Quit IB after a month

So I quit IB after a month on the desk. Call me a bitch or whatever but I couldn’t handle it. I was pushing 110hr a week and my group kept putting work on me. Lost it and emailed the staffer at 3am and told him I quit and to restaff everything. What now? Had a few Corp dev interviews but I was going to get beat to shit if I stayed.

 

he said something like, " can you tell me what bank it was so I can apply"

 

No it doesn’t , don’t enable this type of short term behavior. Quitting without any plans in the spur of the movement has 0 upsides (versus alternative of waiting even a little). Itsdifferent if he woke up the next day or a week after that and made the decision. This was driven my short term emotional satisfaction and was just impulsive. Anyone can quit their job when something comes up or ‘pushes them over’. It’d be respectable if he made the post without quitting actually but with strong consideration, then quit with deliberation and a plan

 

Welcome (and farewell) to banking.  I guess if you have wealthy parents who can float you while you figure out what's next (which this smacks of), it's not as absurd a move, but it's still not a good look or a rational thing to do.  As others have said, you should have something lined up before you leave and should leave w/out pissing everyone off that you work w/.  You've not just burned bridges at your bank, you've Dresden-style bombed them and salted the earth.  That only has the potential to hurt you in finding a new job. 

Your situation isn't unique, plenty of ppl hate their banking jobs and are treading water until they have something lined up / the job market turns around.  

 

Horrible idea to quit without anything in the bag it’s really tough but you have to leave only if you have an offer (easier said than done)

I’m sorry tho it’s super tough especallly if you’re the personality that says you have to step up to the plate and not complain or ask for staffing help etc. sounds like you just blew up though and that’s tough. You need to network ASAP and grind just as hard to get a new job.

You only quit after a month not like it was a year so you mihht not want to just take a break. But really do you think you were in banking for the wrong reasons to begin with?

 

Yea I blew up. They might let me go back (I heard this happened two years ago and the person came back after a week). I went into banking to get to an investing seat. I knew the hours would be long but I was always driven by something. In the internship -> get a return, in school -> get a good job, now it’s like I’m working to work. Not interested in PE anymore and maybe hedge funds are more stressful (which I clearly can’t handle)

 

Ok well it at least sounds like a reputable bank (versus a random grindy boutique).

If you can go back maybe you should, and look for jobs while you’re there lol. Own up to the blow up and one step at a time or just go to Corp dev.

PE won’t really be any better tho right, but maybe try to find some better motivation? Talk to friends in banking , outside of your bank (don’t want to ruin their motivation with you bringing up how banking sucks lol) but this is really tough and I’m feeling for you. I mean what do you want? What’s wrong with working so much it’s not like it’s wearing you down (if it’s only been happening 1-2 weeks?)

I’d also really really recommend getting some perspective by talking to ‘normal’ people. Understand how removed banking is from normal jobs and whether you want to be like that. I was in a similar spot as u (after internship I was like aw fuck) but around my regular friends didn’t want to be like them so said no way I can just waste all my hard work for something normal.

 

Honestly, if you're serious about quitting it's a no brainer to at least just coast by and look for other roles and collect a check at the same time. 

 

Not my place but you should have stayed and planed it a little better. 

If anything, just for the paycheck and the ability to leverage that for other offers. Worst case for you was that you underperformed, and that wouldn't be 'official' until your end of year review anyways, so you could just ride the wave until you find a job. 

Anyways, too late now. But good luck. 

 

Echoing others, I hope this isn’t a real post. IMO, quitting 1 month into any job is probably worse than just graduating jobless. This reflect poorly on your character and will probably make getting the next job pretty tough, especially when there are so many recent grads that would be grateful to have any job. 
 

Not my place, but I would email your staffer ASAP, apologize for your blow up and how you are new to work environment and say you’ll be happy to start again tomorrow if they will have you. Worst case, you can just do a decent job and look for other opportunities and leave once you secure that. 
 

