| Topic Name: |
Bain vs. Morgan Stanley and others |
| Message Name: |
some considerations |
| Date Posted: |
04/01/2003 |
| In Reply To: |
Currently, I am in the lucky position of holding internship offers with Bain & Co in NYC, Morgan Stanley I-banking in London, The Parthenon Group in London, and Procter and Gamble Research and Development in Brussels. I now have the happy, but difficult, task of choosing one of the four companies.
In the long term I am fairly committed to a career in strategy consulting. But in making this short term decision I would appreciate informed advice.
At this early stage is strategic consulting experience key? Or would skills gained from ??real?? industry exposure at P&G, or rigorous financial training at Morgan Stanley give me a broader skill set going forward? Alternatively, would the closer environment of the Parthenon group give me a better summer strategy consulting experience?
For personal and financial reasons I would much rather be in London this summer. However, I am trying not to let this factor into my decision.
I have to make my decision by the end of this week so would really appreciate swift replies.
With thanks,
"i'm_undecided"
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| Message: |
As a junior you ought to go for the company that would offer you the best long-term prospects... do now what you would ultimately want to do. As a junior, I thought that it was a short-term 10 week decision. It wasn't. My decision had a big effect on where I was offered jobs as s senior. Several reasons for you to consider this a longer-term decision:
1) You need to make the consulting vs. banking decision now. Sadly, it will be hard to convince recruiters as a senior that you want to change paths. I tried to go consulting to banking as a senior and I've heard it tried as a recruiter. It rarely works. So, first, you have to make the bigger decision.
2) Chose the company with whom you would want to sign as a senior. The point of the internship is to decide if you want to do the job as a graduate... not really to gain experience... because the program is so short that you won't gain much experience. You're not going to get some great skill in just 10 weeks... anywhere. Especially with this economy, your goal is to get an offer that you'll accept so as to save yourself some misery this fall.
3) The name matters as a junior. It will be the single most important word or words on your resume as a senior (assuming you go out recruiting).
4) While P&G is a great company, you won't advance as fast in corporate as in consulting, and corporate doesn't receive the same respect from consulting firms that a rival consulting internship does.
If you want to be a consultant long-term, be a consultant this summer. When you're trying to get a consulting offer this fall, You'll have a heck of a time explaining this fall why you turned down the opportunity this spring.
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