I am currently in college and I have a beard that I am very fond of..... should I shave it off before my IB interviews or are beards accepted in IB or does it vary bank by bank?
Thanks
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Yes
Yes to its frowned down upon or that its okay?
Yes, it's a risk that it may be frowned upon and in that case where these jobs are hard enough to come by, I just wouldn't take any kind of risk.
I think it depends. I know SF is much more lenient on this. NY tends to be more formal
Can confirm. Went through recruiting at a leading SF boutique with my pandemic beard.
What race are you
White-Irish
I think when interviewing at the intern/analyst 1 level, yes.
yes, unless you are in the position where you make decisions, you should follow the status quo when it comes to dress/hair
.
There is one guy under director at my bank with facial hair and it’s a very full, well groomed stubble beard, and he’s a bald vp. Imo unless you need a beard (religious reasons) or are bald, you should not have a beard.
At my bank, once you've sort of proven yourself, nobody really cares if you grow a beard. Lot of analysts and associates have (esp with wfh). But do not show up to a coffee chat, interview or internship with one. It looks unprofessional. And I'm not saying you can't get a job if you have a beard, but its one of those things that can only hurt you.
That’s pretty cool. Only know 3 analysts who had beards at banks across the street and all of them get shit for it by senior bankers.
I had the exact same thought when I was going through interviews. Did a shit load of research. Kept it anyway, got the job so I'm probably biased. I decided a place that wouldn't hire me based on my well kempt beard probably wouldn't be for me anyway.
Sadly, this could hurt you in NA. If you're in Europe, a well groomed beard will be acceptable. However, why throw away a job opportunity for something as trite as a beard, when you can grow one after you get the job offer?
Was in the same situation as you and I decided to play it safe and shave it off for interviews.
I do not think a beard is a problem, but you only need 1 interviewer to think it is unprofessional and you get dinged.
yes. Depends if it looks good or not though definitely.
I'm really confused by the responses in here. I've never met anyone in the professional world who frowned upon facial hair. Especially not from boomers, who wore it in style themselves.
You won't get dinged for having a beard lol
Also, I've had a beard since I joined the white collar world over 4 years ago in a conservative profession such as accounting. As long as you keep the beard nice looking, then I don't see what the issue is. Don't let the kids with baby faces in here convince you otherwise.
This. The responses above sound like folks trying to audition for Mad Men
have been specifically told by a director to shave and have had friends with similar responses at different banks across the street.
Not to be a Dick Mr Roger but back office isn’t a client facing role. Can’t have your DD rugrats meeting with clients looking like they worked at a ski resort in Breck for the last year
Fair, but I work in public accounting, and have met many clients face to face. Never had an issue with my beard.
So what you're saying is you've never worked in IB but are trying to tell someone what is largely viewed as acceptable/unacceptable in IB? Ok.
OP, I wouldn't risk it.
Yeah, I am. This is a standard that applies to the professional world, not just IB.
Lol if you say so, bud. Have fun stroking your beard while you make edits to risk disclosures in 10Qs nobody reads.
Hey man, no reason to throw out insults. I'm just making a statement. There really hasn't been a counter argument on this. Telling OP not to risk it implies that there might not be anything wrong with a nice beard.
I work in public accounting, specifically tax, so I actually interface with a lot of clients. I'm not just stuck in the corner of the office.
When I interviewed, I was clean shaved and had short hair. During quarantine and my internship, facial hair was still not common, but some people starting rocking beards. Junior bankers were still expected to be clean shaved. One thing that changed was I grew my hair out and surprisingly wasn't expected to cut it. Most places this is probably still not accepted, but I was at a boutique/MM firm where some other senior and junior bankers had longer hair. You just have to know the firm and the group you are interviewing with. When in doubt, play it safe and shave the beard.
Always always always shave before an interview
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