Not sure what others think, but you’ve probably done irreparable political damage to yourself at your current firm. No one is going to trust you with any important deals, so you probably won’t be getting the most exciting staffing anytime soon (if ever...). 

 

Yeah no point now in wondering what you should’ve done. Most people in banking can probably relate to the feeling of wanting to do nothing more than quit and fantasize about doing what you did. You should email your staffer ASAP and own up to what you did, apologize for your actions (maybe add in how it’s your first job, the WFH setup has been tough on you, etc), and offer to start again tomorrow and to take some of the next few crappy staffings (profiles, on Friday, etc). 
 

It will be significantly easier to find your next job while you are currently employed. Your career is long and you don’t want this rash decision to derail it. Unless you’re confident you don’t want to do anything in financial services or related industries, I would beg for your job back. 

 

In the internship I had a goal, get a return offer. I was only working maybe 70 hours a week and was given very straightforward directions. For FT it was “update this page” and I would have no clue. I asked for help and everyone was too busy. I knew what I was getting into but WFH and a few other analysts leaving (2nd/3rd year) really made them work hs hard.

 

This Really disappointing. Kid quit out of Jefferies after 1 month on the job this year and its so sad. Shouldve just totally stopped working and put 100% of time on other jobs. For anyone else thinking of doing this plz plz do not quit. U r just letting your bank win if you quit. It's nearly impossible to get fired as an analyst so you easily could have just started work 20 hours a week and still got paid. You should not feel good about quitting unless u have another job. 

 

Well it sounds like you may have a chance to undo what you’ve done. If you can’t, so be it. It’s not the end of your life. So let’s talk about if you’ve truly quit and can’t go back:

  1. Learn from what happened. I haven’t worked in IB but I’ve read enough about the crazy hours to see it’s not always a myth- so it’s to be expected. But 110 sounds abnormal and excessive, so if you’re at 110 (or even 80-90, to be honest) and they staff you with more work- learn to communicate back and explain there’s no more bandwidth. There’s ways to communicate politely and firmly. They may not like it, then fuck them. Whatever. But it’s good to practice setting boundaries.

  2. Sleep is underrated. You obviously made a decision very sleep deprived, you should do your best to not do that. That’s why “sleeping on” a decision is advisable. Speaking of which...

  3. When life sucks, and it will suck at some points (plural), take it piece by piece. Yeah, quit after lunch. Okay maybe not after lunch, after dinner. Nah, quit tomorrow. Quit after the weekend is over. Put it off until you truly just cannot anymore. It happens, I’ve quit jobs because I hated management and coworkers and what not.

  4. Realize your life isn’t over. You probably won’t work at that bank, maybe not even in IB, but life isn’t “IB or bust”. You’ll have other paths. I’m on an unconventional path myself and the pay is pretty good and the latest I’ve worked recently is 7P and that was an odd day.

“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.” - Nassim Taleb
 

The only direction is forward my man. Time to hit the networking grind. I'm sure most companies seeking CD or FP&A hires would be somewhat understanding of your situation if you story it right. Emphasize your peak interest in corporate finance, but how banking just wasn't the right personal fit. Grab that unemployment in the meantime.

Totally agree with the above comments about preferably not leaving until you have the next step locked in. Keeps more cards in your hand. That being said, I have a friend who was in a similar situation a few years ago and made the switch to IR at a fairly reputable PE fund (& loves it there). If your goal is to just stay in finance while working less hours, why not cast a wide net (especially in this job market)?

Would be interested in PMing about your bank if you're willing. Best of luck man.

 

I respect this.  Guy was getting abused by his employer and decided he wasn't going to bend over and take it.

Be a trailblazer and lead your life the way you want.  Do you think someone like Bill Gates, Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg would have let someone make them work 110 hr weeks formatting logos? They would have quit and put 110 weeks into something that benefitted them and their dreams.

IB is very subservient and you just realized you arent part of that mindset.  I respect that.  Go off and do better things where you have more ownership. Don't listen to all these IB guys telling you that you are weak.  There's not a ton of honor in working 110 hrs a week for an asshole deal team....this isn't combat in war where sacrifices are rewarded.

