Hi, I just finished my first year up at Northeastern University, pursuing a BSBA in Finance and Accounting and a minor in Comp Sci. Somehow managed to land two internships for this summer, and can’t decide which one to accept. I posted before, but I have more details after interviewing at A and would really like some more insight.
- Internship A would have me working under the operations team of a small investment firm of about 22 people since 1990 which specializes in index funds and passive investing. $16/hr, 30 minute train commute, 40 hrs/week. I came in to interview twice, the first was with each member of the team, and the second with the CEO. The place is nice, it's in a tall building in the city in the financial district of Boston. I am an unusual case because they have only hired juniors and seniors in the past, when I am just beginning my sophomore year with no relevant experience, so I guess they like me a lot. Therefore there's high expectations. They said that they're always extremely busy dealing with their clients. I would be given a desk of accounts and be responsible for reconcilements, performance calculations, exception management.
- Internship B is at a one-person startup consulting firm that specializes in business analytics. $23/hr, 7 minute car drive, 30-40hrs/week. I interviewed with him once and liked him. He works out of his home office, he rented the condo below him and lives upstairs. After giving me an offer, he explained that he would look forward to seeing me grow and would give me a lot of personal advice (he has a strong educational background).His work with clients varies greatly. It could be helping them with pricing strategies, or analyzing survey data. Therefore it's a little more unpredictable if I will have a lot of work or not, but it will be a much more casual environment, so I have the feeling it'll be really chill. I would be helping him with everything basically like with his clients and making presentations, and working with another intern my age.
Northeastern has a co-op program where I will be working three 6-month jobs, just like Internship A, your typical corporate job. This is making my mind stray away from it. I would rather chill out this summer with Internship B, which is closer and (probably) easier, but also unpredictable. Conversely, Internship A might be better long-run with the connections and the actual company being better, relates more closely to my major (but then again, I could end up switching majors) Pay would be pocket money for me.
I know I have the most clues to be making this decision since I’ve interviewed at both places, but I’m super indecisive.
…Help?
I lean towards internship A or the co-op. Internships and can turn into full time job offers after graduation. A one man consulting company is unlikely to hire you after graduation, although one of his clients might. It’s usually best to have companies on your resume that other people have heard of. It sounds like the investment company would be better known.
Congrats on two great options! Fantastic for a rising sophomore. I’m sure your parents are proud.
Honestly, reading through your post, I lean more towards option B. Better pay, more chill atmosphere, and I get the sense that you and the guy hit it off and he’d be a much better mentor and provide you more variety in tasks and the opportunity for some client interaction. Sounds like a great first internship scenario to me.
Given your age, I wouldn’t weight post-grad opportunities over learning and variety right now. Plenty of time for that over the coming summers. Being able to list different tasks on your resume and getting a great recommendation from an employer who has worked with you more closely on a one-on-one level could be real perks to option B, IMO.
Not to mention that you’ll have 3 co-ops on your resume by graduation anyways. I would vote B as well. It sounds like you’ll get a more unique experience, for better or worse. How it goes will likely help you when picking co-ops to go for. You can likely try to play Internship A into a co-op too.
@roethlisburger That’s the hard truth. With Internship B, it’s a little more unpredictable…The main point that is making this a tough decision is the fact that Internship A is a job extremely similar to what I will be doing for co-op. And I will have three co-ops, 6 months long. Looking at the grand scheme of things, after I graduate, having B (working for a startup) instead, along with those 18 months of corporate job work experience would give me more variety, etc… But what you said is the hard truth-- A will inevitably give me more connections.
@doschicos @PengsPhils I wholeheartedly agree. It seems like both opportunities are so rare. B is super unique, and A is extremely lucky because they have ONLY hired juniors and seniors. I posted this thread on /r/personalfinance and most of them recommended me A.
Another goal of mine is, which one would help me land a better first co-op?
A would be a better base to have on my resume as I have had no finance work experience in the past and it relates to my major, and is a KNOWN company, whereas B would be a unique talking point during interviews. I would still have some sort of Finance on my resume, because I am on the e-board of a student-led organization on campus that works to spread awareness for Impact (Socially Responsible) Investing.
