HELP! Advice on internship/First Job
I'm a junior at a top target. for the sake of this argument lets assume my resume is good enough to get me an interview anywhere.
i want to eventually work in a fund that does some combination of equity GARP, L/S, and/or global macro
i have an opportunity this summer to work at such a fund as an intern, with the availability of a full time position contingent on performance. the fund is pretty new, but its big for being new and the manager is an established star (in addition to being a good guy). i won't give out the name of the fund.
the thought that keeps creeping into my mind is that i'm "making a wrong step in the process" by not pursuing a BB banking internship and taking an analyst position FT there after school, to have 2 years of job stability and a structured program to become professionally competent in valuation
i'm going to apply to all the top advisory places, PE shops and funds that my school has available just to keep my options open.
but what are everyone's thoughts on this? most ib analysts want to kill themselves most of the time, and they want to exit to funds anyway, so wouldn't i just be skipping two years of hell to do something thats more interesting? or is the inherent lack of job security in a hedge fund analyst too much of a risk factor, and the BB brand equity can take me more places?
for comp, assume my take-home from the fund would be 90% of BB analyst pay
let's also add in the factors of getting in at the ground floor of a fund that will be growing considerably in AUM (from ~1.5b now)
but also add in the network aspect of BB life, and the fact that i wouldnt be interacting with nearly as many ppl at the fund than as at the bank
although i do go to a business school so ill know hundreds of bankers just from college...
thoughts?
do what you want to do. like you said youll have the network and being from wharton if things dont work out youll have a pretty good app for business school down the road
yeah i get the "do what you want to do" bit, my question is, if i want to do it long term, does it make more sense to jump into it right away, or to get a grounding on the sell side before i move to a fund....even if the fund will take me without the experience?
If you want to work for a hedge fund ultimately then take the job at the hedge fund. Nothing in life is guaranteed so if you take a job in another industry just for the sake of adding a line to your resume and following some plan that you have invented in your mind you might regret it down the road. Also if you are sure you want to work at a hedge fund, you should know that you will learn very little that is relevant to the hedge fund business in a banking job.
bump.
corollary question: the fund does fundamental equity long short with a quant risk management overlay, if i go in as an analyst with little/no compsci knowledge, will it be hard for me to perform? my econ, fundamental valuation, and stat are all good...
bumppp
maybe consider it from a full time perspective?
would you take an analyst position at a 1.5b global equity L/S hedge fund getting paid 70 base + 50-100% bonus
or a BB IB analyst position with standard analyst comp
if your goal down the line is to be a PM?
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