How late should I stay?
I am an unpaid intern at a boutique investment bank and my commute is over an hour and half each way. It is unpaid but the firm is paying my travel expenses and giving me a meal voucher every day.
The culture at the firm is very laid back and on average the latest people stay is 8pm. I have been told that it is the sort of firm that doesn't mind when you go home as long as you get the job done.
However during a deal the senior director stay until 11pm. They say it's the sort of work only they can do so there is no use me staying that late.
I have been leaving on average between 6pm and 7pm. Is this too early? I get in at 8:30am.
I usually complete work at around 5pm and I then ask around if anyone needs any help in the department and I get some work.
On the first day my boss told me that I could leave at 4:30 pm. Also I spoke to another senior a analyst who interned at the firm before joining and he said he used to leave around 5:30 pm.
I feel after reading wso I should be staying late but I literally would have nothing to do.
I would leave at 5:30 PM like the previous intern did. If this should ever be a problem, the firm can start actually paying you first.
I should add in my post that they are paying my travel expenses and give me a meal voucher every day. Not sure if that makes a difference
That doesn't change my opinion. When a firm does not pay for a position, the firm is signaling that they do not view that position's work as worth enough to pay for it. If that is the case, why stay for so long, especially since others at the firm have told you to leave early?
Just leave once you've done all your work and there's nothing else to do. Seniors would understand, especially you're unpaid and have a ridiculous commute time.
Boss tells you to leave at 4:30. The previous guy said he left "early" and still got an offer. What other signals are you looking for?
If you don't have shit to do, bounce into your superior's office and ask if you can help with anything, and if they say no, leave. There's not a lot of benefit to staying late doing literally nothing
Do not stay late for the sake of staying late.
If previous interns left early and still received an offer then it means that the team is fine with you leaving early. In my internships I have seen the opposite though... previous interns left too early because they did not ask for work, hence no one gave them any work and they made a terrible impression.
As long as you make sure that the rest of the team knows that you are willing to work hard and as long as you ask for work, leave whenever you don't have anything to do
People expect you to ask for work and to help out the team. Make sure you do that before you leave. Also a good idea to wait around until it's unlikely that people will find new work for you to do.
Staying later than necessary can leave a negative impression.
It's a delicate balance. Remember, getting the return offer depends primarily on two things: work output and likability. Depends on the team, but speaking from experience, staying later than necessary can definitely make people like you less. And by definition, staying later than necessary won't improve your work output much.
Remember when you wrote on your CV that you have xyz hobbies and a couple projects on the side? When it's 5:30, you should leave to show them you weren't lying and actually have stuff to do.
I’m on a similar boat as you are. Before making your decision, ask yourself this question; why exactly am I doing this internship? Is it for the resume, the work experience or is it to get recommendations from the MDs? If it’s the first two, then you should just get your shit done and bounce. However, if you’re there for the recommendations, then I would consider staying in late and would also do other things to impress your MDs.
Hope this helps. Take it with a grain of salt, I’m only an intern as well.
If this "senior analyst" used to intern there, do what they did and leave at 5:30pm. Still ask around if there's anything yo can help with, but c'mon. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
OP- the answer is clear. You're an unpaid intern - leave by 5:30.
I am in a similar situation as OP, but at a Corporate Strategy internship, and also unpaid. However, I have exam periods during the (full time) internship, and my boss knows this. And I want to ask my boss if it is okay that I stay there at the office to study for my exams after the working hours. My boss usually leaves around 3:30-4:00pm, he said. What do you think I should do? Should I stay and study, or go home or somewhere else to study? Because it takes me 30 minutes to commute home, and when I get home I have to eat and such, which could take a lot of time.
If your boss leaves at 4pm how would he know you were staying later to study anyways? I would just stay there for a few more hours after work, study, and go home. If they ask you to do work while you are studying after hours, I would just go to a nearby library/Starbucks instead.
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