Intern has 2+ hours of coffee chats daily - WTF?
My group has an intern that takes 2+ hours every day for "coffee chats" with people throughout the firm (inc. outside of the group they are interning in). So many coffee chats to the point where they are not drinking the coffee because they've had too much coffee already.
Is this normal? This is the first time I have seen this in my career. I am inclined not to give them an offer because 2 hours of their day is wasted on coffee chats for people who will not decide whether or not they get a return offer, and work their group is giving them is not being done until later in the night.
I mean if he is getting his work done on time, let the man network no? I guess if he isn’t doing as much work as the other interns whilst still delivering on time then yeah could be worth talking to but if the output is comparable then no problem
2+ hours a day is a lot. But I'd say 1-2 isn't unreasonable. At my shop they're encouraged to network, even outside their team. As long as they get their work done, who gives a shit.
It really depends on how good his work product is and if he gets it out on time. This industry makes it impossible to break in and then fires people without a second thought - cut him some slack if he wants to expand his network.
Beast. Bro must be shitting 24/7 from all the caffeine he is digesting
Don’t be an asshole. He’s just an intern, and he’s clearly taking initiative to meet people. It’s not like he’s sitting at his desk watching TV all day.
If it’s not impeding work product, then he’s doing a great job. If it is impeding work product then have a conversation with him and note that you appreciate his initiative and drive, but there needs to be a fine balance between the two for the summer.
It is YOUR job to outline expectation and communicate when they are not being met.
Goated response. Expectation setting is everything, at all stages of career.
That last sentence is so true for any career.
Wish managers were like this at banks
If the work is being done, you're essentially being mad he's out networking you?
Interns are really pushed to network by HR/seniors, they're just doing as they are told.
When I was an intern I was regularly working 16 hour days. My horrible, awful associate though would have nothing for me to do from 1pm-6pm, super busy in the morning, get it done, wait all day for him to review, start working a second day around dinner time. If I were a better intern I would have networked 5 hours a day.
If he is getting his work done then there's no problem with what he is doing - though there may be a problem with you guys if he has this much free time during the day and is still working long hours.
Don't be that person. Unless there is a performance / work quality issue, who cares.
You’re a trash leader look inward
I mean... why does it matter if he's getting his work done? Don't be that guy.
lol 2 hours per day is insane and is a clear sign this guy is clueless.
Good on you for breaking stereotypes, most ppl think it takes intelligence to be a PE associate
do most ppl think that? I got this job bc the Partner likes talking about sports with me, never asked ab intelligence. Now go update my q&a log lil guy.
As a current intern, hate reading posts like this. If it's his first IB internship then he has pretty much no idea of what is expected from him. How about instead of no offering him because he is doing what everyone says to do (network loads during the internship), give him some feedback that he's doing it too much. Obviously if he continues then it's a red flag.
I would argue as long as he gets his work done on time and it’s good quality, then it doesn’t matter how he spends his other time. It’s probably better actually to not be glued to the screen and get visibility with many different people across the firm (would actually encourage this). All this being said as long as he’s meeting deadlines and work quality is sufficient. If you do have a problem with it, then better to voice it early vs bottling it up and then tanking him in the end of internship review (so he can be proactive and adjust accordingly).
People like you are why people hate this industry. Grow up bro and quit trying to shit on college kids instead of communicating
Clown
Be nice to the 2 hr a day networker - he will be your boss soon while you crank models he’s making connects
I'm an intern at a commercial bank and the HR staff in charge of the program and my group manager are actively encouraging us to do this. Spent the first week or two meeting with new people and having coffee chats for several hours a day.
I kind of understand OP though. I feel like the work not getting done until later in the night is pretty bad - why is his team waiting on him to finish tasks while he is sipping coffee with people? If he has no work, sure, but the assigned work should be done asap if other people are actively waiting for output, no?
You don't know what you're talking about. Interns are not there to do anything remotely material. They just need to show basic competency and network so people know and like them so they get a return offer. It's really that simple.
Why not speak to him about it???
If you don't think he should be taking that much time to network then just tell him. Why stay silent and then not give him an offer? He's literally an intern, it's your job to tell him what to do and what is best practice lmao
Some interns are sensitive / not telling an intern to network can be taken the wrong way despite this intern abusing the system.
If the intern is sensitive you think it would be doing them a better service to give them no return out of the blue?
Not normal - only acceptable if work product is top tier. This person has clearly been coached up to network. Additionally, it is not your place to set behavioral expectations. That should be inherent from the start. Best bet would to start setting tighter deadlines to keep his ass in the seat from 9-7.
I've had an internship where they basically said we wouldn't get a return offer if we weren't networking with everyone, and they encouraged us to spend the day shadowing different people on a desk each day, and to initiate ourselves. Its certainly his job to set behavioral expectations to interns ... different places run differently.
Internships are a game at the end of the day and he's just playing it
The real problem is that banks are not giving a realistic expectation to interns.
At my bank we will have drinks every weeks, team events multiple times, talks, breakfasts, etc. we don’t have any of that in the real world once the summer is over - this is purely a recruiting tactic. Hell, some interns won’t be able to work for half the day sometime because they attend company events. This is ridiculous. Most people are just coming for prestige / bayside recruiting and if they are not cut for IB, better discovering it sooner than later.
With regards to coffee chat, while I do agree that as long he’s delivering then the rest shouldn’t matter, if it’s starting to piss if people in his group (like you), then clearly that person has no social intelligence and that should be accounted for. I would speak to him/her to reset expectations and see if that person can adapt don’t get into that conversations like a dick though, approach it with tact so your intern can hear it vs being on the defensive. If however these coffee chats are preventing him from delivering on time and lead to subpar performance, your feedback should be harsher as this is unacceptable.
Noting though that there is a difference between 1 and >2h a day. If you go out to pick up lunch and then grab a quick coffee walking around the block, that’s already 1 hour.
omg what bank is this TT where I interned over the summer we had like 2 intern events the whole summer...
Def sounds like either i) he’s being a weirdo or ii) you and your team aren’t being efficient with his time and giving him enough steady work do to throughout the day.
If the latter, I empathize with what he’s doing. He’s probably nervous that he’s sitting around doing nothing and is trying to network and learn about the industry & group.
If he has work to do and is still doing a ton of coffee chats, he’s probably one of those overeager weirdos who doesn’t know how to prioritize. Everyone knows real work > coffee chats and you should do the coffee chats as a cherry on top if you’re tracking with your actual work product.
It should be easy to tell which of the two he falls into if you ask him what he’s working on and monitor him throughout the day.
I do not think it is proper of the intern to act that way. But that being said, as you noticed the weirdness, other people in the firm would definitely notice the same weirdness in the behavior. Which will eventually reflect on his evaluation at the end of the internship. He/she will learn the lesson hard way ultimately.
Could you be any more blatantly transactional? I understand the point of an internship is to get an offer, but assuming this guy has decent work product, then he's actually exactly the type of person you want to hire for the long term. Rather than networking just to selfishly suck up, he seems to actually be building a network.
You sound like a nightmare of a person to work for if this is your attitude in other areas of work, and it will not serve you well when it comes time for people to go to bat for you when there's nothing in it for them.
Maybe try and communicate this issue with the intern if it’s actually impeding the success of your team. Otherwise stop worrying about it, it’s low key weird bro.
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