IBD Summer Analyst work on the weekends
I did not how to bring this up in any of my informational interviews so here it is. Do summer analysts basically work every weekend during the 10 weeks? Is the dress code casual on the weekends or does it depend on the group? How would you be supervised on the weekends and what type of work would you do on a given a weekend?
Also interested.
Yes you will work 99.9% of weekends as an SA. The dress code is very dependent on the firm, though you would be surprised at how many BBs can be business casual
As an SA you should make an appearance on the weekends no matter what. I don't care what your firm's policy is regarding face time, you should be there even if you don't have work per se, there's always stuff you can be doing (i.e. practice modeling or read up on some materials). No one is there to supervise you per se, but don't be surprised if the staffer pops in every now and then (just to do his shit), and you better hope you're there when he's there.
Dress is usually whatever goes, but depends on firm. Typically tshirt/jeans are okay.
You can wear what you want on weekends. I remember we had a new analyst join halfway through the summer and he came in on the weekend wearing b-form. The entire office was ripping on him the whole day (incl us interns) it was pretty funny. On weekends we had one VP who would rock crocs, cargo shorts and a hawaiian shirt.
We expect our summer's there every weekend, even if its for a couple hours in the middle of the afternoon. It just doesn't look good if every analyst and other summer is there and there is one kid missing. There's no supervising, come in do your work and go home. You'll see any and everyone drop in, we have a partner that still stops in for 2 hours a day because its his day of no client meetings. We have VP's who will come around with their kid to send an email or read a book quickly. It's also casual, neat but casual. So jeans, polos, khakis, flip flops. For girls, make sure what you have on is not too revealing or tight, its still an office. It's the one conversation I hate, telling the girl who wore her bar clothes to work, to go home.
+1, solid
This is very helpful. Thanks.
It depends on what firm and what group you'll be working in. If you're in a capital markets or financing group, there's a good chance that you will not need to work on many weekends. Even in some industry groups, if the other analysts and interns are not busy on weekends then you should not feel pressure to show up just to be there. When in Rome...
Face time has varying importance across groups and across firms, but ultimately what matters most is not how many hours you work but rather your attitude and the quality of your work.
Goldman no Saturdays, JP protected weekends, where is a good bank-by-bank comparison (Originally Posted: 04/09/2014)
Hi guys.
I was trying to find, but couldn't find, a good table or graphic that shows each banks' plans to increase work/life balance.
It would be interesting to see side-by-side how each bank handles this, as banks increase headcount and reduce workload instead of increasing salary.
Thoughts?
lol @ "reduce workload"
reduce time in office (more efficient allocation of work, less need for face time, etc.)
In addition to the ones you mentioned:
CS - no work between friday at 6pm through sunday at 10am (although doesn't apply to live deals).
BAML - 4 days off a month on the weekends
Barcap - mandatory block leave for 2 non-consecutive weeks over a year; no more than 12 days in the office in a row; no staffings after noon on friday
Although bottom line is that now you just have to do the same amount of work in less hours (i.e. later nights during the week)
Just to add to this list, as of now, (at least according to my friends), none of the EBs have instituted this type of plan, but one of them is considering it in the near term future due to risk of talent loss.
Is the Barclays rule firm wide? I know the MD's in a few groups that have implemented their own policies (i.e. blackout period from 9 pm Friday - 9 am Sunday).
Does ms have anything? Also, does the GS policy apply to intl offices like Tokyo and hong kong?
MS doesn't have anything, and James Gorman's reason kind of skirts the issue in that article - many of the banks/groups have rules that say if you don't have deal work, you shouldn't be working on weekends. I don't know about int'l offices.
At first I thought this would be a good idea but as I read more about it I think its just going to make weekdays worse. I'd rather be working on weekends.
Just as 99% of things in banking it's all about covering your ass. These rules follow the same mantra.
I would not. Or rather, I'd like to be able to plan. If I can plan to have a night out and then hang out and relax and catch up with some friends on a Saturday with no risk of it getting blown up, that's worth its weight in gold.
Trust me, it's better to have a protected weekend than not. Working weekends is awful, especially when your plans got blown up by some last minute request for "market data" prior to some client's board meeting where no one is even going to look at it.
Anecdotally, one of the girls who was in my analyst class is now at a bank with one of these policies and she says it's great (though to be fair, she also said her new group's culture is a lot better too, so maybe it's a combination of factors).
