Need to choose an internship offer between two choices.

Question

Context: Current Junior at T10 US school with a 3.7+ GPA and strong extracurriculars(publications, leadership, etc. ) and previous internship experience with the aim to apply for the full time recruiting cycle.

Question: I received two internship offers in a product/data role, and need to choose an internship. One is a digital media company that is big but doesn't have the strongest of the brand name. The other is a highly reputed sports betting company(think like Draftkings/Fanduel). Curious if the nature of the sports betting industry would look bad when applying to jobs.

Answer 1

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on the internship offers!

I think this is an interesting question that may be relevant for many people. I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

First of all, and contrary to what other coaches have said, I would highly advise you not to opt for one of the two internships based solely on a superficial analysis to make your profile stronger for strategy consulting. You must have had an intrinsic motivation to apply in the first place, and you should determine which internship you are more motivated to pursue.
Moreover, please rest assured that, given strategy consulting companies provide consulting services to the sports betting industry as well, there should not be any moral dilemma with interning there, unless you have one yourself.
Lastly, instead, I would highly advise you to opt for the option that better aligns with your professional (and maybe even personal) mid- to long-term goals. In order to make an informed decision, I would advise you to do the following:
- Weigh the different criteria that are meaningful to you independently of the current options (e.g., prestige, culture, international exposure, compensation, location). After that, score the two options based on your criteria and their weighting, resulting in two scores. This way, you have covered the left-brain perspective.
- Critically assess your initial reaction to the outcome of the scores. For instance, if you feel the urge to tweak the numbers, this is a solid indicator that you do not want this decision to become reality. This way, you have covered the right-brain perspective.
- By doing so, you will be able to integrate both parts of the brain into the decision-making, guaranteeing a higher chance that you will still be happy with it years later.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to address your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Answer 2

Hi there,

Congratulations on the offers. In terms of your question:

Q: Curious if the nature of the sports betting industry would look bad when applying to jobs.

You can double-check based on data as follows for your target geography:

Look for alumni of the two companies on LinkedIn
Check how many moved to your desired exit/industries in your region
Normalize for the size of the companies in your region

This should give you an idea of the exits and if there is any bias.

Best,

Francesco

Answer 3

Hi there,

This is a really tough one.

Which one do you think you would enjoy and perform the best in? Where would you excel?

If it were me, I would take the digital media company, but it does all depend on where you want to go.

Each role is going to open very different doors and lead to different futures (generally speaking). Recommendation: LinkedIn has a tool that lets you see where people worked AFTER working at x company. Use it for this sports betting company!

You're about to receive a lot of information from other coaches, researching online, etc. I just have a few pieces of advice:

1) a) Figure out what 2 things are MOST important to you. In a vacuum. Write them down. Diversity? Prestige? Money? Advancement opportunities?

1) b) Figure out which company has the things you want and go for that

2) This is a bit cheesy, but, go with your gut/instinct. It's there. You just have to figure out what it's telling you. fundamentally, based on your interactions with both firms you already know the people you like more.

2) b) If you're still not sure...get on a call with people at the firm. Have very frank/open conversations with them. Try to talk to people seperate from the recruiting process that can give you a real honest opinion of what it's like working there and what the career paths look like.

Answer 4

Hello,

Great question, and congratulations on getting 2 great internship offers!

I don't think there's a stigmatized perception of the sports betting industry (though maybe there's some variation between firms and offices - for instance in SF, where I used to work, I don't think there would be). If it's a good internship where you'll be able to gain leadership, teamwork, and quantitative skills, I wouldn't let that disincentivize you. I would think more about what you'll be able to learn and gain from each internship, and how interested you are in each (for professional or personal reasons) in making your decision.

Answer 5

Hi there,

One point to add to the discussion - don't think in terms of what would look bad on your resume but what will bring you closer to waht you want to be doing in 5-10y from now.

Best,
Cristian