Hi WSO,
This is going to be a rather long post, so I apologize in advance. I will try to be as discreet as possible, but if any of my peers are able to recognize me from the facts presented below, I hope you will respect my privacy. I was wondering if I could get y’alls advice on whether you think I should be confident in starting work as an IB analyst, or reconsider my decision. Here a little background:
I am an international student who recently graduated from a target business school, and I am about to start full-time work in the capital markets group (ECM/DCM) of a bulge bracket bank in New York City. Since almost 2 years now, I have been suffering from an autoimmune disease related to my central nervous system. It is not as bad as Multiple Sclerosis, but it is on the same spectrum of demyelinating disorders. I was misdiagnosed two years ago, and the real diagnosis was made last year. Since then, I have been on stable (knock-on-woods) immunosuppression. Past symptoms across two years include: fever, headaches, seizures (have had 4 till date), and almost complete loss of vision (which mostly came back with acute treatment). The disorder is considered ‘idiopathic,’ which means there is no confirmed or a probable explanation for why I got this disease. As of now, it is believed that this disorder is not progressive.
I wouldn’t have to make this post if I have had the experience of interning at this place last year. However, I was in my home country at that time and due to COVID-19 restrictions, I was not able to travel. The bank ended up rescinding my offer, but they were kind enough to extend me a full-time offer. Therefore, in essence, I have no idea what IB is really like, and if I can actually survive working intense hours with my condition.
My doctors have told me that unless I do not want to, they do not see any reason why I should limit myself, and not start working immediately. Their opinion is now that a correct diagnosis has been made, and I am on the correct medications, I should be fine. However, they do recognize that with a condition such as mine, proper sleep/rest of 7-8 hours daily is definitely needed. Even on immunosuppression, I will always be vulnerable to flare-ups / acute attacks that would require immediate treatment.
My parents were initially very confident in my ability to sail this out. However, as my disorder has progressed, they have become less and less confident. They will be thousands of miles away from me, in the case of any complications, and I think that worries them/me a little bit. I mention this because, it is my privilege that my family is well-off and they can afford me not working and having to take care of me. According to them, I could take a break for a few years, and then start work wherever or even join the family business.
Now coming onto the real thing: I am becoming more and more scared shitless about joining work as I am progressing towards the joining date. Day in and day out the only thoughts running through my mind are: what if I get an attack in the middle of a live project? What if I faint or get a seizure in the middle of the office on a work day? How embarrassing / bad would that be? Should I disclose this to the HR or not? Will the long hours and the stress of IB make my condition even worse? I have had bad experiences with emergency rooms in the U.S., so I am also very concerned about getting an immediate and adequate treatment (even in NYC), if things were to go bad.
I am really really uncertain what to do. As an international student, things were relatively more difficult for me, being a non-native speaker and all the H1-B sponsorship bullshit. I worked my ass off for four years (as a lot of people do) to get this role, and now the thought that all of my hard work was for nothing makes me feel really depressed. At the same time, the thought of having constant and potentially severe heath crisis in the middle of a job makes me nervous as well.
What do you guys think I should do, or think about when evaluating my decision? Have you guys ever heard about any person who started working in IB with similar severity of health problems or other autoimmune conditions? Should I consider other “less-demanding” job profiles, or try working in IB for first few months before thinking about all of this? Are things not as bad in ECM/DCM compared to coverage groups? Honestly, I was provided with such little time to make a decision when I got the full-time offer that I did not even think about all of this, and just ended up accepting. I guess, now, those chickens are coming home to roost lol.
Many many thanks to the people who will try to advice and help me genuinely.
At the end of the day, you need to listen to your body and your doctors. Nobody on WSO or any other forum is qualified to give you any insight how a very, very hard business life will impact your health.
Having said that, personal health is largely a taboo topic at the office. Everybody wants to project strength and focus and performance. Telling people in what bad shape they are is typically on no agenda. Only you can disclose this condition, if you really want to. A while ago a MD in our practice had a heart attack while he was on vacation. Nobody was allowed to talk about it and he never addressed it when he returned to the office. You will hear many comparable stories after Covid19 hit all of us and barely anyone knows which long-term health effects will develop after having survived Covid.
If you feel like you can do the daily grind with a serious medical condition, then do it. But the risk of fainting is a serious danger for everyday life, especially in a large city. Being alone isn't ideal either, I would prefer to be around family if I wasn't healthy.
Best of luck to you.
I would definitely let some members of your team / HR know about your condition so that if something does flare up or you need medical attention, some people will already know what to do. It'll also put you in a better position to ask to work from home on days when you're sick, so that it doesn't look like you're just making up an excuse to not come into the office. Worst case scenario people might pick on you or give you a nickname, but I highly doubt you'll have any trouble as long as you put in the work and communicate with people. Would also note that the bank can't fire you because of your medical condition, so you should be good as long as they're aware about it.
try it, and if it negatively affects you, quit.
I agree to try it and make sure your condition is recorded with HR. If your condition flares up they will give you time off, adjusted schedule, etc. Look up ADA protections, in the US they are legally forced to accommodate you as much as possible.
Also a tip for NYC is to identify and visit your medical team in advance and choose a rheumatologist/neurologist who is associated with a big hospital (Mt. Sinai, Lenox Hill, NYU Langone). If you need emergency care go straight to that ER. That way they have all of your records and your regular doctor can advise on your care or even note in the system the best way to treat in an emergency. Much better than explaining your condition each time.
Even if you aren't able to do it and need to take some time off, transfer to a less stressful department, or leave, you're better off having it on your resume than forgoing it altogether.
That makes a lot of sense. Thank you! From your experience, do ecm/dcm groups tend to have less strenuous work hours?
I don't work in either so can't say definitively, but you should have slightly better hours. It also depends on the product you cover, since you're answering to those coverage groups - Tech ECM will be pretty rough for example.
I would say this depends how bad your condition is, but I would think carefully before disclosing details to HR.
Always remember that HR works for the firm, not you. And that no one cares about you, you are there just to make money for the firm. All else equal, does the firm prefer to have someone with a serious health condition working for them, or a perfectly healthy person? Clearly healthy, and as a new graduate you will be considered as a commodity by the bank (interchangeable with anyone else they can hire).
While it is illegal for them to discriminate against you based on this, they certainly will not be 100% happy with you being there. There is a possibility that may try to build a case to fire you, not promote you, claim your performance is not good, etc. ... just to move you out.
I realise I am being totally paranoid here and is probably a 10% chance of this happening. However I would consider carefully the pros and cons of telling HR. If your condition is not that bad, I would not tell them, given the potential downside risk you expose yourself to. If it is bad and there are things they can do that you think will help (and they are legally obligated to accomodate you), then tell them.
Caveat to the above is that if not telling them would be a health risk to you in any way, of course tell HR, health is the most important thing.
Just something to consider... I would not be naive..
I have a friend who had a similar situation (hit with autoimmune disorder towards the end of university).
He went into IBD as an analyst, and after a few months, moved to another department (shorter hours, far less stressful).
Disclaimer: Sample Size = 1
Your case could be far better or far worse than his; your doctors can advise you far better than anyone on The Internet.
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