Have you ever seen an intern quit early?

Hi,
I know that it's quite unlikely probably that an intern quit early, since they put a lot into getting the internship in the first place but nevertheless did you hear about interns who just couldn't handle the hours and therefore decided to quit early?

Have Interns Ever Quit Internships Early?

Yes, interns have quit early before. After going through the hyper-competitive process of securing an internship, most interns know that they’re in for long hours. Those who quit don’t usually do so because of the hours. It’s often for another reason such as:

  • Personal health issues
  • Family emergency
  • Realized the job is not a good fit
  • Received better offer

Should You Quit Your Internship?

It depends. The skills you learn and relationships you build during your internship can be incredibly valuable to your career. However, there are some situations where WSO community members feel it would be okay to quit.

From user @Asatar

When I was an intern someone quit to go do something else entirely in a different country. Some people just go for internships because they think it's the 'right' thing to do and then realise the job isn't for them, which is fair enough.

From user @Donny_Axelrod

In my group's intern case - it was a personal choice cause he felt that banking wasn't the right fit. Once you are halfway in, you know if this is for you or not, if you are offer-track or not etc.

From user @Toys-R-Soros

My colleague quit his wealth management internship for an equity research part-time job. I think it was a good move, because it could lead to his dream job in IBD.

From user @Greg Marmalard

If you just don't like what you're doing then stick it out and you'll be better for it, but if there's questionable legality or it goes against your morals, then don't feel bad for standing up for what you feel is right.

How to Quit Your Internship

Check out our forum post, How To Quit an Internship Without Ruining Your Future Prospects for tips on how to quit without burning bridges.

Related Reading

 

Yes, seen it but not for the hours. I think it's highly unlikely someone makes it through the entire application process without expecting and mentally steeling themselves for the hours. Even if someone wasn't prepared to put in banking hours, they could just dip early every day and be a bad intern with no return offer. Quitting a 10-week internship is pretty dumb unless you've got outside circumstances.

 

Saw an MBA intern try to quit once, only to be told there would be severe repercussions from his school, so he agreed to stay on the final 3 weeks. He pretty much mailed in the internship after that and needless to say did not get an offer.

It was pretty amazing given a MBA should have an even clearer view than a 20 year old as to what they are getting into, and realize the importance of getting an offer, even if to leverage to recruit elsewhere.

This guy was a career switcher in his mid 30s and had 5 kids....seriously no idea why he thought banking would be a decent career choice.

 
<span itemprop=name>Dat Guy</span>:

This guy was a career switcher in his mid 30s and had 5 kids....seriously no idea why he thought banking would be a decent career choice.

The "herd mentality" at business school is very, very powerful. People come in searching for a whole host of different lifestyles and challenges and career paths, and then come resume drop time, 75% of the class drops for MBB.

There were several career switchers I know who went for banking because it pays a lot and sounds cool, and that was the totality of their analysis. They got into their summer internships and went "whoa, this sucks" and re-recruited for other industries in their second year.

The role of the career services department in all of this was de minimus.

"Son, life is hard. But it's harder if you're stupid." - my dad
 

Savage.

Don´t say this in a banking interview: Which superhero would you be and why? I want to be like Robin Hood, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor - me.
 

Not sure who is monkey shitting this (probably a literal communist faggot) but this is literally true. You shouldn't be so full of hate, bigotry and resentment and instead use this advice to improve your financial well being - homo.

 

In Europe, students take gap years and often go into 6-months M&A internships (think the summer crazyness but for 6 months). There was a bad chain reaction with one team that had 3 interns and an insane dealflow. At about 2 months in, a first intern quit because he fell sick. The workload and pressure became so intense for the 2 others that every intern of this team ended up quitting. They couldn't even go home early each day as analysts from the team would call them on their cellphones asking them where they were. Just crazy.

 

Agree. The European 6-month internship system is pretty fucked up.

GoldenCinderblock: "I keep spending all my money on exotic fish so my armor sucks. Is it possible to romance multiple females? I got with the blue chick so far but I am also interested in the electronic chick and the face mask chick."
 

I was forced to quit my intern at my MF a week and a half before the final date. I guess my work (and network) was substantive enough for them to grant me a return interview at a more solid group.

GoldenCinderblock: "I keep spending all my money on exotic fish so my armor sucks. Is it possible to romance multiple females? I got with the blue chick so far but I am also interested in the electronic chick and the face mask chick."
 

Can you define 'forced to quit'

<span itemprop=name>Frank Quattrone</span>:

I was forced to quit my intern at my MF a week and a half before the final date. I guess my work (and network) was substantive enough for them to grant me a return interview at a more solid group.

If the glove don't fit, you must acquit!
 

Health issues. Had a blackout while driving back. Resulted in an accident.

Turned out the collapse was caused by a medical condition I didn't know I had for over 3 years.

