Leaving An Unpaid Internship
I've been working as an unpaid intern at boutique investment bank for the past 7 or so months. This internship was great and I learned a tremendous amount of information about investment banking, but financially it was tough. I had to pick up more hours at my part time job to support myself on top of going to school full time.
I just accepted a paid intern position at a PE firm, but am struggling to tell my boss I am leaving. The one analyst in the office is away for a few months so my boss is already short handed and I don't want them to hate me for leaving them even more short staffed. Right now I am interning at both places, but would like to just focus on the new one. I trying to decide on whether to continue to intern at both places until my semester is over, or to give my two weeks notice soon.
Any advice on this would be very helpful and much appreciated!
Well they are all big boys. I'm sure they will all understand why you're quitting an unpaid internship after finding a paid one.
Alternatively give them a chance to pay you so that you can drop the part time job. Just negotiate a wage now that you've proven yourself
From my perspective that's a good tactic for an FT job, but not as applicable here. OP has gotten 7 months of experience in IB, and switching to a PE on his resume (even if it was unpaid as well) would be more valuable than an internship wage.
While unfortunately I am ill-suited to advise you on this, I'm curious to hear how you balanced an IB internship with a part-time job?
It was tough, I'm not gonna lie. I worked 7 days a week with the IB internship during the weekdays and then my part time job at nights as well as the weekends.
Thats crazy. But hey, coming out of this you're mentally stronger and more prepared. Good shit man, good luck at the next of your endeavors. Hopefully you'll get some solid advice on your situation rn.
Kudos on the motivation.
Give your two weeks notice and focus on the PE firm that is paying you for you efforts. Don't feel bad for you boss who's making a cushy living and having you do all the work unpaid.
Definitely this... 7 months without pay... is that even legal? F the bankers and give your 2 wks.
I am not a lawyer, but the DOL has proffered several criteria (Fair Labor Standards Act):
"The following six criteria must be applied when making this determination:
If all of the factors listed above are met, an employment relationship does not exist under the FLSA."
However, this has been fought recently in court, if I recall correctly, and has been going back and forth for a while. I'm sure this is why regulated banks don't do unpaid internships - too many compliance issues - but more boutique shops see if they can get away with it.
Yeah that's fucked.
Definitely agree with TippyTop11 ...if MDs want an intern, they should be willing to shell 2,000 each out of their 500,000 dollar bonus to pay you a decent wage. Don't feel bad, they may be nice to you, but if they were decent people/actually gave a fuck they would have paid you in the first place.
Agree with other posters - after all, you should value yourself, your health, and your time too.
Yes - ask them to pay you (but I am not sure if you can work at both IB and PE shops? Considering the conflict of interest if there's any?) but if they agree to pay you, you could stay and edo both if you could manage, but quit your part time job.
If no, quit and go do the PE job.
Dear lord, 7 month unpaid internship at an investment bank? I have never heard of that.
it's crazy you were unpaid for that much work
Really impressive you worked an ib internship with a part time job. I would suggest you just tell your MD that it is time to move on and focus solely on the PE internship with more hours. You've clearly shown you can handle a lot on your plate, might as well take on extra hours at the PE firm that pays you so you can get more depth in your analysis and learn more. Good for you brotha
I view it as kind of BS that they didn't pay you after 7 months. Cheap bastards...don't feel bad about leaving. Tell them that you appreciated the experience, but you are putting in your two weeks notice because you've been offered a paid position. It's as easy as that.
Unpaid IBD internship for 7 months? Are you kidding me? I had a non-paid internship during my sophomore year but at least it was 8 weeks long and the hours were good (9-5). I wouldn't even look back leaving the place.
Worked at a boutique unpaid for two days a week from 9-9. Only time the CEO/MD had spoken to me was when he needed lunch. There was another intern who worked at the bank full-time, and he worked there for a year without getting paid. These firms know that you will leverage the experience into a bigger gig, that's why they know you won't bitch lol. Bought everyone in the office a gift on my last day..besides the MD lol... bitch didn't even know it was my last day.
They'll understand. And do they know that you've accepted a paid position at a PE firm?
No, they don't yet. Every time I am about to tell my boss, something comes up that would just make the situation worse. For instance, I was about to tell my boss the other day when they told me we just got a big sell deal that they are going to need my help on big time.
They are trying to avoid the conversation by coming up with excuses. It's an IB, of course, there will be enormous workloads regularly, F them.
However, instead of giving in your two weeks, set a date that is further out. It will show that "you care" about them and are not leaving them by surprise, you are giving them time to get their shit together and you will help to the best of your abilities until then/train a new intern.
Based on the fact that they are avoiding you, they will probably talk shit if you just leave them or even if it's at a later date. So, speak to your boss in person and then follow up with an email little later to get it in writing so you can defend yourself if it comes down to it.
I found my self in a similar situation about 6 months ago. I was working for a boutique IB when I got an offer for an internship at a PE Firm. My advice would be to be as professional as you can be about it and work up the courage to just do it. My boss ended up taking it really well, and I still have a great relationship with everyone at the IB.
Leave Unpaid Internship (Originally Posted: 01/10/2018)
I just started an unpaid internship. Initially, I didn't really care that it would not be paid as I thought it would be a valuable learning experience plus it would look great on my resume( Investment Banking). I was told in the interview that I would learn a lot, and would not do any of the things Interns usually do ( Coffee runs, buying office supplies etc.)
I started the first day and thought I was going to start learning more about the industry. Well, I was wrong. My boss and his partner asked me to buy them slippers for the office, and cups/ sugar for the coffee. This took out a lot of time I was supposed to be learning. I was very angry, and I think they could tell. And I feel like this going to happen more times. This is my third internship and I did actual work and was treated very fairly, so I am not new to internships.
Now I have a couple of questions. I feel like I am going to quit because this I did not sign up to be exploited like this. But I want to leave this position on my resume because the position looks good and I did do some work and I don't want that to go to waste for nothing. So how long should I wait, and how should I tell my boss?
Unpaid internships are crap, especially if you are not learning anything. This could mean that they do not even have enough deals to generate good revenue. I suggest checking out search funds internships, they are unpaid but interns learn to model and deal source.
But when should I quit? I do want to leave this internship on my resume, and I am only one week in.
speak with your boss first, and try to explain your situation.. anyway, what company is it?
it sounds like it's only been a day or so...? get over yourself
Sure it's frustrating but getting visibly angry is obviously a bad look. if this kind of thing persists for another week or two, then try to talk to your boss about working on other stuff.
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