Have you ever seen an intern quit early?
Hi,
I know that it's quite unlikely probably that an intern quit early, since they put a lot into getting the internship in the first place but nevertheless did you hear about interns who just couldn't handle the hours and therefore decided to quit early?
Have Interns Ever Quit Internships Early?
Yes, interns have quit early before. After going through the hyper-competitive process of securing an internship, most interns know that they’re in for long hours. Those who quit don’t usually do so because of the hours. It’s often for another reason such as:
- Personal health issues
- Family emergency
- Realized the job is not a good fit
- Received better offer
Should You Quit Your Internship?
It depends. The skills you learn and relationships you build during your internship can be incredibly valuable to your career. However, there are some situations where WSO community members feel it would be okay to quit.
From user @Asatar
When I was an intern someone quit to go do something else entirely in a different country. Some people just go for internships because they think it's the 'right' thing to do and then realise the job isn't for them, which is fair enough.
From user @Donny_Axelrod
In my group's intern case - it was a personal choice cause he felt that banking wasn't the right fit. Once you are halfway in, you know if this is for you or not, if you are offer-track or not etc.
From user @Toys-R-Soros
My colleague quit his wealth management internship for an equity research part-time job. I think it was a good move, because it could lead to his dream job in IBD.
From user @Greg Marmalard
If you just don't like what you're doing then stick it out and you'll be better for it, but if there's questionable legality or it goes against your morals, then don't feel bad for standing up for what you feel is right.
How to Quit Your Internship
Check out our forum post, How To Quit an Internship Without Ruining Your Future Prospects for tips on how to quit without burning bridges.
Know a guy who quit as soon as he got placed in ABF.
I'm curious..what's ABF ?
Asset backed finance
Saw an MBA intern try to quit once, only to be told there would be severe repercussions from his school, so he agreed to stay on the final 3 weeks. He pretty much mailed in the internship after that and needless to say did not get an offer.
It was pretty amazing given a MBA should have an even clearer view than a 20 year old as to what they are getting into, and realize the importance of getting an offer, even if to leverage to recruit elsewhere.
This guy was a career switcher in his mid 30s and had 5 kids....seriously no idea why he thought banking would be a decent career choice.
The "herd mentality" at business school is very, very powerful. People come in searching for a whole host of different lifestyles and challenges and career paths, and then come resume drop time, 75% of the class drops for MBB.
There were several career switchers I know who went for banking because it pays a lot and sounds cool, and that was the totality of their analysis. They got into their summer internships and went "whoa, this sucks" and re-recruited for other industries in their second year.
The role of the career services department in all of this was de minimus.
A guy from my school quite a big 4 summer with 3 weeks to go as he wanted to go on holidays with his mates, they gave him a return offer and also offered to pay for his masters if he wanted to do one hahah.
Savage.
Big 4 is a total joke. All you have to do is tell them that you are a fag and you can negotiate for an extra 5k base. Literally.
Not sure who is monkey shitting this (probably a literal communist faggot) but this is literally true. You shouldn't be so full of hate, bigotry and resentment and instead use this advice to improve your financial well being - homo.
An intern at a different firm in our building once had the audacity to apply for an internship with my firm at the time, so we wanted to see what it was all about (always good to get some dirt on other teams). Billy Bigballs sits down and point blank tells me with a straight face he doesn't see why he should stay until midnight every day at his current shop and wants to quit. He wants to join our team, but only under the condition that he can leave by 8pm. Needless to say we knew this chap is going places (i.e. the hell out of our office). We were so impressed with his unique take on work-life balance that we made him an offer on the spot (not for a job, but to leave quietly before we ask his current colleagues to pick his sorry self up). What a legend. We still sometimes never get together again.
When I started interning at BB, we had this director that came from pretty humble belongings. It was a big source of pride for him that he was now able to afford to buy nice things for his family, have financial security and send his kids to college without having to have them worry about the bills. He was really understated with his wealth, but had a chip on his shoulder for super privileged kids that flaunted the money they were born into.
