IBD Summer Analyst work on the weekends

KB24TD21We expect our summer's there every weekend, even if its for a couple hours in the middle of the afternoon. It just doesn't look good if every analyst and other summer is there and there is one kid missing. There's no supervising, come in do your work and go home. You'll see any and everyone drop in, we have a partner that still stops in for 2 hours a day because its his day of no client meetings. We have VP's who will come around with their kid to send an email or read a book quickly. It's also casual, neat but casual. So jeans, polos, khakis, flip flops. For girls, make sure what you have on is not too revealing or tight, its still an office. It's the one conversation I hate, telling the girl who wore her bar clothes to work, to go home.

+1, solid

KB24TD21We expect our summer's there every weekend, even if its for a couple hours in the middle of the afternoon. It just doesn't look good if every analyst and other summer is there and there is one kid missing. There's no supervising, come in do your work and go home. You'll see any and everyone drop in, we have a partner that still stops in for 2 hours a day because its his day of no client meetings. We have VP's who will come around with their kid to send an email or read a book quickly. It's also casual, neat but casual. So jeans, polos, khakis, flip flops. For girls, make sure what you have on is not too revealing or tight, its still an office. It's the one conversation I hate, telling the girl who wore her bar clothes to work, to go home.

This is very helpful. Thanks.

lol @ "reduce workload"

In addition to the ones you mentioned:

CS - no work between friday at 6pm through sunday at 10am (although doesn't apply to live deals).

BAML - 4 days off a month on the weekends

Barcap - mandatory block leave for 2 non-consecutive weeks over a year; no more than 12 days in the office in a row; no staffings after noon on friday

Although bottom line is that now you just have to do the same amount of work in less hours (i.e. later nights during the week)

Does ms have anything? Also, does the GS policy apply to intl offices like Tokyo and hong kong?

At first I thought this would be a good idea but as I read more about it I think its just going to make weekdays worse. I'd rather be working on weekends.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/banks-ease-hours-for-junior-staf…

To be clear, I will be graduating. This is not to visit friends.

Bankers aren't monsters. Let them know in advance and it should be fine. They'll work with you. There's obviously a slight chance that shit might totally hit the fan, and they'll need you to work that weekend. However, considering you're a summer, even this is a pretty unlikely.

you are graduating... then doing SA??

I'd get this request in ASAP.

Birthdays lolol

Wait, so these are activities over a weekend, i.e. you're not missing any (M-F) workdays?

Just tell your staffer; then, send out an email the week before to deal teams to the effect of "all, wanted to let you know I'll be doing xx activity next weekend and will be in yy place due to graduation-related activities. I'll be available until xx on Friday and will be back in the office Monday morning. In addition, I'll be available via email all weekend and will have a laptop to log in remotely should any urgent work arise. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Best, DChains825"

Night life = you go out and do whatever it is you do. You can do this with any job. If you go IBD, you won't have one.

Cheers

depends what city you're in, but regardless of where or what you're doing, your social life is what you make of it. there's plenty of sites to see in nyc and other cities and nightlife is huge, though difficult to manage consistently if you're not 21 or don't have a fake. meet up with friends and take advantage of all the city has to offer

wow really? this has to be the most rediculous advice thread ever. like your job is going to define your nightlife..

Any suggestions on the best way to network with my bartender to get another scotch?

90 hours would be a pleasant week for SA - you will work weekends.

as an intern at a BB, i worked hard hours - something similar to what you mentioned above, a bit less on average if i'm being realistic, and i would also go to the office on weekends, but only for few hours

sunday would often be free, saturday until 5

now, i might have been lucky. sure there were some weeks where i would work full sunday, but that was maybe 2 out of 12 weeks or something like that

As a broad generalization, the workweek numbers you're quoting are heavy. Analysts generally get in around 9:00 AM (can be earlier in capital markets groups) and leave by 11:00 PM, with anywhere from a few to many hours on the weekend. Varies widely from group to group and based on market conditions (especially the latter in LevFin).

Lev fin hours are roughly 7:30 - 10/11 pm for an intern. Less on Friday. Weekends are usually light. Most Saturdays off, a few hours on Sunday (though Sundays can be busy if you're launching a deal on Monday)

Thanks for the great answers guys

I think you need to grow a pair and enjoy life before you become a slave in a year or two.

I am interested in this too. Good answers would be appreciated!

The more dependable you become, the more favored by associates and VPs you will be. The more favored you are, the more you will work. If your group is supportive of buyside aspirations, their fondness of you will help you when you start recruiting. If your group does not give a shit about analysts, you will be an exploited resource.

All above points valid. Interns aren't expected to stay when they don't have to or come in on weekends (obv. depending on group). If you really feel bad, then go in, do some accounting exercises or what have you. Feel it out as well. Our interns aren't here now and I'd be ticked if they came in cause they now I have nothing for them and they're just trying to brown nose. However if one was staffed with me on an active deal and they (should) know that something may come up, I'd be a little dissapointed if they were no shows or at least didn't reach out even tho I'd likely ignore them.

In short, if you've been doing ad hoc/one off assignments all week, go work on your tan. If you're working on something on going, get your ass in the office and make yourself available so I can have you spread some comps and make my ppt graphs fonts don't get fucked up.