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/banks-ease-hours-for-junior-staf…
Afraid to ask for time off as a Summer Analyst to attend Graduation Weekend Ceremonies - thoughts? (Originally Posted: 05/05/2014)
I will be a summer analyst at a top five BB (ms, GS, baml, JPM) in California. I've heard stories of people missing on funerals, birthdays, and other major life events due to banking. Because of that I'd like to ask... do you guys think it's unreasonable to ask my employers for nearly 8-10 hours off in the span of one weekend to attend various graduation ceremonies?
To be clear, I will be graduating. This is not to visit friends.
how are you simultaneously graduating and doing a summer analyst internship? SA is for rising seniors
Bankers aren't monsters. Let them know in advance and it should be fine. They'll work with you. There's obviously a slight chance that shit might totally hit the fan, and they'll need you to work that weekend. However, considering you're a summer, even this is a pretty unlikely.
you are graduating... then doing SA??
Couldn't you have just phrased it that you work at a BB? I'm guessing you work at BAML
LOLLLLLL
LOL exposedddddd
or maybe he purposely did this to fuck with you.
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/000/002/109/orly_owl.jpg
The secret is out!!
I'd get this request in ASAP.
Birthdays lolol
Wait, so these are activities over a weekend, i.e. you're not missing any (M-F) workdays?
Just tell your staffer; then, send out an email the week before to deal teams to the effect of "all, wanted to let you know I'll be doing xx activity next weekend and will be in yy place due to graduation-related activities. I'll be available until xx on Friday and will be back in the office Monday morning. In addition, I'll be available via email all weekend and will have a laptop to log in remotely should any urgent work arise. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Best, DChains825"
Weekends & Social Life of a BB SA (not IBD) (Originally Posted: 03/10/2011)
I am a sophomore who was lucky enough to land a BB SA Middle/Back Office stint. I've asked several mentors but basically I can expect to work 50-60 hours a week, Mon-Fri. I want to make the most out of this experience not only networking my way to IBD someday (perhaps at another BB) but also have a good time.
What kind of weekends/social life can I expect as a SA? Again, this is NOT IBD; my internship will be working in MO/BO (Think Operations / Finance / Controllership).
All inputs would be highly appreciated, thank you all!
Night life = you go out and do whatever it is you do. You can do this with any job. If you go IBD, you won't have one.
Cheers
depends what city you're in, but regardless of where or what you're doing, your social life is what you make of it. there's plenty of sites to see in nyc and other cities and nightlife is huge, though difficult to manage consistently if you're not 21 or don't have a fake. meet up with friends and take advantage of all the city has to offer
wow really? this has to be the most rediculous advice thread ever. like your job is going to define your nightlife..
Any suggestions on the best way to network with my bartender to get another scotch?
BB Summer Analyst (Lev. Fin) - Weekends (Originally Posted: 03/01/2014)
I am fortunate enough to have received an investment banking internship at a BB this summer. But I am still a little confused about the hours. I have heard many times how much the hours suck and how unpredictable my work schedule is going to be. People often say that interns should get in around 8, stay until 2, and will end up working like 90 hrs/week. If you really look at the math by working 18 hours a day you can easily accumulate 90 hours per week. So does that mean that my weekends are generally going to be free? I don't know if my question is very clear but I'm not sure how else to put this question.
90 hours would be a pleasant week for SA - you will work weekends.
as an intern at a BB, i worked hard hours - something similar to what you mentioned above, a bit less on average if i'm being realistic, and i would also go to the office on weekends, but only for few hours
sunday would often be free, saturday until 5
now, i might have been lucky. sure there were some weeks where i would work full sunday, but that was maybe 2 out of 12 weeks or something like that
As a broad generalization, the workweek numbers you're quoting are heavy. Analysts generally get in around 9:00 AM (can be earlier in capital markets groups) and leave by 11:00 PM, with anywhere from a few to many hours on the weekend. Varies widely from group to group and based on market conditions (especially the latter in LevFin).
Lev fin hours are roughly 7:30 - 10/11 pm for an intern. Less on Friday. Weekends are usually light. Most Saturdays off, a few hours on Sunday (though Sundays can be busy if you're launching a deal on Monday)
Thanks for the great answers guys
SA weekends. Don't come in unless you're staffed? (Originally Posted: 06/12/2011)
At the BB I'm working at, the analysts all tell me to go home if we have no work to do (ie: face time doesn't matter), and don't come in on the weekends unless we have stuff assigned.
