applying from academia vs from consulting company

vit2007 · May 18th, 2007, 5:21 am

Dear all,need advice from experienced people.I'm working on getting an analyst/developer position with IB/HF,and in the meantime there is an offer from consulting company in Bay Area (stat analyst, 80K+).Background: academia, PhD in physics.Question: would 1-2 experience in a private company be a plusfor a job search in a financial world? What about cost adjustedlife quality in NY (junior positon with IB/HF)?Any opinion would be greatly appreciated.Thanks!

twofish · May 19th, 2007, 3:23 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: vit2007Question: would 1-2 experience in a private company be a plusfor a job search in a financial world? What about cost adjustedlife quality in NY (junior positon with IB/HF)?Answer to first question: Absolutely yes.

KackToodles · May 19th, 2007, 7:04 pm

Work experience outside of academia is always a plus. The problem you must solve is an optimization problem. You must balance benefit from 1 year "other" work experience compared to the benefit of jumping in right away to the best quant job you can get today. Don't use the easy out of settling for the job you can get as an excuse for procrastination because you're uncomforbably with taking some risk and confronting uncle charlie today. No risk, low return. It's a risk-return world.

snowdew · May 22nd, 2007, 6:21 pm

that's a good bit of wisdom KT, unfortunately not everyone has the chances or time or financial resource to persist over relatively long period of time. How about setting a time aside, say 2 months, to find the 'prefect job' and if it doesn't come true then settle for whatever come your way ?