Should I Quit My Job?

How much longer do you have on your contract in Audit? If it is reasonably soon, would it be possible for you to schedule your internship offer for after you finish out your current job?

DO IT. We always have to make choices and take some risk, and you're staring down the barrel of 2.5 years of your like in job you don't like. 6months i also a long time to get yourself out there to hedge the risk of no return offer. back yourself, doooo itt.

I was in the same position as you last year; My grades were pretty poor, I was one year into my Big 4 position (albeit operations) and took a 5 month internship at an IB. I say trust your gut, because, for me, it was a great move. It will be tough just due to the fact you have to hustle non-stop throughout those 6 months, but if it's what you want, you have to do it. Before you know it, it could be too late and you're wishing you made the jump. Just my opinion. Good luck

Do it. Have confidence in yourself that in some way or another you'll make it work.

Just to play devil's advocate here, I'm also from the UK. In the US Big4 CPA is seen as something that anyone can do and doesn't get the respect that ACA Big4 qualified professionals get in the UK. I have seen a lot of jobs/recruiters looking for ACA qualified people for roles in credit, distressed debt and recovery situations here in London. Thre are also a load of jobs for FIG ACA talent in ER (just check efinancialcareers.co.uk). I recently interviewed for a job at a credit hedge fund where the guy interviewing me had 10 years experience in a Big4 doing insolvency/restructuring. My advice would be to see if you can transfer to your firm's corporate finance team, not TAS but actual CP or see what other opportunities exist within your firm. Generally speaking, these companies are open to you moving around if there is space for you.

If you go to this other gig the economy and firm performance are out of your control, which were the reasons you failed to get a FT from the first IBD gig. If you end up leaving Big4, you will have burnt your bridges, will have to pay back your audit exam fees via clawback and your CV will look poor. I'm not saying don't take this IBD position, but I would first explore all other opportunities to move within your firm first.

Best of luck!

Quit dude. really. whats the point in all this if you dont enjoy your work

I would likely stay put and search for something that is full time. The fact that this is a 6 month internship is strange to me to begin with. It seems that they're doing that to push all the risk on your shoulders. I don't like to enter into an arrangement where I bear all of the risk.

Maybe you can just talk to them and see if they can make it a full time offer instead? You have nothing to lose if you decide not to leave for an internship.

Say you quit audit, then there's no FT offer attached to your internship. What's plan b? You'd have to have a pretty good story to convince someone to give you another accounting job...

If you've got a safety net of cash, mental stability, and family/emotional support... then move.

This seems like a job for MATH!!

Let PA be your pay at your audit job, and PIBD be your potential FT pay at the bank you're thinking about interning with, let v be your discount factor [in actuarial math, v = 1/(1+i)], gA be your current salary growth, and gIBD be your potential job's salary growth, and let fA & fIBD be retention risk (keeping the job and getting the job, respectively), and t is each half year. So, you're left with these equations:

Sigma(n=1->t)[(PA)(v^n)(gA^n)(fA)] and Sigma(n=2->t)[(PIBD)(v^n)(gA^n-1)(fIDB)] for your current and potential job respectively

So,

If Sigma(n=1->t)[(PA)(v^n)(gA^n)(fA)] t)[(PIBD)(v^n)(gA^n-1)(fIDB)], quit and give it a go. if Sigma(n=1->t)[(PA)(v^n)(gA^n)(fA)] > Sigma(n=2->t)[(PIBD)(v^n)(gA^n-1)(fIDB)], stay put and wait for a better option.

Obviously, fA for 12 (I assume if you get the job, your retention rate will go up for a period of time). Additionally, if you have cash saved up for this sort of thing, feel free to add that to the RHS.

Everything look about right here? I'm sure the fA and fIBD factors could be broken down into the qx & px components, but that seems tricky.

^ oh shit.

applauds

I would definitely do it if I were in your shoes. I would hardly think twice.

Go for it.

in case my input is required, ex target UK uni, 2:2 (viva'ed up from a 3rd), GPA wise, we're similar. Went to big 4 audit, left after a year. 2 years later, im in my dream job, quant trading. It was really stressful, the first job i got after big 4 audit didnt work out. That was a tough time. The more you stay in audit, the harder it will be to do that jump. Jump soon and jump far. PM for any more input, dont want a tldr post.

Personally, I'd jump: when's the next time you're going to get a shot at this? If you have some time at a big4 and some certs, fuck all, you can always go back to that world, they took your dumb ass in the first place ;) But again....see if you can get answers to any of the above questions and vet them here....

A lot of US users seem worried about a 6 months internship but in Europe it's pretty common (at least in Continental Europe and more and more in the UK as well).

I think you should make the jump OP. The economy and company performance are always going to be out of your control. Who knows what it will be like in 2.5years when you are done with the big 4 gig. Be a true banker and take some risk.

Go for it OP. I just gave my employer notice today and it's the happiest I've been in months.

Give the internship 100% and keep networking on the side just in case.

My simple advice would be to play to win, don't play not to lose.

Worst case, things don't work out exactly as you expected, but you have the story, you can still punt and do an MSF or an MBA depending on your age and experience at the time. People like people who hustle more than people who defer their happiness because they don't want to take risk.