Well, I went in yesterday and didn't have that much to do - mainly just looked over the models on some of the projects I've been staffed on. The analysts on the deals don't really give us much work, probably because they know we don't know shit yet.
Yet, I feel really guilty about not going in today at all because my week has been so light and even if there's no work to be done I can still do my best to learn quickly so I can become more useful later in the summer. When I went yesterday though, there were only 3-4 people in the office (analysts and one associate). What do you guys think about weekend work?
I think you need to grow a pair and enjoy life before you become a slave in a year or two.
Err getting a job offer will lead to a lot more life enjoying come this fall.
I am interested in this too. Good answers would be appreciated!
The more dependable you become, the more favored by associates and VPs you will be. The more favored you are, the more you will work. If your group is supportive of buyside aspirations, their fondness of you will help you when you start recruiting. If your group does not give a shit about analysts, you will be an exploited resource.
All above points valid. Interns aren't expected to stay when they don't have to or come in on weekends (obv. depending on group). If you really feel bad, then go in, do some accounting exercises or what have you. Feel it out as well. Our interns aren't here now and I'd be ticked if they came in cause they now I have nothing for them and they're just trying to brown nose. However if one was staffed with me on an active deal and they (should) know that something may come up, I'd be a little dissapointed if they were no shows or at least didn't reach out even tho I'd likely ignore them.
In short, if you've been doing ad hoc/one off assignments all week, go work on your tan. If you're working on something on going, get your ass in the office and make yourself available so I can have you spread some comps and make my ppt graphs fonts don't get fucked up.
Here's another point - at this point you probably just finished up your first week. Unless you got staffed on a live deal out the chute, they'll probably give you one offs until you've proved yourself later in the summer. So if you really don't have anything to do, and no ongoing projects / deliverables, then yeah, go work on your tan / enjoy NYC. You'll get worked plenty later in the summer.
IMHO, it's more important to be on the ball with things people ask you to do / try to make yourself available on ongoing processes than to simply sit there for face time's sake.
I fucking hate face time. I left at 10PM the other night because I had literally no fucking work, it was my second day on the team, and I had read EVERYTHING that I had access to. Everything, paper and electronic (GT fucked up with my access shit so I can't look through past deals and models). My team knew of the situation and suggested I leave when I was done reading through a packet.
Naturally, a VP from another team chastised me LOUDLY, in front of everyone still on our floor, for leaving early. Face time is so fucking pointless. You give me the work to do, I will pull a fucking all-nighter for you and get it done. I will jack off to Excel all day Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, whatever. But don't expect me to fake jacking off to Excel just because you like to watch.
def depends on group. I know I am expect to always be in on weekends but they told me to take this one off since it was first week and I hadn't been staffed yet. Went in to grab some training materials and they were happy I was there because apparently some extra work came up that I could help with. I don't think anyone is really going to knock you for coming in on weekends, but I guess just feel out your group.
While I somewhat agree above with the whole "you're young go out and live" philosophy, you also have 10 weeks to leave an impression and land an offer. A group where people would be pissed if their analyst didn't email to ask if they needed help, but intentionally ignore them if they did would be a shitty group to work in.
Deleted given relevancy
You're a freshman. It's PWM. It's unpaid.
Enjoy yourself for a week. Obviously ask your boss if it's fine with him and let him know well in advance, but I'm sure he'll understand.
Personally I think it's unreasonable to ask for this, even if it's PWM, and even if you're just a freshman. They could replace you in two seconds with a kid who is willing not to go on vacation to get that sort of experience.
Plus, it will be a good "character-building" experience for you to learn how to manage sacrificing family/fun time for work...because if you want to go into ib, that's a skill you'll need.
This.
And what's this 'only PWM'? Semi-target freshman too good for it?
Two options for you:
1) Don't do it. 2) If you are going to do it, wait until the Friday before the vacation. Tell your boss that you have a family emergency and you have to be away next week.
I had a fellow intern last summer (not PWM) who did this, and lost a lot of cred among the full timers. Did it really affect him in any tangible way? Not really cuz he wasnt trying to come back as a full time analyst. So it really depends what you wanna get out of this internship. But you will most likely be stigmatized the wrong way for taking leave during an internship.
Ask for the week off... It's an unpaid internship and you're a freshman.
That being said, be prepared for them to say no or even find someone else to take your spot.
