Taking days off as an intern
I am a final-year student who just wrapped up the final rounds for a 6-month off-cycle IB internship at an EB in Singapore (July to December). The team is currently discussing internally, and I received positive confirmation from the VP that I'm likely to receive an offer early next week.
However, I have a pre-planned vacation commitment that requires me to take 2 days of leave in early October (a Friday and a Monday, essentially creating a 4-day weekend). Initially, I didn't expect to have this internship opportunity, thus the vacation cannot be rescheduled.
I want to be professional and transparent, but I understand the long hours ranged from 80-100 hour weeks according to the staffer during the interview. Therefore, I would like to seek advice from the community on the following:
- Should I disclose this commitment to HR/Staffer before I sign the offer letter next week, or should I wait until I am a few months into the internship?
- How badly will asking for a 4-day weekend in the middle of a 6-month stint hurt my chances of securing the full-time Analyst return offer?
I am fully prepared to bring my laptop on the trip and turn slides/models remotely if a live deal burns, but I want to know if the implicit stigma of asking upfront will kill my chances before I even step onto the floor.
TLDR: Do I flag a 2-day October leave to an EB Staffer during the offer call next week, or do I stay quiet, grind for 3 months, and ask for it closer to the date?
If it's unavoidable, flag it as early as possible post-offer and indicate that you want to be flexible to the firms needs. You do not drop bombs in people's laps at the last minute - think about how that looks - it's either you held onto this info way longer than necessary and didn't allow your team to prepare or you booked a vacation mid internship on purpose.
Realistically, if you value a return offer, this may mean not going on the vacation. Wouldn't be the first time I've seen someone have to cancel their vacation and I don't even work in IB. Now I've heard of instances where the firm refunds you the trip but idk if they're gonna do that for an intern.
There's a couple ofher things working positively and negatively for you here. Positively this is an OC, so youre treated more as an FT than e.g. an SA. Which may mean the firm is much more amenable to you taking time off. Negatively, it's in Asia, work culture is stereotypically worse.
In theory you could try to soften the ask somehow e.g. by calling it a destination wedding or just a wedding (vaguer the better tbh) or something, instead of a vacation. Which makes it seem much less like you're just going on holiday.
My 2 cents.
This is the correct advice. Only thing to add is to lighten is softly and say you 2 days of have prearranged travel booked in October (you are happy to work remotely) and have no other absences planned until the end of the year.
Thank you for ur advice sir. Will definitely take this into consideration when communicating with the HR/staffer.
Thank you very much for your advice nutmegger. I totally agree that flag it as early as possible would be a better approach in handling this situation. I guess I can only hope that they are fine with the arrangement and I can still secure the internship offer and return offer in the future.
If you don’t want the return then go on the vacation. If you want it, then don’t go. Pretty simple
I don’t think 2 days off during a 6 month internship would be a problem at all.
A vacation is not a “commitment” unless it’s for a close family members wedding.
Taking time off as an intern is a perception issue: nothing bad will happen (you are an intern, none of your work is needle moving), however, the perception you give your team maybe be one that you do not want to give as an intern if you want a return offer.
Do as you please but know that you are playing with fire taking vacation as an intern.
I am not saying this is right or wrong, but this is reality.
Thanks for your advice and comment sir. The vacation is a with my secondary school friends that we knew each other for 8+ years. However, I totally understand ur perspective on the team's view on me as an intern taking days off. Do you have any compromise option in mind that would mitigate the perception while being able to make the trip, or u see it as a mutually exclusive option (meaning vacation means no return offer)
Yeah, no. If you told me that as an intern, you're not getting the return.
Don’t take the vacation if you value the return - not worth the risk as you have no idea how people will think about it
People at my firm might let is slide but it would not be perceived well
If you said it’s a vacation with a friend you’d be cooked
I don't know if its me but its pretty rare but anyways. I think someone always takes a day off and it doesn't ding them just flag it before hand and you'll be fine
I had a fellow intern take a wedding trip (like distant family member wedding with a similar timeframe of missing two days at the back end of the week. He got the return offer. As an analyst, if I saw my intern requesting time off that has been months in the making I’d be totally cool with it (as long as it’s not like a week, which ur not saying that) and I’d encourage you to go and see the world
Fucking insufferable people on here who’ve never done manual labor “dinging” interns (who genuinely provide close to/ or zero working value to the team, sorry to say it) for having somewhat of a life outside of 90hrs a week baffles me; that is the culture tho. Err on the safe side and let them know as soon as you sign the offer in a very professional way (let them know u have pre planned travel plans and these two days you will need to be remote.) Make it clear to your person there that you ANTICIPATE working while you travel, and are happy to do so and it shouldn’t be an issue. You do not want to work at this firm if your work product is high and you get dinged for this; these are the types that will make you work on your wedding day
Thank you for ur advice sir. Would you say telling the truth (ie im travelling) or ligthen it (a wedding maybe) would be better or it doesn't matter. tbh i'm leaning towards telling the truth as i don't want to be in the situation where I need more lies to cover the previous one.
Be vague. It sucks but if they ask follow up questions, focus on how long you’ve been planning this for rather than details
I've done manual labor. I hear ppl do the "white collar ppl don't know hard work like blue collar ppl do" routine and it's very stupid. Banking is an infinitely tougher job.
I have also done (a decade of) manual labor and wholesale disagree with your statement; but, it definitely depends on what kind of manual labor you’re doing. It’s also hard in different ways (not to have the “who’s life is harder Olympics”) but IB is difficult bc of sleep deprivation, whereas blue collar work is made harder by the elements. However I will say (and this is my opinion so don’t take it to heart) if someone has only moved numbers around a screen for work, I apply a heavy discount to their opinions
For a standard 10 week summer internship I would say don't attempt to take a single day off unless absolutely necessary (and I am the kind of person who has used 100% of their PTO starting from Analyst 1). But a single long weekend over six months, esp. when it was planned prior to even receiving the offer, should really not be a problem. If you don't get the return offer due to something like that, you might need to consider whether it's a return offer you really want in the first place.
Some weird people in this thread talking about how they wouldn't give a FT offer over two days of annual leave...
If this was a summer internship I'd definitely say no. However, 2 days is nothing in the grand scheme of a 6 month internship. Take the trip. You'll regret not going on a trip with your best mates for a long time. Just tell them on your first week.
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