I know IBD is a 7-days a week stint, but on a "typical" weekend can you run out of the office for a few hours (to grab lunch with friends, or church on Sunday if you will), so long as you spend 8-10 hrs in?
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Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. There are people in my group (including me) who frequently spend the entire weekend in the office except for 3-5 hours for sleep.
For the 1st 6 months, expect to be in office most of time that Mis Ind described. This is because you're trying to establish credibility, get up-to-speed, and just learning as much as you can. After tha, I know people that work at GS Consumer, UBS and CS M&A, and JPM CHR that come in and leave when they want as long as they're not on an URGENT deal. You just have to make sure you get your shit done. There are times when you can take Saturday off and then work for 8-10 hours on Sunday. It's not as bad as these people are describing on this board.
I'm at a bulge bracket, and I know at least two analysts in my group who are 2nd or 3rd years and who are working the hours I've just described. We have a second-year doing frequent 130-hour weeks here, and he's not even on anything live. Then again, we have some second-years who rarely work more than 10 hours total over a weekend.
What about the summer interns?
ms ind is so full of shit. oh my god, oh my god. to get into IB you need 3.8+ Princeton AB, Harvard MBA, and many have Cornell PhDs in chemistry. oh my god. to get in you need to be making strides to cure cancer. and once ur here you will be working 130 hrs.
just read her thread about the resumes she sorted through. its incredible. i posed as a banker and submitted more truths to this board than she has so far. and she "is" a banker.
From the ghetto...
Did anyone catch this? LMAO......
Yeah, Danny Bush is a real trip.
Just telling you what I've seen with my own eyes. I am actually sitting here in a bulge bracket IBD, after all, not in a dorm room.
Clearly, everyone's mileage is going to vary, and if you ever actually get an offer, Dan, your experience may not be exactly like mine. But if you want to believe that there's no one working 130s in investment banking, be my guest. The rumor is that my group is the hardest-working group in my bank, but I can't speak to the truth of that. All I know is that I did 132 last week, and the analyst I referenced earlier did 140 the week before.
I can tell you that I have no reason to lie. It's not as if my position is one of incredible status... in the real world, in the bank itself, we analysts are really lowly and miserable individuals. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to pose as one of us. Would you care to explain why you did it, Dan? It would shed quite a bit of light on your reasoning.
Are you on multiple live deals? Is that why you are working 132 hours? What are hours for analysts in your group? I can understand 90-100 with an occasional spike, but 130 is crazy.
Because it is hilarious! Thanks, Dan.
Mis Ind, what time are you going to get out tonight ?
From the ghetto...
Mis Ind is at Merrill Lynch.
Seanc, I'm probably out of here within the next six hours. At ten to twelve hours each day, this weekend will be very light compared to last weekend.
Scott, I'm not on live deals, but I am on live-ish deals -- which means that the clients THINK they want to do something, but aren't sure yet, and need to do a few more months of wanking around (and making random demands on Friday nights) before they figure it out. This is one of the worst situations to be in as an analyst, because it's not live enough for your staffer to pull you off your other projects, but it's live enough to take up all your time.
For the really curious: what happened last weekend is that I had a normal work weekend ahead of me (10-12 hours on each day), then a client wanted to talk about setting up a strategic review committee (fancy speak for hostile-takeover defense work) because an activist shareholder (fancy speak for pirate-type hedge fund) was trying to place directors on the board of said company. We had to build a book from scratch to pitch our defense capabilities on the following Tuesday... and I still had all my other work to do. So I worked until midnight or so on the defense book, then started in on the other work until I got too exhausted to stay awake any longer. Then I woke up and started on the defense book again. Rinse and repeat until Tuesday morning.
This does happen on occasion, though not too frequently.
Next six hours ! That means you're gonna get out at 12:30 - 1:00 AM on a friday night ! I could never put up with that kind of crap.
When you start this summer, Seanc, I suggest you let your staffer know that right up front.
That's exactly why I'm actively lobbying to get transferred into the PE division even before I start working.
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