@SonnyZH, do not confuse my statements as coming off as un-appreciative. I am more than ecstatic to have even found something. I based that statement off the general gist of it not being a huge deal that exists on this forum, which was created by other users, not me.
If it was a paid internship, I would miss the vacation and be fine with it. This gig is unpaid, and I am losing over 4k of an opportunity cost, which I could earn doing something else for the summer. I also have to pay money (a large amount) for my school to accept the meager half credit, which contributes to me wanting to miss a week for caribbean weather.
But by all means, continue to contribute in a condescending fashion. Have a good day
I'd take the vacation. Like other people said, they might replace you, but you'll have the experience on your resume, which will still help. And then you can enjoy a couple more weeks of what will probably be your last free summer.
Vacation is clearly the winner here.
Not a smart move. Background checks can make you look like a fraud if you put that on your resume. Most banks especially BB will find these things out.
This situation seems unlikely. If they were that bothered by it, wouldn't they just say no?
In my mind, it doesn't hurt to ask. Then again, I didn't even do an internship my freshman year so I'm probably not the one to ask.
@triplectz, I appreciate it. The thing has been planned for over a year.
Not suggesting you lie. If you worked there for the summer, you put down the months you worked there, or put "Summer 2012." It's honest, and totally fair.
And the background checks are to verify actual employment. You've worked there. You'd pass the background check. They're not going to pull your internship because you left a week early from a summer internship 2 years ago.
Not sure about that. If the OP's vacation is in the middle or early on in the summer then what? Also, we really don't know how deep these background checks actually are. It is really dependent on the HR team and the circumstances. If a hiring manager feels the need to call up your old manager, then it can happen just like that. It's like a tail event where the chances are very low, but if it happens then you get f--ed.
Dude I asked for a few days off for the 4th of July the day after I got my internship. They were completely fine with it and even asked if I needed time off some time during the internship. Granted I'm not in NYC so people aren't as tight assed about this stuff. Talk to HR/a secretary about it, not your boss.
when I went to the interview for my internship at an AM, they asked me straight away if I had any holidays booked, which I had, they were completely fine with it and just fitted my dates in around it. they had absolutely no problem with it!
Although I am in London, not that should make a difference. I think it just depends on the firm
You deserve an Oscar, MrDiCaprio.
I had a Merrill Lynch wealth management internship freshman year at a branch office. Took a week of for vacation and it was no problem. But then again, I was the only intern who had to cold call my way into the position.
They don't really need you anyway, I say take the week off. No harm in asking anyway.
Commitment During Summer Internship (Originally Posted: 05/20/2007)
I'll be working at a top BB as a summer analyst. During the internship, a close relative of mine, one of my best friends, is getting married outside of nyc, and I'd really like to go to the wedding (it's happening during a weekend). What are my chances of having that weekend off during the internship? Who should I talk to to get those days off and when should I even mention that? Do you think that by taking a weekend off, my chances of getting a FT offer would decrease? Have any of you had a similar experience? Thanks.
This is a classic question asked on interviews (I think it's even mentioned in the Vault guides). There's no way to know for certain whether this will hurt you badly or not, so the answer will depend on your group.
Is this wedding later on during the internship? Maybe you can feel out the group's attitude on the issue, and ask at an appropriate time. Many would say to just suck it up, and keep working through. Play it by ear.
As an intern, you should definitely be able to go. Tell them in advance and it shouldn't be a problem. If you tell them the week before, then they would get pissed. But don't make it a four-day vacation, in and out is the policy.
Banks don't screw interns.
My internship starts in mid June for 10 weeks, and the wedding is during the 3rd week of July(so not too early, not too late). It's during a weekend, so I'll probably leave friday and come back sunday night. When you say tell them, who do you refer to? HR? The people in my group? Thanks.
Tell the group and specifically the people you are staffed on a deal with. Also tell the staffer.
How hard is it to get a Saturday off as an Analyst? (Originally Posted: 05/06/2013)
Beginning my analyst stint this Summer at a BB and was wondering how hard it is to get a couple Saturdays a year completely off. It would be like 6-8 Saturdays throughout the year and I am willing to work my tail off on that Sunday if I need to.
The reason I ask is because I compete in competitions on Saturdays (hobby related) and they take place on Saturdays. I would like to continue to do them (at least a couple) even if I am working in IB, but I do understand that this may not be possible.
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