Investment Banking Holidays?

How do holidays work at most investment banks?

I'd assume analysts are working almost every holiday not named Christmas, Thanksgiving, or the 4th of July.

At what level if any would you be able to take off for President's Day?

 
exlurker:
What’s a holiday ?

(+SB) I had a Holiday once, I was told that instead of spreading month to month financials for our client, I only had to do YTD. This saved me 30min, which I then used to work on a pitch book.

"A man can convince anyone he's somebody else, but never himself."
 

Banks won’t tell you this, but if you don’t respond while on vacation there isn’t any actual consequence. That’s why they instill fear in you well before you even start thinking about taking time off. When you do take time off, you’ll be too scared to not respond

 

This is too general of a question. As mentioned above, it would be extremely group-specific and situation-specific. If seniors at your group comes to work on holidays or expect you to come in even if they don't (more likely), then you'll have to come in. Or even if its a norm not to come to work, you'll have to come in if you are staffed on a deal that demands you to come in.

 

Depends on group, MDs and circumstances. In my old team it was: if there’s nothing pressing, you get the holiday, so long as you can finish what’s on your plate by the agreed upon deadlines. But there was nothing preventing an MD emailing you on a holiday to get something done (if it’s something last min urgent... or to their whims...).

And if you’re on a live deal, all bets are off.

 

It only happened once to me - on a sellside we had three bidders completing full DD to get to a final binding bid in early Jan. 3-4 DD advisors sent in updated question lists on Christmas Eve (intentionally I'm sure to avoid Christmas work) and Christmas for me was processing / drafting responses... but nothing like a little eggnog to keep the mind focused.

 

God damn lol but still I mean it really couldn’t wait one more day? That’s what I question if I really want to get back into IB (I have an “easy” ish route to do so) at a MM for one of the regional banks.

I’m curious if it’s more lax T the MM banks (particularly more debt focused regional bank shops I.e STRH, Citizens, BB&T) with regards to holidays. Cuz if I can’t get Christmas off to see the fam I think I’ll write that potential opportunity off for good

 

I'm sorry, but you guys give the impression like it's completely normal to work during Christmas or it's completely normal to not to be able take some time off. 

This exact thinking makes IB industry so broken and horrible. MDs are just bad managers, do not value juniors, do not value people's personal time and create tons of unnecessary pressure. What could possibly happen if the model is sent out 2 days later? Would the deal fall apart? Would the client finish relationship? He probably wouldn't even fucking care, because it's Christmas and no one who is reasonable person works at this special time.

Get a grip. Life is not only about (and in case of IB usually meaningless) work. If I was told I cannot spend Christmas with my parents, because a piece of shit MD wants me to run another useless model update - I'd quit on the spot. This kind of bullshit is absolutely not worth it.

 
hijackbanker:
I'm sorry, but you guys give the impression like it's completely normal to work during Christmas or it's completely normal to not to be able take some time off. WHAT THE F*CK?

This exact thinking makes IB industry so f*cking broken and horrible. MDs are just bad managers, do not value juniors, do not value people's personal time and create tons of unecessary pressure. What could possibly happen if the model is sent out 2 days later? Would the deal fall apart? Would the client finish relationship? He probably wouldn't even fcking care, because it's Christmas and no one who is reasonable person works at this special time.

Get a grip. Life is not only about (and in case of IB usually meaningless) work. If I was told I cannot spend Christmas with my parents, because a piece of shit MD wants me to run another useless model update - I'd quit on the spot. This kind of bullshit is absolutely not worth it.

Most people in the industry are extremely insecure and just take it in the ass, props to you if you would be able to tell your MD to politely fuck off.

 

No, this is an absolute bullshit, stop pushing this. This is what makes this industry so shitty work/life balance wise.

I understand this is not 9-5, you need to work a lot, you have client-focused role, etc, but I'm pretty sure LOTS of work is absolutely unecessary, avoidable, or can be done on a different day than a Christmas Eve. The whole industry is just the pure bad people management, that's it.

