Expected Hours BB Associate and up
What are the expected hours for at a BB non-NYC location (above average group) for Associate 1, and beyond?
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Associate based in Chicago. My weeks swing between 40 and 110, but I typically do 10 AM - 9 PM six days a week. I've yet to be Saturday'd, and neither have any of my analysts.
I'm going to PM you. Thanks here is a nana
lol, that's a ridiculous extreme. I can't picture a 40 hour week and I frankly can't picture a 110 hour week. My week swings from 60-95 and averages right in the middle of the two.
Non-BB, but when I left my MM as an Associate 1 would say "avg" was more 60-80 / 85, with broader bands of 50-100. Getting up to 120 was a rare outlier, but happened. Going down to 40 happened too, also an outlier.
Edit: Even though the hours don’t seem too bad, the unpredictability of my schedule still killed me and even w/in a week hours per day could be super volatile. Plus being in a client-oriented business meant you were expected to be always available and stuff had to be responded to super quickly “for optics”. Also would say above hours were only possible because I was an A2A promote and not a fresh out of b-school associate (crazy useless and overpaid compared to any good exp. analyst).
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If it's well known that you've been getting bukkaked with deal flow and pulling consistent +3:00 AM nights, no one is going to get in your ass about showing up at 10. Especially if you're working on multiple live deals with different VPs/MDs who know what's on your plate.
Also, how in the world did you do a 40hr week? Was it a holiday week? What is your typical week with a deal on and one that doesn't?
Who is your Superbowl pick for this year?
It's happened like three times in the past six months. Just on two deals right now that have similar timing. When they're quiet, they're both quiet. When they're active, they're both very active. Still, I'd say 70 hours/week seems to be both the mean and the median.
Senior Assoc - Non-BB Public MM (50 hr weekly average)
9-6 when no live M&A deal flow or BS internal committee ECM on co-managed IPOs
When live deal, always on call 7-10pm from home for deliverable review, but mostly delegated to strong analysts
However, low deal-flow = bad learning experience
70 hours on average. 9 am to 10 pm Mon-Thurs, 9 am to 7 pm on Friday, then another 5-10 hours over the course of the weekend at home.
With a fast-paced live deal going on this easily becomes 80-90 hours. Holidays / slow summers end up being 50-55.
This is exactly my schedule as well as Assoc 2 BB West Coast.
Perfect description for me as well (Assoc 2 @ an EB). Also decent flexibility to work from home past 8 if I'm not doing anything too intense
I am shocked by the hours compared to Analysts. Life changing thread.
Was thinking the same shit!
How many of you were A-A promotes vs B-School? I would imagine your hours would be less if you were a former analyst as you can turn stuff more quickly.
Anyone have any info on listed north American full service MM IBs in London?
New associate at a Chicago MM bank, post MBA. Average work week is 65 hours. Had two glorious / boring weeks around the holidays around 40, and my worst week so far was ~90.
I find that I am MUCH more efficient with my time than I was during my summer internship. Obviously A2As are the gold standard re: efficiency, but I think people on this thread respect them essentially for the number of reps they've gone through, meaning that they can get a client-ready deliverable out the door faster than a new hire.
Probably true, but that explanation really discounts a deep knowledge of the context of the process and the people around you. After seeing it a few times and working with people across more than just one deal, you're much better prepared to anticipate and plan ahead. Reading the tea leaves and quarterbacking the process well also helps you not be an asshole to your Analysts.
In short fellow MBA Associates, don't just pay attention to your accounting and finance classes - leadership and OB matter a hell of a lot.
The number of times I've heard "don't be an ass with a god complex to your analysts" during MBA recruiting makes me wonder what other programs are doing to people. (Obviously not mine.)
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