Which role would give me best opportunities?
Hi,
I've received a summer internship offer in BlackRock PAG. I'm also been offered ACs at PwC - Forensics Advisory, Mercer - Investment Consulting, Towers Watson - Investment Consulting, American Express - Business Insights, ConocoPhillips - Finance Analyst.
I am most interested currently in portfolio management within Asset Management in the long term. Would you agree that BlackRock PAG is the most ideal role at the moment if I wish to go into Portfolio Management?
The others I am seriously considering are Mercer and Towers Watson since they are Investment Consulting, and I feel they would have a lot of interaction with Portfolio Managers?
All the roles are in London if it makes a difference.
All your insights and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Some of these positions lend themselves more to the corporate finance/deals world (PwC, AMEX, Conoco) so if you want to ever be an investment banker, private equity, corporate development, etc. then I would choose one of those.
The other three are more related to the markets and investing, but seem to be more of asset allocation part of portfolio management. I'd say that BLK is probably the best place to go out of those three as they actually manage money. Investment consulting is like being a broker for institutions, e.g. pension plan needs help in selecting the best managers to execute it's investment strategy, and maybe help in forming its strategy as well. The consultants have the relationships with the investment managers, they are seen as the "gate keepers" for fund flows.
Thanks for your input. Yes I agree some of those positions are definitely more deal based, but I thought I should include them, just in case one of them was a really good position.
I am most certainly going to take BlackRock, but would be interested to find out if anyone knows typical career paths for people within PAG? I've tried to search for this on the forum, but with limited success/results.
My understanding after interviews with BlackRock was that PAG is a broad area, and you do get a lot of exposure to many different divisions within the firm. Some people go onto other things within PAG (internal/external client side), some go onto Portfolio Management. Would be great if anyone could provide their views on PAG and exit opps.
I've also just been invited to Shell Trading and also HSBC Asset Management. If you had these two positions, how does BlackRock PAG now compare?
Personally, I think Shell trading is an awesome gig...
Blackrock or HSBC
Thanks for responses so far. Do you guys feel BlackRock PAG is enough to break into Portfolio Management down the line?
Also, do you think BlackRock has enough of a brand name to perhaps say leverage S&T full time analyst roles?
I've heard in Banking/S&T how a lot of pigeon-holing goes on, and I'm not quite sure if its the same in Asset Management?
WSO massive conceptual fail that drives me nuts: if you don't want to be pigeon-holed, what premium are you willing to pay to get optionality? Nobody is stupid, and very very few places will ever give you truly free optionality down the line with regards to your career. If you want more options in general, you will have to crush it at your current job AND have an understanding boss AND be able to manage extra work on the side. Nobody is going to hire you solely for another job.
Thank you for your reply. By pigeon-holing, I mean for example if your goal is to work in IBD, then you should rarely take an operations (back-office) offer, since it's not often that it's looked upon favourably in the revenue generating roles. I do understand that people from back office do make it into IBD/S&T/other roles, but it's very rare, and generally best avoided.
This is what I was asking if it is the same within Asset Management, and perhaps more significantly, PAG. At the moment my goal is to work within Portfolio Management, but these opportunities are incredibly rare within undergraduate recruitment, so I'm asking is PAG sufficient?
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