How can I find out if my group allows starting early after the SA?

Hi everyone, I will be starting as a summer analyst at an UMM boutique in London this summer. I am in my final year at university and would theoretically be able to start full time at the bank immediately after the internship. However, I couldn't find anyone on Linkedin who had done this at my bank - everyone did the typical scheme and started a year later. I definitely don't want to be stuck in London for a year without a job, so what should I do? Apply for off-cycles at PE's/other banks? Or should I ask HR or my interviewers if I could start early (which might look a bit overconfident as the return offer obviously isn‘t be granted...)?

8 Comments
 

Not interviewing whilst on the job makes sense, but what about applying/interviewing now, months before the summer internship? Is that common for final year students or would it raise red flags if HR or the team found out?

 
Most Helpful

Hey man, my 2 cents having gone through similar situation:

  1. Apply to other off-cycles in IB and PE (or even consulting but less common)
  2. You can mention it casually once to HR at the start of the internship that if you are lucky enough to get an offer you could start immediately (do not pester them, this is just so they could plan theoretically for the new class ahead of time)
  3. At the end of the internship if you have a return offer mention again to HR keenness to start as soon as possible and they will see what they can do (if you still actually want to start early)

As a reminder, the bank has no obligation to you and will not feel like they owe you anything so please do not rely on getting an offer to start immediately.

Having said the above, it is my strong view that you should do the off-cycles as your base case. You will never have this much optionality / flexibility in your career again. I have seen some genuinely incredible career trajectory improvements on the back of off-cycle internships. Also, just as reminder, an off-cycle offer at the place you got your summer offer from is not the same as an immediate-start full time offer. There is almost no upside to it and lots of downside. From a personal view, the off-cycles I did were absolutely critical to my career development.

 

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