London: Tell me about your IB's Culture
Hi everyone,
Looking to learn about London offices' culture; specifically the concept of 'facetime' and how much it plays into the culture. What I mean by this is what an acceptable time to go home may be (and continue to WFH) at your bank, and see how it differs across everyone's experience & understand which banks tend to value it highly/not so highly.
Aside from this, would love to learn about the aspect of volunteering, team-building events & similar concepts within the banks. I feel like this aspect seems a largely empty promise from what I can see, and it makes sense as the role is naturally quite busy & long - but it doesn't seem entirely empty. For example, I came across a boutique named AGC Partners with what looks like a great, comradely-based culture (as you can see here).
So feel free to let me know what your experiences are. Would love to hear.
Thanks in advance.
It's very difficult to make a general statement for a specific bank - teams will differ even within the same bank, and even MDs could differ within the same team.
At my own bank, and in the team I'm in, I'd argue that the culture is very strong, and what I mean by that is (A) MDs that are sensible about deliverables (not requesting unnecessary analyses or decks for no reason, (B) adequately staffed, (C) respectful of holiday time or compassionate leave, and most importantly (D) supportive of personal and professional development - the best juniors will get exposure well beyond their levels.
That said, there's generally a view that people should be in the office (yes with some WFH flexibility) and juniors should demonstrate the same degree of common sense. If there's an urgent deliverable and it helps to have people on calls, or working on weekends, etc., step up. Essentially, those who demonstrate that they get stuff done and take the job seriously, get a huge degree of flexibility. And I think that's right. There's a lot of antagonism on these forums about junior quality (rightly or wrongly - I'm not taking a stance), and I think that comes an attitude of entitlement which a few demonstrate. At my bank at least, nobody "deserves" respect (in the corporate sense; obiously everyone deserves general human respect), but you earn it.