Everything and everyone is so busy ... and it doesn’t have to be this way. We get one day off. Hurray. And everyone is asking “any plans for the holiday?” No, I have no fucking plans and you know I don’t because you asked me to do something that you know takes a full day to do right as you walked out the door.
Honestly ... what client needs slides on Thanksgiving? What syndicated bank group needs commitments the day before Thanksgiving? Yes I know you’d like commitments before Thanksgiving but it’s not like they’re going to fund on Black Friday. Why do we do this to ourselves? I guarantee the c suite person we’re pitching to is not worried about our deck on a holiday.
Oh, you get 20 paid vacation days per year! But you can’t ever take them because we might get a deal. Great, enjoy Thursday off for Thanksgiving. But you better bring your blackberry and your laptop in case we need you during he day and I expect to see you at 8am on Friday. No you may not take Friday off; I might need you to print and bind 30 decks for a client meeting on Monday. Maybe
Potential reasons (from someone who has never been in IB):
The MD's pay is directly tied to them closing on deals. It doesn't hurt them to have you spin your wheels in case the deal actually does take off and get them money. There seems to be this "MD lifestyle" (second house in the Hamptons, car club, private school for kids, etc) which could add stress to keep up with deals just to stay above water with all the expenses.
They likely had a horrible Thanksgiving when they were your age. It's your turn now. This is stupid and unfair but such are humans.
Could be straight up sinsiter and enjoy causing misery on others.
I got asked to work Thursday and Friday. I'm not, I already bought my plane tickets and will not refund them. It wasn't remote work either- it's show up here and do work. Nope. Nobody will respond to my emails anyway.
OP, I feel for you. Hopefully this is a temporary thing and you bounce out to something else. You are in a unique place where you have numerous options. Despite what people insist, even if you're not at Goldman TMT you will have more exit ops than working at your local post office. Power through it and keep the end goal in mind.
Thanks for the kind words. The hours typically aren’t like this for my group, just feels like with this cycle every one of our clients are racing to “do something” ahead of the holidays.
November-December are always brutal, trying to get shit done before the end of the year. Keep your head down and wait for the xmas bonus to clear :-)
I'm one of 4 people in my office today. Probably leaving early since I'm now in full "post long form on WSO" mode. No one will be working tomorrow, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.
Your situation sounds far more like a company issue, not an industry issue. Good companies do exist.
I think part of the problem is that Thursday isn’t a holiday in other countries. Sucks but it’s part of the job I guess.
People still use blackberries in 2019?
My boss gets one but I get the blackberry work app. Which is probably the worst email app I’ve ever used and it gives the bank backdoor access to my device. But I don’t really get a choice, I have to have it in case my MD wants to rephrase the line “market choppiness” to “market volatility” at 3am.
Hahaha TOP notch value add by your MD right there mate. "Volatility" clearly employs more accuracy and presence terminologically, and such changes to the deck are best made between 2.58am and 4.18am. Should make all the diff in winning the pitch
Can you expand on how your bank would gain backdoor access to your phone through an app?
If you don't like it, switch jobs. So whiny.
Amen. Want to know the root cause of the last minute requests? Money. Any missed opportunity to pitch is a lost bonus for a MD , even if it was a bake-off and you had no shot. MD's also need to justify to clients why they get paid 1-2% of the deal.
Found the guy with no friends or family
Actually, I'm the one that hires and writes the cheques. Part of what we pay for = people working when we need them. I don't personally call people in and have them work on meaningless shit but yes, if a random deal comes in and we need to put in hours, then we are all putting hours in...especially given we are retail heavy (Black Friday?!).
I thought McDonald’s, hotels, and many other places were open for Christmas and thanksgiving. It’s not like IB is the only thing
My dear Watson, if you feel "Thanksgiving in this industry sucks" and "thanksgiving" is not the item that sucks, perhaps you have subconsciously arrived at another conclusion...
