Taking 5 days of leave during IB SA at a BB in London

I am currently a medical student at a UK university with a SA offer at a BB in London for IB. However, the start dates for the SA period coincide with my medical exams which are happening in-person in a different city. These exams are basically non-negotiable with the medical school. Each exam will probably take the whole day as I need to travel from London back to my University city to sit them in person. 

I was wondering how badly taking this level of leave is going to impact return offer chances, how best to approach asking for this leave, and the likelihood they will accept this leave. 

11 Comments
 

Yeah it's pretty much over.

Teams are looking for reasons to cull interns and not being there for 1/9 of the time is an easy reason to do so.

 

Ignore the other commenter. Speak to the HR first and figure out, they will connect you with the team if necessary. You’re not the first person that has this issue 


Also don’t you have training? The first week of SA it’s usually just training. We had a summer intern which had to take exams and she just agreed with HR to skip the first week (we gave her an offer btw). 

Provided the team you are joining is reasonable, everybody understands that you’re a student and sometimes commitments don’t line up perfectly. This will be a non-problem assuming you are good enough to get an offer

 

Second this. From my experience, HR is much nicer/understandable after you've gotten an offer than when you're still recruiting. 

 

Going to add that we had an intern leave midway through their summer internship for 1.5 weeks due to 'personal reasons', and given how strong the overall class was, they were culled as a result.

OP might be able to get away with it if the cohort/team intern-intake is weak, but most likely this will be a negative stain on their overall performance.

 

Did they request that leave in advance/would that make a difference? I know my exam dates already so I can give at least 6-7 months notice of the exact days I will not be available before the start of the SA period. 

 
Most Helpful

Comments like above are ironically part of the reason IB struggles to attract strong grads today. Unfortunate timing, but these are mandatory exams which count towards classification - seen very differently from discretionary leave. 

Any serious London BB understands these commitments and treats them as authorised absence. Been through something similar - be fully upfront, and make you sure you communicate to HR first/respective team-lead etc. well in advance, and as other commenter has said, this should not impact return-offer chances. 

 

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