I'm starting my summer analyst stint next week and starting to have second thoughts on working in IB. I'm really nervous about the hours, personalities, and that it might not be the right fit. Any advice on making it through the summer?
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You can do anything for a few months. Go in with an open mind - you might like your group and/or the work and decide it's not so bad. Worst case, you decide not to do it FT and have a very prestigious internship to put on the resume as you pivot to somewhere else.
Is the first week of training/orientation typically as hour-heavy as a regular work week?
Definitely not, training will be the lightest week of the summer in terms of hours at the office. Is your firm using Training the Street? I would expect to get out around 5 or 6pm most days, with maybe one later night (8 or 9pm) depending on how long it takes you to finish the homework assignments. Take advantage of the earlier nights this week and go to happy hour with your classmates to get to know them better.
Thank you - that's definitely helpful to know! Yes, we're using Training the Street. Glad to hear at least 1 week won't be terrible!
Yeah - honestly just try to have as open a mind as possible and try to look at the analysts to see if they are miserable in your group / firm (spoiler alert - they very well might be) but you then have to ask yourself if you're cool with that for a few years in order to open the door to future opportunities - all about trade offs and you want to figure out if being a banker for a bit will help you reach your long term goals.
JUST DO IT!
Congrats on landing the SA gig. It sounds like this will be perfect for you, you'll be able to feel out if IB is a good fit for your career.
Good luck.
Do you think personalities differ depending on what school you went to? Honestly kind of nervous people won't like me for being a non-target
Regarding the school comment, depending on the group and their alma maters, some people may be snobby, but you're basically at the same place they are from a non-target so don't let that get you down. Blend in by standing out with great work and act polished, and do your best to fit in socially. If someone's shallow enough to judge you based off your school, nothing you can really do. From a non/semi target as well and luckily didn't get this but its around for sure.
Some people may be pretentious assholes about it. I've always thought that mentality was very foolish. Wildly successful people have come out of no-name colleges from everywhere. Being an SA, you're knocking on the door of being employed right alongside the "target" graduates.
SB for the Dwight quote. Only problem is there are a few things that idiots do that we all need to do (e.g., putting on clothes in the morning, saying "hi" to coworkers, etc.) Realize I'm splitting hairs and now that I think about it, I am unsure why I even felt the need to post this lol
Haha very good point. Perhaps that quote should be amended!
This is your chance to see if IB is the right fit for you. If not, that's okay. There are plenty of other career paths that you will succeed in. Having an IB internship on your resume will help you out with other finance recruiting as well.
Congratulations on landing your SA internship. You got an offer from a non-target, which tells me you already know about hard work. Just keep that same work ethic up during this summer and you'll do fine. Even if you decide it isn't for you, make the most of it by developing relationships with the other interns and make some good memories. Good luck.
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