+1 for this
Thank you, my good man
I am a real time power trader and I am working nights all this week into Friday morning. Be glad you at least have Thursday off.
In case you haven't heard this before: You're not getting paid six figures out of school because you're so god damn smart. You're getting paid for all the sacrifices you have to make.
^ This guy is spot on
Correct, but no one should be forced to make unnecessary sacrifices.
If there is an exploding deal going on, then yes, you should work on Thanksgiving. If it's finishing a pitchbook that has only a one in a thousand chance of success, then you should absolutely not be working Thanksgiving. Been there before.
Get out of the industry as soon as feasible :)
I now get the whole Thanksgiving Week off, happy holidays!
What industry do you work in now?
Check the pin next to his name...
CD = Corporate Development
Plenty of white collar professions work tough hours including nights and weekends. Law, Medicine, business owners... it's part of the deal for getting ahead. No one is making you work your current job. If you value time off > money then find a better fit.
Think back to when you were doing interviews for the job you have now. If your interviewer asked "how pissed will you be if work interferes with Thanksgiving plans" what would you have said at the time? Be honest.
.
Nice rant
Come to the buy side, life is better. Holidays aren't a problem, lawyers/advisers may work late but I can still go home at 6:30 unless I really really have to work late.
Depends which buy side - I worked in PE. Hours were shit.
Yeah it depends. I'm in the asset management part of a large insurer investing in debt.
Definitely what I love about AM. Good pay + decent hours is about as good as it gets.
Yeah I think I want to go buy side eventually. I get the headhunter calls but haven’t pulled the trigger on anything yet. But the hours can be just as bad, right?
Look for a shop that is not unreasonable hours, that you can ask a headhunter up front, and there's no shame in being honest. If more junior people pushed back on these demands industry-wide, they would have no choice but to modify hours.
OP - it sucks.
The worst thing is as opposed to the morons who posted here thinking the MD is doing it because of his bonus, this is not actually the case. You clinch a deal not because of a deck, but because of the way you present. You can't present over thanks giving. You can't present over Christmas. You can time manage so that all the decks and paper work are done before the holiday.
The reason they don't do it is because they don't value you, and don't care about you. You are meat. You are likely to leave the company, and if you stay you are likely a sociopath yourself, just like your MD who made it that far in banking.
Thank you for this. Everyone replying here saying “quit crying” I think is missing the point. I’m not saying I won’t do this work as obviously I really wanted to work in this industry (and still do); I’m just saying that holiday fire drills do not need to be a thing.
Any deal based environment is unpredictable.
Agree - nobody minds working hard when a deal is live and it's the deal team dealing with client demands. It's just when MDs make work when there's really no work to do or the whole concept of "I had it terrible so now the analyst have to suffer as well".
The truth is the MDs don't give a shit at all - part of it is because analysts churn through so quickly and the other reason is that a good portion of MDs are just pretty shitty people in general.
Part of the blame also lies with college students/young professionals and the way we're brainwashed and expected to work "100-hour weeks" and be on call all the time because the analyst program is the equivalent to "paying your dues".
Idk what you're talking about but I worked from home Wednesday, didn't bring my laptop to Thanksgiving yesterday, and don't intend on checking my email until Sunday night now.
You should show your MD "thanks" by emailing your 2 weeks notice on Thursday evening, then take PTO whether he likes it or not on Friday. If you get fired on Monday, then you qualify for unemployment. Ka-ching.
Geez, for comparison, is MBB in general much better when it comes to things like this? Two of my friends are at Bain and have been out traveling since last Sunday
You're complaining about getting a day off that nobody in any other country in the world does?
Uh, what. How many holidays are universal lmfao. By this logic, no one should ever get any days off.
I am thankful for Excel and Powerpoint. Through the past few months they have always been by my side. Through the mornings, through the evenings, and late into the night.
IB sucks
Bank tellers make more hourly. See my post in IB. Get out of your bank immediately. Jump Ship.
Yeah, and it's also far more prestigious, ambitious and interesting.....
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