Here's another point - at this point you probably just finished up your first week. Unless you got staffed on a live deal out the chute, they'll probably give you one offs until you've proved yourself later in the summer. So if you really don't have anything to do, and no ongoing projects / deliverables, then yeah, go work on your tan / enjoy NYC. You'll get worked plenty later in the summer.

IMHO, it's more important to be on the ball with things people ask you to do / try to make yourself available on ongoing processes than to simply sit there for face time's sake.

I fucking hate face time. I left at 10PM the other night because I had literally no fucking work, it was my second day on the team, and I had read EVERYTHING that I had access to. Everything, paper and electronic (GT fucked up with my access shit so I can't look through past deals and models). My team knew of the situation and suggested I leave when I was done reading through a packet.

Naturally, a VP from another team chastised me LOUDLY, in front of everyone still on our floor, for leaving early. Face time is so fucking pointless. You give me the work to do, I will pull a fucking all-nighter for you and get it done. I will jack off to Excel all day Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, whatever. But don't expect me to fake jacking off to Excel just because you like to watch.

def depends on group. I know I am expect to always be in on weekends but they told me to take this one off since it was first week and I hadn't been staffed yet. Went in to grab some training materials and they were happy I was there because apparently some extra work came up that I could help with. I don't think anyone is really going to knock you for coming in on weekends, but I guess just feel out your group.

While I somewhat agree above with the whole "you're young go out and live" philosophy, you also have 10 weeks to leave an impression and land an offer. A group where people would be pissed if their analyst didn't email to ask if they needed help, but intentionally ignore them if they did would be a shitty group to work in.

You're a freshman. It's PWM. It's unpaid.

Enjoy yourself for a week. Obviously ask your boss if it's fine with him and let him know well in advance, but I'm sure he'll understand.

Personally I think it's unreasonable to ask for this, even if it's PWM, and even if you're just a freshman. They could replace you in two seconds with a kid who is willing not to go on vacation to get that sort of experience.

Plus, it will be a good "character-building" experience for you to learn how to manage sacrificing family/fun time for work...because if you want to go into ib, that's a skill you'll need.

Two options for you:

1) Don't do it. 2) If you are going to do it, wait until the Friday before the vacation. Tell your boss that you have a family emergency and you have to be away next week.

I had a fellow intern last summer (not PWM) who did this, and lost a lot of cred among the full timers. Did it really affect him in any tangible way? Not really cuz he wasnt trying to come back as a full time analyst. So it really depends what you wanna get out of this internship. But you will most likely be stigmatized the wrong way for taking leave during an internship.

Ask for the week off... It's an unpaid internship and you're a freshman.

That being said, be prepared for them to say no or even find someone else to take your spot.

@SonnyZH, do not confuse my statements as coming off as un-appreciative. I am more than ecstatic to have even found something. I based that statement off the general gist of it not being a huge deal that exists on this forum, which was created by other users, not me.

If it was a paid internship, I would miss the vacation and be fine with it. This gig is unpaid, and I am losing over 4k of an opportunity cost, which I could earn doing something else for the summer. I also have to pay money (a large amount) for my school to accept the meager half credit, which contributes to me wanting to miss a week for caribbean weather.

But by all means, continue to contribute in a condescending fashion. Have a good day

I'd take the vacation. Like other people said, they might replace you, but you'll have the experience on your resume, which will still help. And then you can enjoy a couple more weeks of what will probably be your last free summer.

Vacation is clearly the winner here.

@triplectz, I appreciate it. The thing has been planned for over a year.

Not suggesting you lie. If you worked there for the summer, you put down the months you worked there, or put "Summer 2012." It's honest, and totally fair.

And the background checks are to verify actual employment. You've worked there. You'd pass the background check. They're not going to pull your internship because you left a week early from a summer internship 2 years ago.

Dude I asked for a few days off for the 4th of July the day after I got my internship. They were completely fine with it and even asked if I needed time off some time during the internship. Granted I'm not in NYC so people aren't as tight assed about this stuff. Talk to HR/a secretary about it, not your boss.

when I went to the interview for my internship at an AM, they asked me straight away if I had any holidays booked, which I had, they were completely fine with it and just fitted my dates in around it. they had absolutely no problem with it!

Although I am in London, not that should make a difference. I think it just depends on the firm

You deserve an Oscar, MrDiCaprio.

I had a Merrill Lynch wealth management internship freshman year at a branch office. Took a week of for vacation and it was no problem. But then again, I was the only intern who had to cold call my way into the position.

They don't really need you anyway, I say take the week off. No harm in asking anyway.

This is a classic question asked on interviews (I think it's even mentioned in the Vault guides). There's no way to know for certain whether this will hurt you badly or not, so the answer will depend on your group.

Is this wedding later on during the internship? Maybe you can feel out the group's attitude on the issue, and ask at an appropriate time. Many would say to just suck it up, and keep working through. Play it by ear.

As an intern, you should definitely be able to go. Tell them in advance and it shouldn't be a problem. If you tell them the week before, then they would get pissed. But don't make it a four-day vacation, in and out is the policy.

Banks don't screw interns.

My internship starts in mid June for 10 weeks, and the wedding is during the 3rd week of July(so not too early, not too late). It's during a weekend, so I'll probably leave friday and come back sunday night. When you say tell them, who do you refer to? HR? The people in my group? Thanks.

Tell the group and specifically the people you are staffed on a deal with. Also tell the staffer.