which group has better timings in IB?
Hi all:
which group has better timings in IB, like no late hours? no weekends? if any. Does it get better over the years
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There is no good way to answer this question. I hate to be brutally honest, but if you care about the hours and lifestyle early on in your career, then investment banking is probably not for you. The people who work hard and are reliable/do not complain are the ones that usually get top ranking and get promoted.
In general though, the non-BB banks like Moelis/Evercore/Lazard have slightly worse hours than the BBs since there are less people that work at those firms. However, on the flip side, you get way better experience in my opinion because there are less people on deal teams and you get direct exposure to all the MDs in your group.
The hours entirely depend on what is going on and whether or not you are on a deal. If there is nothing going on, then you can work 50 hours a week and no weekends. However, if you are on a deal and there is a deadline coming up, then you could work 80-120 hours and Saturdays / Sundays. It truly depends on what you are working on.
Hours generally do get better over the years, however, I would say for the first 4/5 years (say 2 years as an analyst 2 years as an associate), the hours are not that great. Overtime you become more efficient and can get things done more quickly, so the work definitely becomes easier.
No late hours or weekends seems crazy to ask in a sell-side business. I'm not saying working 7 days a week, 365 days a year is justifiable (its not) but understand that some weeks are going to be busy as mentioned above. If you are looking for a 9-5 MTWHF there are plenty of other divisions in finance that provide that but IB Is certainly not one of them.
The group that sits in the back and does things like fill out compliance forms and sends out reminder emails about training. You may have what it takes; you've already got one of the qualifications nailed after all - an aversion to hard work.
Every single group varies at every single bank. I don't mean to be rude, but this question is asked on here so often and it is just way too subjective to be answered. Some people can obviously speak to their experiences in XYZ group and what they've seen of their colleagues in other groups, friends at other banks, but that really just scratches the surface.
Wanted to echo the above: if hours are a concern stay away from banking. The field is hyper competitive and those who don't want to put in the hours/work are easily identifiable (you will constantly be compared to your peers in all aspects of your work).
This isn't commentary on who is a 'better' person or anything like that...different jobs suit different people.
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