IB is full of cucks willing to take it from their superiors while dudes at FAANG make more for less hours worked.   

 

I don't think anyone is telling him to just "take it" aside from a couple of prospects at the top, but I don't think you can deny that this is kind of a stupid move in this job market. Also, there are many times you're gonna be pushed in life. The answer should be to at least try to work through it and not to just drop out. If the people you listed quit at the first sign of trouble they wouldn't be the "trailblazers" you know them as. 

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.
 

Yea chief, I’ll be real, I make substantially more than my friends in tech. I’m talking 150k+ more and we are all 26. Sure, my seat is an outlier, but I can tell you I certainly wouldn’t have this seat without doing IB first. Risk-reward. Tech is for the risk-adverse, nothing wrong with that certainly, but it seems you have a hard-on to shit on finance. Got passed over for SA so reinvented yourself as a “tech” guy who spends his time shitting on IB? 

 

Really dumb to quit with no back up plan especially at a time like this. Oh well it is what it is, I would completely remove it from your resume as no job would want to hire someone who only worked in IB for a month it shows lack of grit and motivation. Just apply for every finance role available on indeed and try to leverage after wards. Good luck

 

Will it not be an issue when it comes up in a background check? I don’t think any finance firm that hires you will miss this when doing pre-hire background check, especially if you took SIE / Series exam. If OP wants to stay in industry, OP’s first action should be trying to get his / her job back. I am sure the team can empathize with the occasional desire to impulsively quit and might rather bring someone back that they know (and don’t respect) than deal with process of hiring someone new (who might be awful and also rage quit). 

 

You are not the only one. At my bank (US MM bank in EMEA) an analyst quit after their first week. The person had had 3 am nights 4/5 days.

 

Went to a boutique. Had interned with that boutique earlier though.

 

Some jokes (inappropriate IMO) were made about him not being strong enough or some thing.

 

Best of luck dude. I respect your decision and it’s not an easy one to make. That being said. I would advise you to get the job back. Recruit for other shit while securing the paycheck. That way you can actually still have a job and have a “cleaner” transition between jobs. Doesnt matter that your work is shit if you’re done with the job anyway.

 

Lol at some of these responses. 

"Op is weak" no he decided that he's not taking it up the ass from his deal teams 

"Apologize to the staffers" lol they should be apologizing to OP for making him work 110 hr weeks and not thinking that might cause him to have a mental breakdown

"This won't look rational to future employers" no, what doesn't look rational is working 110 hr weeks in the prime of your 20s while many peers have much better work life balances with similar pay. Most of corporate America (and high finance outside IB) thinks people are borderline insane to work in IB when their are so many better fields to be in.  He won't be judged too harshly...in fact he may find some ex ib people that sympathize and respect his move assuming he's willing to come in work hard(not 110 hr hard)

   "offer to start again tomorrow and to take some of the next few crappy staffings (profiles, on Friday, etc)."

"say you’ll be happy to start again tomorrow if they will have you" Astounding someone would think like this. How much of pathetic beta cuck do you think OP is?

"You’ve probably done irreparable political damage to yourself at your current firm"  that was the whole point

 

OP isn’t from a wealthy background and probably shouldn’t be impulsively quitting without a strong safety net. Who cares if OP is a “pathetic beta cuck” by asking for the position back. At the end of the day, OP will have a job, undo some point of the significant career damage he/she has done and can look for a job better aligned to his/her true interest from a much better position. I would get over the fear of being “pathetic” and do what is best for me, who cares what other people think if at the end of the day I am happy and get what I want. 
 

110 hours isn’t reasonable, but quitting isn’t the answer. Might as well raise it to staffer and HR before quitting. If OP really didn’t m care, he / she probably could’ve worked 40 hours a week without getting fired for quite a bit (don’t think large firms can quickly fire you for this—you need to go through multiple review cycles). 