If you sat down in front of me and I said "so you were in each of these jobs for 6 months and left, what happened," and you told me that you had a shot to get your dream job and you took it, threw yourself into the work 100% and did not receive an offer due to circumstances outside your control, I would have to respect you for taking that risk.

Regardless of the outcome, you will ALWAYS feel better if you go for it and fail, than if you decide to sit tight and play it safe. LIFE isn't designed to be "played safe." Not when you're single and don't have a family depending on your income.

PLAY TO WIN.

How did you get an internship with a 3rd? Surely you knew someone who worked there because most places won't even look at your application if it's anything below a 2.1.

Woah, you went to a UK semi-target and graduated with a 3rd class degree? and got an IBD internship?!! How on earth did you pull that off? Props to you anyhow. Out of interest, which uni was it? I'm from the UK myself.

Man, you have to do it! I've made the same thing 3 weeks and I'm the happiest person right now. GROW A PAIR AND DO IT!

Just do it. There is too much upside for you to forgo this opp.

Personally, I think you have to go into every opportunity with the greatest amount of confidence in yourself. Trust that you will nail the internship and outperform your employer's expectations and the decision should be pretty easy.

That said, if you're the risk-averse type, choose based on the downside. In one year, what would you regret more:

1) You passed up the internship and still have all the security of a well-paid job that you hate.

2) You took the internship, performed very well and had top-notch reviews from your employer but didn't receive a return offer, so now you need to look for a new job.

That should make the decision pretty easy to make.

either way u r pretty fucked

^^This guy's a douche in every thread, I swear...

Good luck Asatar; You'll make it to FT.

Like everyone said above, I think if you ultimately want IBD might as well go for it. Last thing you want is staying in your current job wondering what could have happened everyday. But also have the mental prep for the worst case scenerio and hope for the best. Good luck!

My take is a bit different, and here is what I would do.

I would look at everything as a case of probability. Right now your job, that you hate is guaranteeing you income and benefits which is a plus.

The internship, you have yet to win the FT offer.

Suppose you do get hired at the IBD firm and you work there for a year, but due to market forces you are again out of a job looking again because nothing in that industry is ever stable.

But suppose you change your strategy to save as much money as you can for two years and create a decent nest egg for yourself. Now step 2, try to take some business certifications programs at a top 20 school and this time ace the classes and get a decent GPA that you can report. So that means going to school and work at the same time. Step three, with your nest egg built, apply to MBA programs and with your experience and higher GPA, hopefully you will get into a top 20 MBA program. However the nest egg you've built for yourself allows you to get an MBA without needing to add debt that you might not be able to pay later on. So you go get an MBA now that been paid for.

Now with an MBA, you can re-try to get an IBD position but this time you'll be at a whole other level than where you're trying to apply from now.

However the risk to this strategy is waiting 2.5 years, creating a nest egg, hoping you get into a top 20 MBA program and then hoping to get into a IBD position. Thats lots of moving pieces, chances something could go wrong are higher.

Having said that, I think that I would risk it, and try to reduce the factors of failure to zero. I would naturally exhibit superhuman work ethic to rule out not getting a FT offer because I didnt do my work. I would then try to go beyond what was asked of me, and show initiative. I would then also let them know that the internship is very difficult to sustain financially, and have a talk about how you really want to work there full time etc.

Lastly the one thing you can't control the deal flow, the market and the business cycle, I would just sweat the 6 months out and hope it works out.

This six months of sweat is a lot less than three plus years of sweat trying to get into IBD through an MBA. Like I said first you need a nest egg, then better grades and GMAT, then the study itself then finding a job.

Since you eventually want to be IBD, the less anxiety producing avenue is to leave current job.

This is not taking into consideration your current financial needs. If you need stable money for debt or for supporting someone then stay.

If you signed the contract for 3 years, would the firm sue you for quitting it now? Just out of my curiosity about this thing!

I think you've been pretty lucky to get a Big4 gig in the first place, I know they're pretty picky with GPA and schools in the UK as someone already said. I dont feel you should look at it with the thought that this is a 6 month internship but rather a step in the right direction. Why stay at a job you're not happy at? Immediately out of undergrad, I got a offer from a Big4 within Human Capital Tax, took it and left within 6 months. Never looked back. The job sucked. Your job sucks because it sucks for you, who cares what someone else thinks?

The best thing you can do is take the internship and constantly evluate how its going for you. Likely they'll drop hints in some fashion that they take you on or you'll know how business is to guess whether a FT offer is likely. At worst, you keep looking and you have a few months to recharge your batteries (I cant say enough good things about this point. My brother worked 7 years in IB, one day quit, took 6 months off, traveled, and is now back working in another field. He's never been happier).

The downside is the fact that quitting on your Audit gig will burn bridges. I dont even put my time at Big4 on my resume. Although there is a difference between your 1+ year and my five months.

Hope everything works out. Good luck!

Full time work is better then internships. Period.

Do it Foo!

Not for an internship dude...just chill in your audit job while you look for fulltime jobs. Try to get some other relevant stuff on your resume during your freetime (like VIC, DDIC, managing a portfolio, CFA, etc). It will be tough to look for external opportunities during your internship.