Big firm or small firm to start with?

[takumi]

Hey guys,

I'm not sure about your perception of big/small firm and where to start with.
I guess many time, we just don't have the choice to begin with
BUT!! if now you can choose...would you want to start from a big firm or small firm.

Be more specific, both for entry level role.
and

big firm = top50 corporation globally e.g. Citigroup
small firm = domestic corporation, not sole trader, reasonably size of say 20 ppl.
lots funds manager has less than 20 ppl but FUM of 1bn+.

The point here is, i guess what you learn and what you get pay for. career path etc.

I see adv of big firm, you get the !!!!NAME!!!! on your resume. ppl tend to think "he's from Morgan Stanely, trained there, he must know what to do." but...think about the career path..........you gotta kill thousands ppl to reach top.

whereas smaller firm you are trained to do everything, you can experience everything
but the pay maybe relatively crap, and no matter how good you are in that firm ppl might go.."@&)*#@, never heard of it before"...

so what do you guys think?

 

[Bambi]

bigger firms offer a very thourough graduate training program
when I started as a graduate, I started with a two months on-site basic program teaching us accounting and differnces in different GAAPs (less an issue today than back in the 90s), economics, the market in general, derivatives, technical analysis, etc setting really good standards and allowing to create a network with graduates from all around the globe
more training was to come over the following months, all in all i must have spend about four months of my first three years in training...very helpful
within bigger houses its often easier to move around the different departments if u dont like ur first role
and the pay can be better as well...

I am not 100% pro-big firm i just say that these are aspects u want to take into considertion when making ur choice

 

[nisha]

starting out, i would ideally spend 2-3 yrs with a big name at a junior or mid level - then move to a smaller firm at a higher level.

its generally considered to be easy going from a big firm to a small firm..but the other way around is tricky and as a novice you gotto play your cards damn right!

 

[numi]

"I see adv of big firm, you get the !!!!NAME!!!! on your resume. ppl tend to think "he's from Morgan Stanely, trained there, he must know what to do." but...think about the career path..........you gotta kill thousands ppl to reach top. "

yes, but a lot of people move around on wall street and very few people stick with the same firm they started up with. and the point is, you have so many more exit opportunities if you work at a place like MS than at a boutique (unless it is lazard or something)

"whereas smaller firm you are trained to do everything, you can experience everything
but the pay maybe relatively crap, and no matter how good you are in that firm ppl might go.."@&)*#@, never heard of it before"... "

for whatever reason, people tend to believe that there are an immense number of things you can experience at a small firm that you can't experience at larger firms, but i believe this is someone of a myth perpetuated by recruiters at small firms. the fact is, if you are just starting out with building your career, i think there are numerous benefits of working at a BB firm, not the least of which is thorough training programs (as bambi mentioned), bigger pool of talent and peers to learn from, cachet (which matters a lot, as bambi and nisha both stated), and compensation. there is way too much work to go around at bigger firms to say that you won't be able to take on meaningful responsibilities. sure, there's a chance that you'll be stuck doing mundane stuff and you may have to put in more of an effort to make yourself stand out in a sea of people, but why join the sell-side in research or banking if you didn't plan to work hard anyway?

you should do a search for this topic in the archives, i.e. comparing the pros and cons of big firms vs. small firms. it's really been discussed many, many, many times.