 

If OP had been an experienced individual, he/she could have gamed it. Most grads don’t know about reviews/pips etc.

 

What the actual fuck are you talking about? You're speaking as though OP isn't a fresh out of college grad entering the work force in the middle of an economic contraction. A bunch of peopel just got axed yesterday at KPMG (my friend worked there and got the axe) as they are in a bunch of field. McKinsey was thinking about not taking FT analysts for a year. 

There are a billion ways OP could have handled this. He could have gotten a doctor's note, or made a medical excuse stating he needed a few days for personal reasons. Would the company ahve axed him? Hell to the fucking no, that's a lawsuit waiting to happen. it could have bought him time to sit down rethink the impulsive decision he was about to make and if he STILL decides he wants to quit at least he will have literally thought it through for a few days without VP's ramming comments down his throat.

The way you're phrasing his situation makes it seem like he's a season veteran with a shit ton to offer the working community. No one out of fucking college is. Don't kid yourself. You're a liability until you have expereince and have gotten reps in. Don't act like this kid or any other kid is the second coming of bill gates because that's just a false hope. God replies like yours are idiotic lol

 

I don’t follow how this relates to my reply that OP could’ve coasted and collected a paycheck while looking for a job he/she is passionate about from a much better position (actually employed...). I highly doubt the OP is the next Bill Gates, which is why quitting is an irrational move. Sure, he might end up starting a successful business, but in almost all cases, OP will be worse off (monetary outcome wise, not fulfillment necessarily) than if he didn’t quit. Just like most people wouldn’t advocating dropping out of college because you might start a successful company, you shouldn’t quit your first job 3 weeks in. Now that these other firms have had recent layoffs, OP is only in a worse position. 
 

You don’t need a doctors note or anything to say no to 110 hours, especially if you plan on leaving near term. OP could’ve done bare minimum effort at his/her current firm without being fired for quite a bit. A lot of these large firms have policies when it comes to firing people, so OP wouldn’t be shown the door after logging off for a weekend. 
 

For most people, it would be idiotic to not try to get the job back if they would accept you. OP is not from a wealthy family that can support him and doesn’t have a business plan to start something. I highly doubt there is any scenario where OP is worse off by returning to his/her job and not caring about it. 

 

This was a bad move dude. Hope everything works out well tho.

 

Everyone is shitting on how irrational this decision was but at the end of the day you did what your mind/body told you to and I don't think you should be ashamed of that. Try to go back if you can and maybe try switching division to corp. banking etc if that is an option. You're a month out of school. Recruit hard for some corp. finance job at a F500 (as well as big 4 etc etc) if you still want to be in the industry. I see tons of students with good grades and ECs who just didn't know anything about recruiting and end up having to scramble for a job postgrad. You can masquerade as one of them or even try to explain how IB just was a fundamentally bad fit for you. I know first hand of people in fin. analyst roles at F500s making 70-75k right out of college working less than 40 hrs a week. A lot of jobs are nothing like IB in terms of the hours. Also, worst comes to worst, why can't you just go back to school for a year and get some dumb 1 yr masters from your alma mater to reset? If something I said is misleading, please correct me as I'm trying to be helpful with what I know but I'm definitely not some sort of experienced source of wisdom.

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All the people posting negative comments are very one-dimensional thinkers. Who is to say that his doing this won’t end up being a great decision for him? Maybe OP will discover a new path of life that is a much better fit for them.

Moral of the story: We often times can’t tell whether something will be good or bad for us— best thing to do is to move on with positivity. Negativity will only compound any existing problems.

I’m sure things will work out fine. Best wishes to you!

 

Dude your fine.. Like yeah you probably wont have a prestigious job but you'll be fine.
It a dumb move if you want to be a top dawg on wall street ngl but I came from a small town where most on my friends went to a no name state school. Some are making $100K working random jobs that I never thought existed. Dude just go get a normal job make some money and live your life. Its not banking or die there are tons of other investment shops(or random jobs) that will take you... Just go live your life.. who cares if banking wasn't for you life doesn't end there. No one outside of WSO cares about banking.