GoldenCinderblock: "I keep spending all my money on exotic fish so my armor sucks. Is it possible to romance multiple females? I got with the blue chick so far but I am also interested in the electronic chick and the face mask chick."
 

An intern at a different firm in our building once had the audacity to apply for an internship with my firm at the time, so we wanted to see what it was all about (always good to get some dirt on other teams). Billy Bigballs sits down and point blank tells me with a straight face he doesn't see why he should stay until midnight every day at his current shop and wants to quit. He wants to join our team, but only under the condition that he can leave by 8pm. Needless to say we knew this chap is going places (i.e. the hell out of our office). We were so impressed with his unique take on work-life balance that we made him an offer on the spot (not for a job, but to leave quietly before we ask his current colleagues to pick his sorry self up). What a legend. We still sometimes never get together again.

 

At my old firm (small AM firm), we had a very brilliant Chinese young lady intern with us before quitting in less than 2 weeks. She expressed to me one afternoon that she didn't have much to do and I tried to put her on some research projects.

She was studying a Masters in Finance at Princeton University at the time (best finance program in the country, imho).

She left us for AQR (checking her LinkedIn a few months later).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewco
 
Best Response

When I started interning at BB, we had this director that came from pretty humble belongings. It was a big source of pride for him that he was now able to afford to buy nice things for his family, have financial security and send his kids to college without having to have them worry about the bills. He was really understated with his wealth, but had a chip on his shoulder for super privileged kids that flaunted the money they were born into.

On the first day, one of the other interns shows up with double monk-strap shoes, a Hermes tie and a Patek on his wrist. Director walks by to introduce himself to the interns just as the intern is bragging about some chick he was seeing. Director sees the watch, sees the arrogant face on the guy's face and goes "what's it like not working for things in life"? Probably not a coincidence that the intern got staffed on really rough work (getting assignments dropped on him at 1 am) and assigned to an analyst that was basically a machine. He lasted less than three weeks.

 
Controversial

lol MD sounds like kind of an ass. kid should've been treated equally to his peers regardless of what he was wearing. I hope MD doesn't make assumptions like that off of first impressions when meeting with clients. also what do Monk Straps have to do with anything? It's just a different style of shoe that is comparable in price to other styles of dress shoes

 

No, he doesn't. If an intern came in flaunting a Patek and acting like an arrogant ass, I wouldn't respect him for shit. You can inherit all the money in the world, and good for you. But if you're starting at the bottom rung, at least in the office keep it understated. You are pond scum, don't act like you're King Kong. And who respects a guy who's had everything in the world handed to him?

 

That's fucking awesome. It is kind of inappropriate that the director has that much of a chip on his shoulder that he calls out a coworker like that, but on the flip side that level of arrogance by the intern is perhaps deserving. In any case, props to the director for the success and being able to provide for his family to that level - something that his elders surely struggled with. I think most of us would much rather listen to their success stories than someone raised on a silver spoon.

 

I had experience with different NWM offices and the 'professionalism' of the people I was contact by was cringe worthy.

Take my advice with a grain of salt: I think you should do it in person because you can gain some experience doing in person talks that you know aren't going to end well. Maybe someone on this forum, or the mentors you talked to can give you tips on how to handle the talk.

From my perspective, given the information you provided and my experiences with the company, there is a chance your boss may not handle it in the most professional manner and there is no way to prepare you for his response. But, this would be a worst case scenario. Again, an experience now will help you when you are put into similar situations in the future.

**How is my grammar? Drop me a note with any errors you see!**
 

I would NOT do anything unethical, but I would reconsider quitting. Think about yourself recruiting for next year (don't know what year you are, so it could be ft or another internship). Do you want your story to be that you had an internship and learned x,y,z or that you had an internship that you felt was shady so you quit.

There is another thread floating around lately that people are struggling because internships require prior experience/internships. You've achieved the first step and often times a first internship isn't glamorous, I'd be very cautious about giving up the internship experience and putting a big red flag on your resume.

IF after careful consideration you still want to quit, I suggest doing it face to face.

twitter: @CorpFin_Guy
 

My sophomore summer I worked for a PWM shop with a couple other interns. We had multiple offices around the country and there was a competition to see who could generate the most leads. A guy I became good friends with was lapping the rest of our office like 3 weeks into a 12 week stint, he was killing it, but I knew that he was being a bit shady with his sell. The boss found out and was pissed and told him he had a week to call all of his leads and explain what he'd done or he'd be fired on the spot and reported to his school's OCR. So naturally, he started calling clients and telling them; some were upset and others were impressed with his candor. Well it just so happened that he accidentally called some clients that our boss already had and in the process found out that our boss was using a similar tactic. He got up, walked into the boss's office, said this wasn't the right fit and that he was done, and walked out.

