Would you take this offer?

Non-target Junior here. Not many people get into the industry from my school. Yes I have the offer as a junior. If I accept, i'll intern over the summer (my 4th internship with them) and go back after I grad.

The offer...
-5-6B AUM multi-strategy USA based fund with many international funds as well.
-Industry focused investing, very well known within that industry, not so well known outside.
-Many top BB analysts end up at this fund.
-Will do industry specific work for both Asia PE and Asia HF.
-Good relation with my MD, he promised to help me network and get me into front office jobs.
-A lot of free travel on corporate expense account.

But the catch..
-will be considered long-term intern. Cannot use title of analyst since all analysts have 2 years sell-side experience.
-Horrible pay. Will be either running at a major net loss or a very low quality of life. The reason the MD offered to help me network is because I don't get paid very well.
-I don't fit very well with the industry focus for the firm, not yet at least.
-Don't speak any asian languages. The fund is american so all the work is done in english, but not knowing the local tongues is definitely a huge disadvantage.
-This place is also a complete sweatshop.

.
.
TLDR summary; Good fund wants cheap labor. Take it in the ass or refuse to be the bitch?

 

no other offers as i'm a nontarget junior so SA recruiting hasn't started. I worked for these guys several times before. and there is no way I'll get in as a pre-MBA role without 2 years of sell-side work.

However, the major plus is these guys are no joke, I would be getting very good work exp which would pretty much negate my non-target background as this is a place where target school, ex-BB analysts shoot for. Even though i'll just be a 1 yr intern, I know for sure based on my previous internships with them that I will be doing very high quality work with these guys, probably better experience than most BB analysts who are editing pitch books everyday.

The ideal for me is still to get a BB SA opp for this summer i think. I think structure is key, but this is clearly very unstructured. They are basically creating this position for me.

 

How long would you be this "long term intern"??? Would that title still apply after you have your degree? Even though I'm a VP at my work, I'm not big on titles and I rarely use that. BUT, I do think that the title "intern" can hurt you. Interns are for college years, if they want to call you an intern after you graduate I'd say no thanks.

But you dont have to completely walk away. Companies that pay shit (and know they pay shit) are usually very flexible on things that don't cost them anything. I would negotiate for the analyst title and other things like maybe an office or more vacation. It's easy for them to say yes to things like that than give you more money or see you walk away.

 

What I would recommend is keeping them on hold for January if that's possible. By the end of Jan, you should ideally have a good idea of where you stand with respect to BB recruiting. If you have absolutely no leads, I'd take the offer because remember:

1) Its a SHITTY economy 2) You're at a non-target - getting SAs is more challenging for you than some kid at Penn 2) You're only a summer intern, you don't need to accept a full-time offer there. 3) From what you've described above, it would serve as a great feeder for BB IBD recruiting, I would definitely interview you if I saw the experience above.

Hope that helps. just my 2c

 
Best Response

Take it if this is the area you want to get into at some point in your career.

Getting paid shit sucks but money will come later. I did an internship at a megafund that was paid $800/month (pre tax!!). I wish I could name and shame...but helped me a lot down the line to get interviews at similar funds and having the name on the CV is incredibly valuable.

Just network hard during that time. Ask everybody for intros to their friends - definitely abuse of this, because they know they are abusing of you anyway. Since you are still at a very early stage in your career, this is what could happen: (i) You work your ass off (studying and learning everything you can, showing initiative). They may like you and make you a proper offer. (ii) They put you in touch with some of their mates on the buyside that make you an offer (some big funds have graduate/analyst programmes). You can get free interviews coaching from them. (iii) They put you in touch with their mates on the sell side at good firms that make you an offer (iii) You don't get anywhere but you apply to BBs and you'll definitely get interviews thanks to the experience

Loosing a year trying something out is not a big deal when you are in your early-mid twenties. I can share pasta / fried rice recipes that will save you lot of money if you don't mind eating the same thing for 4 days in a row.

But if you are still undecided about what you want to do, then you're better off getting some experience on the sell side first until you make up your mind.

 

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