F***, I seriously can’t decide… and I have to soon, hopefully by tomorrow. To be honest, the fact that I can drive 7 minutes to B and use my car (overall making it a better, funner experience), as well as getting substantially more money ($4000 difference between the two by the end of the summer pre-tax), is seriously tempting me. So many tradeoffs, so many equally weighted pros/cons.
I vote “B”. You have plenty of time to work in the corporate world, take this summer and do something unique.
@NEPatsGirl Do you think it’d be a waste giving up A? I interviewed with them twice, took like 2 hours each, even got to meet the CEO and CFO of a small established firm, and they have never hired a freshman before.
I feel like if I went for B, I would want to save A for the future somehow, as @PengsPhils mentioned, making it into a co-op, but I don’t know how I would go about doing that if I were to reject them.
No, I don’t think interview time is a waste, its actually fantastic experience for future opportunities. There will be equivalents to “A” in your future, maybe not them, but equals I’m sure. Seriously, you’ll be tied to the corporate life (most likely) for most of your life, your first college summer will not determine your future so long as you have something worthwhile on your resume. And even then lots of students don’t work “career-type” jobs, they wait tables and enjoy the beach or travel if they can afford to.
I’m an engineer, so you’re going to know your career field better than I do. If you do take job B, take it because you think it offers the more valuable career experience, not because it’s a shorter drive, you want to “chill out” during the summer, or even that it offers a higher salary.
Chiming back in again (30 years of finance background). If it was a large investment firm like Fidelity or State Street Global Advisors as choice A, it would be a no brainer. But given small firm vs. one man operation, I don’t think, for a first college internship experience when there are more to follow, that too much weight should be placed on the firm size.
Here are things that stuck out to me in your descriptions:
A: “They said that they’re always extremely busy dealing with their clients. I would be given a desk of accounts and be responsible for reconcilements, performance calculations, exception management.”
B: " lot of work or not, but it will be a much more casual environment, so I have the feeling it’ll be really chill. I would be helping him with everything basically like with his clients and making presentations"
The first strikes me as you toiling away at your desk, mostly working by yourself focused on a more narrow range of tasks.
The second strikes me as being part of a team, engaging with some client interface, and wearing a variety of hats.
I just feel at your age, you can take a little more risk and have a little more fun.
I recommend A. B is riskier - you really don’t know if this guy is a good employer and if he will have suitable assignments for you, although it sounds like there will be two of you working for him. Actually it sounds like both are good.
Update with new info. I emailed Internship B asking for a more detailed explanation on what I’d be doing on a day to day basis and he sent me quite a detailed description. (thanks for doschicos for looking out, I will be privately messaging the repliers to this thread what they think of it)
OP, I’d edit out the post above. You probably shouldn’t be sharing something a potential boss shared with you privately about the scope of his business with the internet. 
That being said, even if you only do half of what is listed, it is a much broader and more interesting range of activities than option A provides. I remain firmly in Camp B.
@CheddarcheeseMN @NEPatsGirl @roethlisburger @PengsPhils
I emailed Internship B asking for a more detailed explanation on what I’d be doing on a day to day basis and he sent me quite a detailed description, what do you think? Check the edit section of this post. Posting it there because I can edit it out tomorrow, (replace reddit.com with reddit)
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6afe9l/got_two_offers_for_a_summer_internship_cannot/
That only gives me more confidence in B. As you can tell by the diversity of opinion here and there, you’ve got two good options. I’d go with your gut here.
@PengsPhils
You mentioned that I could possibly turn A into a co-op. I’ve seen you in the NEU forums a lot, could you expand more on that? Ideally I would like to take B for this summer, and turn A into a co-op for next summer (July - December fall cycle). But would that be possible after rejecting A?
Absolutely. Basically, you’d go with something along the lines of “Thank you for the offer and your time, but unfortunately I have accepted another position for this summer. However, I am still very interested in this position in the future. Do you take co-op students? (explain the basics and timing here). I would love to get back in contact with you around when I have an additional year of classes under my belt.”
Talk to your co-op advisor or the career center if you need help crafting the exact email, but that’s the gist.