But on a real note that was a dumb way to quit... 

 

You aint no bitch. Its not for everyone, and that has nothing to do with being a hard worker or whatever. I'm sure you are one, but some things just don't click and I actually think its good you identified this and dipped early. I have weeks where I think about it, and don't blame you at all.

Dayman?
 

OP, much respect for your honesty. Here are my thoughts:

  • Long Hours is only a phase. It's like pledging a fraternity, yeah you are bottom of the totem pole for a semester, or for IB the first 2-3 years of your career. But after that it gets easier as you move up in rank and your pay gets exponentially more. Secondly, c'mon man you had to have known what you were signing up for? The industry prides itself on the Type-A workaholic stereotype. The equivalent would be me enlisting in the Navy but trying to quit because I don't like to swim or I'm scared of the ocean. 
  • I am skeptical of your worth ethic. Literally just try to be the middle-of-the-pack Analyst at your desk: you don't want to be the "best" analyst cause you'll get overworked and you'll be envied amongst peers; you don't want to be a dog shit analyst cause you'll get axed or live with anxiety of getting dropped; just work on perfecting the art of being the most middle of the pack analyst so you are well liked by everyone, do quality work, but aren't super vocal or involved in drama / politics, make everyone think you're a long term genuine "hard worker" type and they'll keep you around and promote you. Keep your personal life private. Talk way less with substance and less overall, master the art of bullshitting a VP for 15 minutes about the Yankees game and you're set. He'll feel like there's rapport between you but in reality you don't know anything of substance. Keep it this way. As a result of this, you will not be secretly envied at the office and people won't know you well enough so subconsciously they're not going to overwork you as much.
 
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There's so much wrong in this that I just can't be fucked to address it all but you're a tool that's obviously insecure about their own career progression and projecting all of that onto OP. Your post history summarizes your "banker persona" pretty well - second year analyst at a "pretty elite" debt shop that kids on this website "drool" over, yet cannot figure out how to turn all of that glorious "prestige" into an exit. None of that coincides with the fact that you said you make $70K all-in, but hey, maybe the bill collectors take prestige coupons wherever you live.

Long hours is not a phase if you want to succeed at anything, especially in banking or investing. While most if not all of us are aware of how bad the hours can get before joining the industry, none of us really know the toll it can take on us until we're in the thick of it. That's even more true today, for analysts beginning their careers working from home where the expectations for them are the same but the resources very different. Nearly every banker I know that joined out of school (undergrad or graduate) has said the same thing that they knew what the job expectations were and what they would be doing and for how many hours they'd be doing it but were surprised how much they hated it once they were in it, despite all of the excitement leading up to it. Finally, it doesn't surprise me that you'd make a comparison between finance and the military, but in case someone already hasn't told you, saying shit like that or calling banking a "full contact sport" makes you look like a nerdy douchebag.

Work ethic is a function of your goals and what you're seeking out of life. If it's purely money at a young age or you truly enjoy finance, work ethic will follow. But to call someone out on their work ethic based on their performance in a job they very possibly couldn't see themselves in long-term or that didn't align with their long-term goals the best is so stupid that it makes sense someone like you would say it. You tell OP to be a "middle-of-the-pack" analyst as being liked by everyone and doing quality work. Newsflash, dude: that still isn't an easy coast. To be liked by everyone, you have to be reliable, and that means being able to quickly and correctly do work they toss to you. That does not equate to getting away with 50 or even 60 hour work weeks in IB, especially if you're in a demanding group where 110 hours seems to be the norm, like in OP's situation. I'm also not sure how you become well liked by everyone if you're not socializing (guessing this is what you mean by talking less with "substance") other than being the team work mule that pleases everyone not by how good and well-rounded of a coworker they are but only through being the stooge that does work no one else wants. If you think you can become well-liked by your coworkers and that your VPs will "feel like there's rapport" by having fucking Yankee watercooler talk while waiting for the entire team to join the Zoom call, you're socially inept. Meaningful relationships are formed through mutual trust and that means being vulnerable to some degree to actually appear human. Finally, no one fucking "envies" the top analysts. I know that you'd like that to be the case because there's no way anyone could envy your social DNA and so you assume that by reaching the top of your narrow bucket, you'll finally win all of the friends, women and glory you've been jerking it to since you first dressed up as Gordon Gekko for Halloween, but that isn't how it works, bro.

