Unmotivated SAs
Finished an SA role at a well-known shop.
One thing I noticed is that a lot of SAs don't act like the summer internship is a 10 to 12 week interview process, and don't seem to feel like return offers are not guaranteed. I saw a lot of unnecessary long lunch breaks, consistent logging on after 9:30 AM, interns away/offline in the middle of the day, and SAs just not taking the job seriously (lack of care to take notes on phone calls, understand the deals someone is staffed on, and making work and efficiency improvements).
I'm far from an IB rockstar, but it was crazy to see kids that are supposed to be in the top 1 to 5% of college students in the USA act so irresponsibly and refuse to do the bare minimum of what I (and most likely others on this forum) consider to be the baseline for making sure that you get a return offer.
Did anyone else see this at their shop or across the street? I'm assuming the hybrid/remote model contributed to that, but at the same time, I don't understand why an SA would automatically throw away a return offer by not showing up online and not taking an interest in the work for 3 months.
Some kids have never really had to struggle or work too hard for much before therefore value it less. Not tryna be a dick, not necessarily their fault, but it’s the truth
Agree. Recruit Indians, East Europeans or guys from poor countries and for such a pay they will stay 24/7 in the office crushing it.
As a euro, this checks out. Would mentioning my nationality help in interviews?
Why not poor black/Latino kids from America?
Some friends already secured offers at other places with recruiting being so accelerated, might be another reason why.
This is also true, esp for sophomores
>interns away/offline in the middle of the day
this is totally fine if they have nothing to do
Not to be a dick but it’s probably people like you why a face time culture is instilled. My group had almost no face-time culture. I would log onto work after 9:30 am multiple times, would step away if I had nothing to do and would log off early if I had no work (after checking in with my analyst). This is not to say I didn’t do anything, there were 3 weeks in the middle when all my deals were really active and I would stay up till 3-5am on the regular. I still got told during my reviews that I was at the top of my intern class and still secured the return offer.
Had a very similar experience at a traditionally sweaty bank. Some weeks I was able to run an errand or read while waiting for more work. Other weeks constant grind on active deals staying up to a similar hour. Hours vary week to week for sure. 60-90ish hours. Secured the return as well. Check in with your analyst and get ahead on recurring workstreams and you should be good.
Yeah it’s funny the internship i described was also at a group that people on WSO will label as one of the most sweaty groups on the street.
Echo the above. When I SA'ed, there were multiple weeks of 9-4am slogs, but equally weeks when I came into the office at 11am (as did several analysts). And regardless, some of those late start days would turn into 4am nights. So when I could get my sleep / rest I would, with my team knowing that I would be available whenever needed. Was ranked near top of class and secured the return offer
I think if you have nothing to do and don't take notes on calls that's lazy, but when on live deals I think most folks stop caring about the quantity / quality of notes in lieu of the pages/model that always need work
Bankers aren’t the top 1-5%. Don’t get me wrong pay and responsibility is great. But top 1% is starting companies, writing code, changing the world.
Because writing code to add a new dimple filter on Snapchat is truly world changing
I mean, neither is changing the color of a pitch deck that isn't even used
And apparently 1 to 5% of people are starting companies and changing the world, do you hear yourself
Yes, wake up IB isn’t the track anymore. Comma pushing is going to get automated away
This isn't even exclusive to the street, I did an internship this summer where a lot of kids got return offers despite similar low effort behavior but no worries it's just the summer it'll be very different come full time, people learn and change
You do understand that the purpose of SA program is to see if there's a match between interns and banks eh?
Some of them might like the idea of being an 'investment banking summer analyst', and have enjoyed building models and want to attend client meetings, but once they hit the desk, the workload starts to hit, stamina dries up and excitement wanes, not to mention some of them tend to take feedback personally, and IB's feedbacks are kinda raw and insensitive at times let's be real here.
It's normal to see few of them lost drive few weeks into the internship.
Or some of them just simply got the SA offers not by merits. They simple don't belong there.
Hardo szn
"and take return offers for granted." Pls fix, thx.
The first part shouldn't matter unless the culture is absolute ass. Who cares if someone is offline? If they're getting quality work done, meeting deadlines, communicating when needed and a team player, what does it matter? Face time bullshit has to go, it's not the 90s anymore.
Lack of care in the work is a different story and that'll likely be reflected in their reviews and return offers.
Second this, don't be the guy bringing face time into your SA (now FT) class. No one is checking log on times and it's legit dumb to sit at the computer all day - just respond to emails
Common misconception with SAs. Interns will often get project based work, rather than continuous deal work (unless they have proven capable, which is very few - short program). Logging off when you're not needed and figuring out how to maximize your work/life balance within the constructs of banking becomes an extremely valuable skill to keep your sanity once you go full time. Waiting on a turn from your associate and he's on a MP? Go take that tinder date on a lunch! Why tf not? As long as you have your phone / laptop on you in case of a FD, there's no reason to sit on your hands waiting. Getting the most sleep you can too is important, IDGAF about "start time" rules. Once you prove yourself, management won't either (unless your culture sucks, sorry BB bois).Only time I've ever had an issue with this is if my An1 or SA doesn't respond within 10mn of my message during working hours. If that happens, we're having a talk.
As a fellow 2nd year analyst, got to say to you giving people 10 minutes to respond is ridiculous.
I know their staffing and schedules, so I don't think it's ridiculous.
Top group at GS/MS here.
About half of the interns were absolute shit. Honest to God, I met one kid who didn’t know what a DCF was halfway through his internship. I’ve been pretty good at just smiling and nodding at some of the boring stories bottom bucket interns have for me, but I legitimately just laughed in this dude’s face.
Would you consider most of your interns mediocre (or where you expect them to be at this level)? What makes someone a standout / exceeding your expectations?
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