Ask about working hours during interview?
Hi all, I don't believe it is a good idea to ask about working hours but was wondering whether there are exceptions to the rule?
When would it be good to ask the interviewer about it? Or are there smart ways of bringing it up?
Thanks!
bump?
I wouldn't straight up ask what time do I go home at night. A better way is to ask what a typical day would look like in the role.
Granted, you'll get the "no day is typical" line but their answer will give you an idea of what to expect.
Thank you. But suppose you were the interviewer, would you get pissed if I asked about it?
I can see an interviewer thinking that I am someone who won't suck up the tough hours.
But from my perspective I just want to have the expectations clear and if I don't believe I can meet them to begin with, why bother jumping ship? I am going to go in and fail miserably and exit.
Absolutely not. It's perfectly reasonable to want to know what you'll be doing in the job.
I'm assuming that this is for an entry level position out of college - you'll often hear that a job interview is just as much you interviewing the company as they are interviewing you. Being there once, it sounds dumb to someone breaking in but as you advance, you start to realize how true that is.
Your reasoning is correct.
I think the best time to ask this sort of question is with a superior/direct manager for the team or role. Then, with that person, I would mention how the hours and work isn't an issue for you, but that you'd like to have expectations set before hand.
This helps keep the question for the right person, and is worded in a way that makes you want to meet/exceed expectations.
This is a great idea. I once met a director for coffee and he told me that he would immediately eliminate those who asked about hours. I asked him why. He said he needed people who can suck it up no matter what. But the way Zeus has postured the question makes it reasonable I guess?
Happy to hear what others have to say.
I would be careful asking about this. I was informally interviewing with a shop during undergrad for a FT position and during my follow up I asked about "hours." I simply mentioned that I noticed that there were not many people in the office on the particular Friday afternoon that I had visited.
The MD inferred from this that I was nervous about the hours and made the determination that I was not cut out for the firm. All the while I was in undergrad full time, working at a startup ~35 hours a week and working another job that was 3.5 hours from school that totaled to about 90ish hours per week including travel.
Long story short, I think it may be seen as a sign of weakness or lack of commitment. It's finance, we know what we are getting into! Best of luck.
Yeap, this is what I think too. Too risky to ask. Maybe I would hit ex-employees up on linkedin to ask.
Yeap agreed it is finance. I didn't ask that question for my current role and it turned out to be absolute shit. Tonnes of facetime issues. Which is why I even thought of asking.
Thank you.
Just an update. Didn't even have to get to the part of asking. VP himself said in the interview with a smile "and don't worry you would be working ALOT".
Sounds like it would be bad.
Working a lot is good (within reason), it means you'll learn a lot. Nothing worse for your long term career than having a super cushy job right out of undergrad. It will put you on the wrong trajectory.
Also for future reference the right way to find out about culture and hours is from your clubs at school where older students have worked there directly.
For future reference, the way to ask about this is asking about culture. They may not get directly into hours, but you should get a good feel without the risk of asking about hours.
I'm not saying it's right, but MANY people will eliminate you as a candidate just for asking because they infer that to mean that you're not hard working
For all roles outside of IB: perfectly reasonable to paraphrase the question and you absolutely should. How do you price your comp without knowing if you're working 50, or 80 hours a week? One is 60% more work hours than the other and there is no way to pinpoint your typical week without asking someone currently, or recently in the company.
For IB Analyst / Associates: there is A LOT of information out there on typical work weeks and you should be able to find out your ballpark hours without asking the group directly.
There are actually two related issues when asking about hours during an interview. The interviewer will not only ask himself "Is he committed to working long hours?" But also, "Why didn't he do his homework before this stage?"
This is why I think it's more acceptable to ask about this during an informal information/networking interview rather than a formal interview setting. At this stage its understood that you're still doing your due diligence about the role, the firm, and the industry. (Caveat: if you're specifically talking IB, you should still acknowledge that you're well aware the hours are demanding and you're curious about any nuances). If you're meeting with another junior person, you can probably be pretty straightforward asking about hours. If meeting with a more senior person or hiring manager, you probably want to indirectly ask about "culture" as described by others above.
Thanks HighlyClevered recognize you from my other thread about getting an offer rescinded. Appreciate the perspective shared once again.
I'd say generally you should try to infer that info from the industry you're applying for if you're just starting out, because you don't have a job at the moment and some interviewers could be concerned if you come off as concerned about hours. That being said, there are some examples I can think of where it would almost always be worthwhile to ask, especially if the job is outside the East Coast and may or may not require you to work market hours. That being said, I think the correct question is more to ask something along the lines of "does the team work market hours." Either way, don't ask right off the bat, wait until you've gotten at least to the second round of interviews.
I also think that the bottom line is that out of undergrad you should be flexible with your hours (at least, how many hours you work).
Get the offer and then ask. If there are questions during any interview process you want to ask that you can't learn from a google search or your network I would wait until after the offer comes.
Get a hold of someone who used to work for the group - someone younger if possible. Ask them on LinkedIn to chat via phone then feel that out.
I am interviewing for a post where I am the most junior person. Team is small so not like there are alot of alumni /ex-employees to ask.
I would try to find someone because that is the only way you are getting the truth.
When you're on parole and your officer needs to meet with you at strict times every week?
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