Keep my 'rona beard for FT analyst start?

The topic of keeping/wearing a beard has been on WSO before, but not in the unique 'rona situation of a virtual start. I grew a very neat and trimmed short beard early on in the quarantine, and I love it. Less maintenance than regularly shaving my whole face, and it fits my face well. Works starts very soon, and I am faced with the tough decision of whether to keep it.

I'm rejoining the group I worked in last summer, which has a great culture and is generally very chill; very happy to have ended up there after a long recruiting process during school. At least one associate has a light beard like mine, and one of the MDs has grown one out during quaratine. There are definitely a few analysts from other groups at the bank that also wear very neat beards. Also, it wouldn't surprise me if a few of the analysts in my group have started sporting them while working from home.

I'm not really worried about having it during training, as I will mostly be dealing with just my analyst class and the third-party training co, but should I keep my beloved beard when I hit the desk? I may have answered my question already, but I'd genuinely appreciate some unbiased input.

 
Most Helpful

People will have different opinions and experiences on this - I personally have a short one (had pre-quarantine too, like a 2 on the clippers) and know a number of other bankers who rock the beard too.

Hard to tell what it will be like post-quarantine (I've seen some of the most prim and proper MDs at my firm grow some gnarly beards during this) so should probably should judge more off what you saw last summer.

Make sure it actually looks good though - so many guys out there who have disgusting looking patchy beards and it is just not a good look (professionally or otherwise)

 

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