On the first day, one of the other interns shows up with double monk-strap shoes, a Hermes tie and a Patek on his wrist. Director walks by to introduce himself to the interns just as the intern is bragging about some chick he was seeing. Director sees the watch, sees the arrogant face on the guy's face and goes "what's it like not working for things in life"? Probably not a coincidence that the intern got staffed on really rough work (getting assignments dropped on him at 1 am) and assigned to an analyst that was basically a machine. He lasted less than three weeks.
lol MD sounds like kind of an ass. kid should've been treated equally to his peers regardless of what he was wearing. I hope MD doesn't make assumptions like that off of first impressions when meeting with clients. also what do Monk Straps have to do with anything? It's just a different style of shoe that is comparable in price to other styles of dress shoes
adding onto that you would think MD would have a mentality to treat everyone as equals. would he have liked to be treated differently for not having nice clothes/able to afford a suit? I don't think so
No, he doesn't. If an intern came in flaunting a Patek and acting like an arrogant ass, I wouldn't respect him for shit. You can inherit all the money in the world, and good for you. But if you're starting at the bottom rung, at least in the office keep it understated. You are pond scum, don't act like you're King Kong. And who respects a guy who's had everything in the world handed to him?
Yeah my colleague quit his wealth management internship for an equity research part-time job. I think it was a good move, because it could lead to his dream job in IBD.
Interned at a natural gas company, kid showed up with a different rolex for every day of the week. Had his way of making sure you saw them too - real dickhead. That kind of attitude doesn't fly with midstream oil and gas guys. On a call with a difficult client for an offshore deal, room full of people 10ish including legal. Manager mutes the phone - asks the room something about time - shit you not - kid turns his wrist to show manager time - Manager extends his hand, "can i see that?" Bewildered kid takes it off and hands it to him. Dude silently looks at it for about 10 seconds in his hand, looks at the kid, "this is fake. and so are you - get the fuck out of here" and threw the watch on the floor out of the conference room. It was nuts. Kid didn't show up after that. I guess you can technically say he quit ?
This was a while ago, but I know of someone who quit their equity sales internship at GS. The salestrader's response when I asked: "I don't know man. All she had to do was sit there for 10 weeks, watch us do shit, and not be a dumbass; it's an easy 10 grand. Even if she didn't like it, it's only 10 fucking weeks". Truer words were never spoken.
some guy at my bank quit after 2 hours, went for lunch and never came back. the following day we received an email from him saying that he can't keep up with the job requirements :))
I had a sophomore intern who didn't quit, but you could clearly tell as the summer went along it wasn't for him. He started legitimately sleeping at his desk and during meetings. Started coming in later and later until we were unlikely to see him until 9:30 or 10. Kept leaving earlier and earlier and near the end would run out by 6pm. One day he just didn't come in at all, didnt tell anyone, and we had to look for him. He didn't answer his phone so we called the school where he was staying (he was staying in the dorms of a school in the city for the summer) and they went and checked on him. They found him passed out in a pile of vomit naked on the floor of his dorm room at 1pm in the afternoon. Mind you, this was a Tuesday.
We ended up recommending that he get a return offer for his junior summer due to doing a great intern project and knowing one of the MDs personally, but we suggested it to be not in our group. He decided not to take it because he didn't want the other group. Not sure what he ended up doing for his junior summer but he reached out 8 months after graduation and was still unemployed.
During my IBD Analyst programme at a BB (GS/JP/MS) in their NY office, we once had a quite tough phase during a live deal. Some things went wrong that almost cost us the mandate, seniors were quite annoyed, which left a mark on us juniors as well, of course. Worked almost every day until 5 in the morning. Didn't set a foot outside the office once during that time. Not for coffee, not for grabbing something to eat, not for anything.
So after 5 weeks, one SA fucked up badly. And when I say badly, I mean badly. He had a great background (GPA, school, prior experiences), but that day something was sent to the client without anyone noticing it before. Client noticed it of course and immediately called the MD. I think by the way he called the respective Associate to see him in his office, one could tell the client was beyond angry and we were somewhat close to losing the mandate. 5 minutes later, the Associate comes to the desk of the kid, shouts at him really loud and says things that clearly should have not been said in office. I was sitting next to him because I was explaining something and I really felt uncomfortable. Shit, I felt sorry for him. Think for like 5 or 10 minutes the kid just sat there in his chair emotionlessly. Didn't say a word or move at all, even after asking whether he was okay, or if he needed anything. Then, suddenly he starts shaking and crying loud. Talking about the way babies cry. Shit, everyone was under stress, questioning their life and career choices, and the kid doesn’t stop crying in office. Went to the Associate to tell him what had happened - his response: "I don't give a damn about this Monkey, go tell the VP." Yeah, thanks for letting me handle your issue.
Long story short, VP and Associate spoke about it, picked up the kid, and went outside with him.
Never heard of him ever since.