There are much more demanding sectors, with more demanding work than putting together excel spereadsheets - and they don't have those utterly stupid schedules.

 

Value of the experience?

This is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard.

Being a CEO/Managing Partner/etc. is the best "experience" you could possibly get in the business world. But they don't pay these people LESS because they are getting great "experience"

Your time and effort is your time and effort

You get paid for it

 

Make sure the shop has a good way to work remotely. As an analyst/associate, I would regularly work from the Caribbean over Xmas/Thanksgiving. Running data room uploads or updating a model over frozen drinks for an hour a day on vacation really ain't bad. You will realize everyone at a higher level works on vacation, it's the way the world works.

--$$--
 

Holidays? What sort of blasphemy is this?

"I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. " -GG
 

There ain't none.

Its 11 o'clock on a Sunday night and I'm at work. I've worked past midnight on my last 2 birthdays, I worked all day last Christmas eve and worked from home on Christmas with VPs/MDs e-mailing/calling/faxing all throughout. News Years was saved, primarily because the client decided they no longer needed to close before year end (after ruining everyone's xmas, mind you).

Its not that you won't have any holidays, its just that if something comes up, nothing is off limits.

 
Marcus_Halberstram:
There ain't none.

Its 11 o'clock on a Sunday night and I'm at work. I've worked past midnight on my last 2 birthdays, I worked all day last Christmas eve and worked from home on Christmas with VPs/MDs e-mailing/calling/faxing all throughout. News Years was saved, primarily because the client decided they no longer needed to close before year end (after ruining everyone's xmas, mind you).

Its not that you won't have any holidays, its just that if something comes up, nothing is off limits.

Marcus, have you ever considered the possibility that no vacations are awarded to you because you can hardly speak English and it's your first language?

 
Marcus_Halberstram:
There ain't none.

Its 11 o'clock on a Sunday night and I'm at work. I've worked past midnight on my last 2 birthdays, I worked all day last Christmas eve and worked from home on Christmas with VPs/MDs e-mailing/calling/faxing all throughout. News Years was saved, primarily because the client decided they no longer needed to close before year end (after ruining everyone's xmas, mind you).

Its not that you won't have any holidays, its just that if something comes up, nothing is off limits.

Agreed with Marcus, nothing is scared. They'll blow you up at 10am Christmas morning, at your mom's funeral or any other time, and not even show a hint of remorse. I know a guy who ended up working nearly his entire honeymoon from his hotel in Aruba.

Also, zalley, you're an asshole.

  • Capt K
- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

Usually the major holidays are recognized. But a good analyst is a busy analyst. I knew guys who experienced exactly what Marcus did and knew guys who were able to take every holiday off and then some.


I'm making it up as I go along.

------------ I'm making it up as I go along.
 
Cornelius:
Usually the major holidays are recognized. But a good analyst is a busy analyst. I knew guys who experienced exactly what Marcus did and knew guys who were able to take every holiday off and then some.
I would probably guess, in fact, that there's a link between holidays-in-the-office and end-of-year bonus; indirect of course, but still there.

And zalley, good luck keeping your DB IBD job with that attitude.

 

So, even though you don't get to take them. The days you technically have off are the NYSE trading holidays. Look them up on wiki or google.

You don't get them off usually, but there they are.

--There are stupid questions, so think first.
 

Any info on Thomas Weisel Partners & Robert Baird?

Do you get any holidays, or its pretty much the same as BB's, you might get lucky or might not. I know Robert Baird is known for its 'work life balance' & Weisel on its website mentions "generous vacation policy"...not sure how much of this applies to analysts in investment banking

 

Back when I worked in banking, I used to tell people:

"It's not that I don't get some nights / weekends / holidays off, it's that I won't know I have them off until after they are over."

Basically, you're on call all the time. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays. Most times you get the call, sometimes you don't. Either way, every time you plan something, it could get blown up. Plan at your own risk.

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

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