What would you do? - Looking for some guidance

what the, shanghai hands down.

100% ShangHai if you are still a sophomore

If you are a junior and want to stay in NY for long term, then getting a FT return offer in ShangHai probably won't help much (I think it is quite difficult to transfer the offer) I would go for BlackRock then. But if you are pretty confident you can get a BB next year, then ShangHai probably is still the best

re-post

Of course Shanghai internship (as long as you a happy working in S&T, that is). Next year, you will be able to differentiate yourself from a huge mass of your peers and have a story to tell at the interview, not just give typical answers to typical questions. When I interview candidates for junior positions, most irritating thing is to listen to all this "plain vanilla" BS from Vault guide and the like. A guy who had an internship in Shanghai may, on the contrary, be much more interesting to talk to during the interview (other things being equal).

thanks for the responses

just to give you some more details

i am a junior and i've just finished a pretty grueling recruiting season. In any normal circumstance, I would jump on jp morgan, but now i really want a full time offer after the summer. I was under the impression that sales and trading doesn't have large full time recruiting in the first place, and it would be difficult to get full time in new york after that.

Just some more questions if you guys are willing

Is it hard to get from portfolio management in blackrock to a hedge fund?

what are your experience on working full time in asia for a year, and then trying to transfer to ny? Is it frowned upon?

Hey from what I understand from talking to people in the industry, BlackRock really has a very good reputation in the asset management field,and would definitely be a good launching pad if you want to be in the asset mgt/hedge fund field. But you really have to ask yourself, what makes you think its easy to transfer from AMG to portfolio managment? AMG is really about client facing, answering client requests, while from what I understand, portfolio management tends to hire experienced candidates with a couple of years of equity/FI research or trading under their belts. Its doable to transfer from AMG but dont take it as a surefire thing.

The 2nd question is, what kind of hedge fund strategy are we talking about? Fundamental? Equity L/S? Global Macro? Credit Opportunities? There's really a whole gamut of strategies out there, you really need to be more specific in order for people to help you understand whats the most traditional path(though ive heard of people from tech in an asian office for a BB get into a decent fund in NY, just to go to show that anything is possible). Secondly, what role would you want to play in the hedge fund? The research analyst? The buy side trader? (this is more applicable for the S&T role)

I think for BBs, from what i heard so far, if you're good, the company will try to accommodate you i.e changing product area or geography. So its definitely a plan to work in the asian office for 1-2 years before transferring to NY. I think we really have to understand that its a career that we're going into soon, and that means its as flexible as we want it to be(to a certain extent). So how we start out definitely would be vastly different even 4-5 years down the road. If you keep worrying abt exit opps but dun really enjoy the work, wont it be more painful? Just go with your gut!

from what i've heard from blackrock, they rarely outside hire into portfolio management, especially at an undergrad level, and that a very sizable amount of people within AMG end up joining portfolio management after some years. Please respond if you've heard differently.

Thats a tough spot since you don't want a FT gig in Shanghai, but that is clearly the far superior opportunity.

You could get ballsy and take the Shanghai gig since it would be a great experience, not only on your resume but also professionally and socially. I'd like to think I would.

Take the JPMC gig and kick some SERIOUS ass in your internship. Make sure to network with as many senior people as you can. And hopefully they'll extend you an offer. At which point you can try to reach out to the most senior people you felt comfortable with and telling them something to the effect of:

while I was delighted with my experience over the summer and really enjoyed the work I did and the people with which I worked, I didn't fully understand how being that far away from my family would effect me. With that very significant consideration, I don't think moving to Shanghai is the right decision for me personally.

Try to get them to go to bat for you with friends/peers in New York. If they like you enough they may even refer you to friends at other firms. But you probably really have to kick some major ass and really get them to like you. Also, I would target MD/VP expats living in Shanghai. Maybe Americans who moved there for career advancement, since they'd probably be more sympathetic to moving abroad away from family. Its also an opportunity to kiss some more ass, by acknowledging how hard it is to do what they did.

Another idea really out of left field, but you never know. You'd be surprised at what works. ... use some of the above reasons and try to say you need letters of recommendation (assuming you really kicked some ass). Take an alternate route and contact SR people in NY with a VERY quick cover letter, maybe 3 sentences about how you interned in Shanghai, did really well, loved the work, loved the people, kicked ass and took names, but didnt realize how hard it would be to be away from home. Attach the letters of recommendation, and your resume, and keep your fingers crossed.

This is all in addition to balls to the walls recruiting for full time. Its often the most unconventional methods that yield the best results.

Good luck. I saw hang your balls out there and see what you can get.

You never know.

Also, I've networked/recruited at BlackRock. Was VERY unimpressed.

It was a while back, but I think it was their portfolio group. There was an MD that looked like a better looking version of Charlie Sheen's brother in 2 and a Half Men, and there was this REALLY hot Wharton grad who looked like she was about ready to drop to her knees and take a few throat jabs before getting blasted in the face. Seriously. He was a really cool guy, pretty young for an MD, and seemed like he pretty much ran the group. I'm pretty sure she was just in awe of what she perceived as his BSD'ness. He was nervously spinning his wedding band in an attempt to remind himself he shouldn't be thinking what he thinking... she was pretty much attached to his hip for the night.

I'm sure she got an interview and then some. I don't care how hot your wife is or how happily married you are, theres no way anyone would turn down a 22 year old piece of ass like that pretty much in awe of you.

hahahhahaha, pretty sure he blew it in his pants several times during the night

what about bnp paribas fixed income trading in ny?

i just got an offer from them and I'm seriously considering it now.

I've heard its rather hard to advance there if you're not french