I say all of this not to beat you up for fun but because it's sickening seeing people lack empathy with anyone that just doesn't see themselves working in finance long-term, especially those that clearly are not in the same situation themselves. OP shouldn't ever read a post like yours and walk away feeling bad about their decision. Could they have been a little more prudent? Absolutely but to hit them with a post like yours is insane, especially when nearly none of it has any real answers to the problems he was facing that led to his decision to quit.

OP - best of luck with everything. I think the decision was bold and a bit rash but ultimately will likely put you on a path to happiness. You did what 90% of us dream doing but don't have the balls to.

 

Would tend to agree that being a reliable / uncontroversial “middle of the pack” is the best position to be in. Your exit opportunities will likely be relatively unchanged and you’ll have a better life and can focus on being a more well rounded person. The hours will still be really bad in the scheme of things but you’ll hopefully avoid the headline projects with demanding clients that manage to ruin every weekend and every ask is “critical” and “time sensitive.” Sure, these projects can be kind of exciting at first, but after a bit, all the analyst work you do is relatively the same regardless. Might as well enjoy your life a bit more instead. 

 

What good in life has ever come easy?  Sure you could fall into dumb luck every once in a while, but you're going to have to suffer in life to get anything that will make a material difference in your life. 

I get it; not everyone is built the same and people have different levels of grit.  I believe in challenging yourself; how much shit can you eat and keep going?

You could have an easy life, sure.  And if that makes you fulfilled without any regrets, that's great for you.  But later in life it'd be hard to not think-even a little-what your life would've been like if you didn't give up; if you tried harder, did better, and most important of all- remained patient.    

Best of luck OP; hope you find fulfillment without regrets.  

 

Congratulations! Wanted to chime in amidst all the negative comments on here calling you stupid. Honestly life is too short to be miserable and to wreck your health over this stupid job. So many of my peers have done it and regretted it, and I was in the same boat. 
 

So buckle up and happy for your decision! P.S. I’m quitting from my megafund PE job after two months for the same reason 

 

you need to figure out if you want to be on the corp or services side of things, people who like both do move back and forth but many are drawn to one or the other.  If one month at 110 a week burnt you then probably best not to target ibanking at the analyst level.  At 3 or 4 it will burn most people but one is low.

all financial services shops are under staffed

but most aren't hiring much [but some] so there will be hell a lot of stress wherever you go in services - at least for 4 to 6 months.  the should be an rx boom in a few months but those shops are going to favor m&a experience.  There is a lot of sell side valuation and TAS work so you can look to a valuation of acctg advisory group.

corps are not hiring unless they are in a growth industry - in which case they are shedding.  many of the corp positions are data analyst or fpa so you may need strong back office type skills.

 

All I have to go on is what you wrote, so here goes.

You're a pussy.  Not because you quit, but because you don't know how to have a mature conversation with people at your firm.  I don't mean going to HR to whine.  It's important to manage expectations and respectfully push back.  If you stay silent as work is piled on, how will people ever know you can't handle it? In fact you'll be looked at as lazy or incompetent when you don't deliver.  This should be a valuable lesson learned that 1) you need to learn to navigate the workplace because no one cares about prioritizing making everything fair and balanced, and 2) don't make decisions without the proper thought and preparation.

 

Oh that's ridiculous. You have little to no leverage as a ANL1 when it comes to these topics. 