Having seen all this I was a bit shell-shocked because I realized that not only was my boss being incredibly hypocritical, but he was lying to clients and getting into questionable legality. After considering my options, I went into his office and told him that I wasn't enjoying my experience (hated every second of it) and that this might not be the right job for me either. He told me to take a week, which I did, and I used it to call other shops until I got something else. The boss was gone the following week so when the week was up, I told the other boss that I was done, fired off an email to all staff saying I was out, and left. It was liberating. HR called for an exit interview and I told them everything, they said they'd do something, which they never did. Even though I had no interest in ever interacting with the boss again, in hindsight, I should have waited for him to come back so that I could have told him to his face, but it really didn't matter in the scheme of things.

If you just don't like what you're doing then stick it out and you'll be better for it, but if there's questionable legality or it goes against your morals, then don't feel bad for standing up for what you feel is right.

 

That is exactly the way I was thinking of before I understood that in my country (think CIS) IB is such a tiny community. 1) So, is it possible to harm my reputation (which I haven't even earned yet)? 2) Could "A" MD's insult anyhow affect my career in B?

I hope it will not, if I approach him in with respect and make it clear a month in advance. More than that, this is just a summer internship, which will be completed like for ~89%, right? :) 3) Should I not put on my CV then if I leave earlier?'

Thank you for your message!

 

Interned at a natural gas company, kid showed up with a different rolex for every day of the week. Had his way of making sure you saw them too - real dickhead. That kind of attitude doesn't fly with midstream oil and gas guys. On a call with a difficult client for an offshore deal, room full of people 10ish including legal. Manager mutes the phone - asks the room something about time - shit you not - kid turns his wrist to show manager time - Manager extends his hand, "can i see that?" Bewildered kid takes it off and hands it to him. Dude silently looks at it for about 10 seconds in his hand, looks at the kid, "this is fake. and so are you - get the fuck out of here" and threw the watch on the floor out of the conference room. It was nuts. Kid didn't show up after that. I guess you can technically say he quit ?

 

You gotta look out for #1, you. I guarantee you that they would sacrifice you to make a $, so don't feel bad about leaving, even if you have a good relationship with them.

Be polite and simply let them know that you appreciate the time you spent there, value the experience you got while working for them, but that you got a great opportunity you want to pursue and are unfortunately going to have to resign. I don't think you need to buy them a gift, but can if you want I suppose.

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." Theodore Roosevelt
 

It sounds as though your boss understands you accepted the internship to get experience and move up to bigger firms. It also sounds as though he is encouraging you to do so. As such, there is no harm in being honest with him and just telling him you are pursuing an opportunity at a bank. Be respectful and polite so you don't burn any bridges.

I was in a very similar experience before my first major internship and being financial professionals they all knew how the game worked. I was honest with them, did good work until the day I left, helped bring on someone new to fill my spot and to this day I have a great relationship with them. I still visit their offices from time to time to say hello. Since it was a gender diverse firm, instead of individual gifts(like ties) I just brought in an assortment of pastries from a bakery for my last day and wrote them a thank you note. Small gestures go a long way.

 

just a quick suggestion here - but it depends on what kind of people you work with...

i'd buy each of them a bottle of scotch (if guys and drink) instead of a tie. I think it's classier and will probably be more appreciated. write a quick note with each bottle on how grateful you are because of the experience, how you enjoyed your time, and what you learned from them. if the notes are well written, then it should come off as sincere and not ass-kissing. it's a bit of a pricey gesture, but i think they'll be impressed and they'll have your back.

Capitalist
 

This was a while ago, but I know of someone who quit their equity sales internship at GS. The salestrader's response when I asked: "I don't know man. All she had to do was sit there for 10 weeks, watch us do shit, and not be a dumbass; it's an easy 10 grand. Even if she didn't like it, it's only 10 fucking weeks". Truer words were never spoken.

 

coincidentally, I did this just last night. Just write up a brief letter of resignation detailing when you will be leaving. Have a chat with your boss about it and be appreciative of what you got to do. Then contact HR to confirm everything. congratulations on the offer!

 

Interns quitting is one thing... it's even funnier when not 1, but multiple associates, move away from NY to South Florida and then quit within the first 4 days- 1 month Mind you, my firm did not pay for moving expenses. It was beautiful, like watching a dumpster fire daily.

 

Once had an intern who was originally from China, brilliant woman, but she quit maybe 3-4 weeks in? Think her immune system broke down from the hours, she would literally drink cough syrup, without the intention to get a buzz, we had to let her know that was only making it worse. She ended up leaving and included some family reasons for the departure. Weird situation.

 

some guy at my bank quit after 2 hours, went for lunch and never came back. the following day we received an email from him saying that he can't keep up with the job requirements :))

#futureIBanalyst
 

I (VP at the time) had an intern just stop coming in for about two weeks. Did not answer her phone or e-mails.

