach your specific goals.

Also, you should put more weight on the advice coming from Certified Users since they typically are more mature and have actual experience.

 
WallStreetOasis.com:
SirTradesaLot:
Everybody should remember to make career decisions for themselves and what opens up the greatest opportunities for them, given their goals. They should not make them based upon what others perceive as prestigious or whatever else other people value. Way more than half of the roles that people aspire to on WSO would be horrifically bad choices for someone like me starting their career, even though, in the abstract, they are 'good jobs'.

Bingo...also, before accepting a job, it's pretty easy due diligence to ask where analysts from the past 2-3 years have landed. More specifically, if you can connect with some of them who have left that are on LinkedIn, you will also likely get a much more honest and direct response. You don't ask the people that are trying to sell you the job.

WSO is great for initial research and to get a feel of what working in certain groups is like, but you should ALWAYS do your own direct diligence to make sure the firm you are going to will help you reach your specific goals.

Also, you should put more weight on the advice coming from Certified Users since they typically are more mature and have actual experience.

I asked them where people had went over the phone but they were misleading in their response. I also asked a kid that interned there and he blatantly gave me wrong information that he had obtained based on hearsay. I wish I had asked for a more formal list of placement AND what those people were doing at those firms. I wish I had gotten in touch with alumni of that group to get their thoughts. With the short timeline they gave me, it just didn't cross my mind to do that.

 

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