I know a couple of people who tried to complain about the culture at our firm (mid-tier BB) during their first months:
They were labelled as "lazy" and only staffed on meaningless topics - great start for a banking career, no?

People who decide to even dedicate 70hrs / week to their employer have exceptional work ethics, no matter what their overworked VPs and pigeonholed DIRs think. 

The TO's decision definitely requires balls and there's a 50:50 chance that it will eventually harm / benefit his career in the long-term. 
The psychological and physical effects such 100h+ weeks impose on you are not to be underestimated.

 

WhateverWorks

Oh that's ridiculous. You have little to no leverage as a ANL1 when it comes to these topics. 

I know a couple of people who tried to complain about the culture at our firm (mid-tier BB) during their first months:
They were labelled as "lazy" and only staffed on meaningless topics - great start for a banking career, no?

People who decide to even dedicate 70hrs / week to their employer have exceptional work ethics, no matter what their overworked VPs and pigeonholed DIRs think. 

The TO's decision definitely requires balls and there's a 50:50 chance that it will eventually harm / benefit his career in the long-term. 
The psychological and physical effects such 100h+ weeks impose on you are not to be underestimated.

Ok you're missing the point.  It's like you have no understanding of nuance.  There is a fine line to walk when handling these subjects and it all rolls up into office politics.  It's better to learn how to play them now in a very cautious and conservative manner.  This is why people make associate or VP and then all of a sudden get canned and have no idea why... no one at that level cares if you can model your ass off or follow instructions... you have to be seen as taking initiative and able to politic your way around... if you cannot push back on work in a tactful, persuasive way, how do you think you're going to convince a corporate client to make you the lead banker?  People who show that aptitude move to MD eventually, the rest get cut. 

Bottom line, you don't go telling people they are overworking you and overwhelming you and it's not fair.  You have to put a twist on it and make it about appealing to their best interests.  Explain cautiously that you absolutely want to work on the project but since it was brought to you last and you're already neck deep in X other projects you want the MD and bank putting their absolute best foot forward... if there's someone that can at least share the work load that would ensure the best output possible, but you totally understand if not since everyone is working their hardest.  See how that plays out and adjust from there.  If they tell you to fuck off then at least you tried.  Or maybe they actually find you to be likable and honest and cut you some slack. 

 

Six years ago I quit 8 weeks into an internship at a top BB firm for a variety of reasons. I loved finance - still do - but didn't want to be a part of the lifestyle or culture. With that lack of motivation - I couldn't cut it - you have to really want it to put yourself through those hours and meet the demands.

If you are like me you will go back and forth in your head wondering if it was the right decision, but that will pass in time. The best path now is forward. Figure out what you learned from the experience and use that to form a story about how you're clearly a bright, ambitious person but have limits - anyone outside of IB will understand that.

If it helps - I'm now in a different industry with a much better work life balance and expect to W2 about as much as a second or third year associate while working 1/2 the hours. On top of that, I have enjoyed my early 20's and have had a lot more experiences than my friends that stayed the IB/PE/HF path.

Ping me if you want to chat - WSO is full of people who pushed through the pain and a lot of people on here lack perspective beyond finance.

 

The same thing happened to me. I was a hotshot VP in equity research at morgan stanley, covered some of my own names etc, etc. Was given an opputunity to switch over to IB at my firm and was tempted by the tremendous increase in pay. I was blown away with how different it was. The value that these people assertain to meaningless tasks is comical.  I just could not wrap my head around how dumb people were and how almost no thought went into the work. I was used to working crazy hours in EQ but not that crazy, and at the end of the day your ppt presentation means nothing because all those deals are made at the MD level, so no one cares about all the meaningless effort you put it. Long story short I told the team to go to hell and transfered back to EQ after the worst 40 days of my carrear. Time will make this life event seem small, keep your head up and remember all the value these nuckleheads assign to being able to work a billion hours a day in the end means nothing. Today im an ED in EQ and i still tell bankers to go fuck themselves. Keep your head up! Let me know if you have any questions

 

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