She had a big project she was working on and we all had bank-supplied laptops. Slowly but surely I would come in to the office after a weekend and notice more and more of her personal effects gone from her desk.

Finally, one day I came and the laptop was on her chair. No further communication. Large project had basically remained untouched.

Lawyer turned VC, turned banker, turned VC and never leaving again.
 

Haven't seen it personally, but have a teammate who quit in one of the last weeks of his summer. He was working for a satellite office of a known sweatshop along with 2 other interns. The way he tells it, he didn't work a single week under 100 hours, he was perpetually sick, his hair started falling out, and the guys were all a bunch of pricks. Apparently, they offered him guaranteed $300k first year if he stayed the week and signed for FT. He turned it down.

Ended up recruiting for FT consulting roles. Landed one with a boutique consultancy, $150k salary + bonus, perks, potential to pay for B-school, and apparently ~60-70 hour weeks, in a much better city.

 

This isn't IB related, but one of the internships I had was a 6 month co-op. There were about 10 interns in my intern class. We were all pretty close since we'd join a group chat everyday to shoot the shit and complain about things/coworkers throughout the day. There's just something about bitching about something that forms a common bond between people. One of the interns though was just kinda weird. He was a couple years older than us and was super clingy. Always had to know what lunch plans were and who was taking shits when. If you were away from your desk for more than 5 minutes, he'd ask you where you went.

One day in about month 5, he didn't show up to work. His manager asked a couple of us if we knew if he was running late. Everybody texted and called him, but nobody got a response. He never showed up that day and never came back... He didn't even email his manager to let him know he was quitting.

I still kept in touch and got drinks with the interns after the co-op was over. Some of us were at a bar a couple months after the internship ended, and we all randomly received a friend request from him on FB. Just a weird, confusing situation...

 

I had a good friend who was working in an IBD group at a BB a couple summers ago and quit after 8 weeks since he was was simply fed up with the job and kind of pursued it without really thinking through if it was for him. He ended up doing a startup next which failed and is now in private banking at another BB. GG. I'm sure the idea of quitting that late into the internship for no legitimate reason outside of hating the job sounds like unfathomable to most of you on WSO, but I say if you really hate something and have no intention of pursuing it, do whatever you want. I left BB IBD to go into a science PhD and would not have minded quitting the internship a few weeks earlier (despite how much it goes against conventional wisdom).

 

Start of my second year one of the interns quit 3-4 weeks in. Not because of the hours, but more of to do with the scrutiny from the analysts/associates due to the quality of his work, or lack thereof I should say. Constant error upon error with everything he did, though he acted as if he was always 100% correct, even on the 50th draft still containing the same errors. I kind of felt bad for the kid, but he never asked any questions, so he never learned and pretty much shut everyone out. Needless to say he could not thrive under the pressure and quit.

 

I had a sophomore intern who didn't quit, but you could clearly tell as the summer went along it wasn't for him. He started legitimately sleeping at his desk and during meetings. Started coming in later and later until we were unlikely to see him until 9:30 or 10. Kept leaving earlier and earlier and near the end would run out by 6pm. One day he just didn't come in at all, didnt tell anyone, and we had to look for him. He didn't answer his phone so we called the school where he was staying (he was staying in the dorms of a school in the city for the summer) and they went and checked on him. They found him passed out in a pile of vomit naked on the floor of his dorm room at 1pm in the afternoon. Mind you, this was a Tuesday.

We ended up recommending that he get a return offer for his junior summer due to doing a great intern project and knowing one of the MDs personally, but we suggested it to be not in our group. He decided not to take it because he didn't want the other group. Not sure what he ended up doing for his junior summer but he reached out 8 months after graduation and was still unemployed.

 

There was a intern I heard about (BB energy team), who from day dot, acted like he was the cream of the crop and was everyone's best friend - asking about personal lives, complaining about workload, who is father knew in said business, etc. routinely turned up to work late, always on facebook, took ages to produce even remotely presentable work, the list goes on and on.

I know the guys in this team quite well and they are really lenient, just genuinely a great bunch, would have been a great team to be in. Anyways, after about 3 weeks and a couple unofficial warnings along the likes of 'Come on, do you really this this is acceptable?' etc., (which is more than most people would ever get) the following happened;

MD calling intern: 'Hey, it's 10am, where are you? Did you manage to get the work done last night?' Intern: 'Hey Insert MD's name, I didn't get it done but I am on the train in, I went out last night and slept in..', MD: 'You're not fcking serious? Are you socially inept, or just fcking stupid to tell me that!?'

MD then walked into a room and the rest of the conversation was lost to the ages, but as you can imagine, the intern didn't turn up to work that day... or any other day.

'I'm jacked... JACKED TO THE TITS!!'
 

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