Asking for couple days off SA for friend's wedding?
One of my closest friends is getting married and said that he really wants me to be at his wedding. Problem is that the wedding is going to be right in the middle of my BBIB SA in NY this summer and unfortunately on a weekday, so I can't fly home and get back to NY over the weekend (I live on the west coast if that's relevant). He's been one of my closest/best friends since third grade so I definitely want to attend the wedding if I can. Would it be OK to ask for like two days off mid-week from my SA to attend the wedding? And how should I go about asking for a couple days away from the desk? Should I reach out to HR now or wait for my SA position to start before I ask them about this? I would definitely have my phone on me and be responsive and can even take my laptop to the wedding and dip for a few minutes if needed, but I do want to be there in person. Any help or guidance would be very appreciated!
Time off as an SA is usually a hard no, but I think in this situation where it is truly a close friend and such a short time they will not hold it against you. Don't ask HR, approach with your staffer like the fourth or fifth day of work. Emphasize this internship is really important to you and you would never normally ask for this, but you absolutely have to go to this event, and will do everything possible to WFH on the plane, bring laptop for the morning, and be responsive to emails (guarantee your analyst/associate will not expect you to respond during a wedding though, interns are given a longer leash)
You may be on some pretty crappy back and forth redeyes but I think any reasonable group should be fine with this
Thanks for the helpful advice! If the staffers are ok with attending the wedding, would you say I should also let the analysts/associates of my team know, or do staffers usually pass the message on to make sure the team knows? I don't want to mess up any chances for a return offer to attend the wedding or want the team to see me as someone unreliable because I left for a couple days.
The analysts/associates really will not ding you for this, as long as you ask in advance and make sure the teams know you are really fine.
As for telling them, it's totally on you but be mindful of how do you it. Wait until after you get permission, and then examine which of your projects will still be going on by then. Anything you know will still be alive by the wedding, tell them as soon as you get permission, and then remind the team like 2-3 days out with an email. As you get staffings just give them a heads up.
Banking is a tough life don't get me wrong but people are reasonable enough about this kind of thing. As an intern it's not like you hold the golden keys to the model, so the analyst/associate do not mind taking your text comments for a few days. Thank them for covering and kick ass the rest of the internship you will be totally fine
Bro do not miss the wedding of your close friend just for a day or two of work. That’s something you’ll definitely regret. WSO hardos are going to tell you to never miss work, but once you get older you realize what matters in life.
Agreed with above. Tell your staffer and team, don’t tell HR. If they’re cool and your group has a good culture, shouldnt be a problem. FWIW, I missed like 4 days during my SA because of some family birthdays, and still got the return at my EB
Definitely ask your staffer, or an analyst you are closest with. Similar situation for me where a close family member is getting married, and I am also on the east coast flying back west for the events. I’ll be gone for about 4 days, so longer than you, but I directly communicated this to an analyst I was closest with and they were super understanding and asked upper management, so I am now all set to work remote with minor stuff. DONT wait on telling them, the earlier they know the better. Even though we get worked to the bone, these guys understand we have family and close friends.
Definitely go the wedding
If they tell you no/ding you in your final return decision, it’s definitely not worth joining full time. As much as I sometimes hate my work (not in IBD, but similar), at least my boss is understanding of these sorts of things.
Go to the wedding. Life’s too short, and you don’t want to work at a bank that would ding you for it, anyways.
I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but I’m in a similar predicament except it’s 5 days and it’s on the last week of my internship. I have mandatory RA training that I cannot miss and was wondering how I should go about it.
This is a different situation.
A best friend's wedding is not the same thing as some (likely-waste-of-time) RA training. Find a way to get out of it.
You can get out of RA training, no one actually cares if you go. My fiancée missed hers both years via an internship and then a concussion.
Yeah don't even try to get out of SA for this. You can almost always tell them your internship conflicts and they'll let you skip it.
I let my school know already, and they told me that it is mandatory even with my internship and if I do not attend, I will not be able to be an RA for the next semester.
Obviously my career is more important but is there really no workaround then?
Don't be an RA or agree, you have covid
5 days is a really long time and this is not a good enough excuse
Nah bro. Fuck being an RA then
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