Vacation for Summer Analyst in IB at BB

Hi All,

I will be interning in Investment Banking at a BB this summer.

I had a quick question regarding vacations. My family is planning a vacation in July and they really (I mean really) want me to come; however, I feel that leaving the bank for a little while could hurt my chances of a return offer.

How would it be viewed if I left the bank for a Wednesday-Sunday or Thursday-Sunday during the summer? Do you believe this would hurt my chances of earning a return offer and be frowned upon?

Any insight is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

22 Comments
 

Vacation time?

People come and work at this firm for one reason - to become filthy rich. That's it. We're not here to make friends. We're not saving the fucking manatees here, guys. You want vacation time? Go teach third grade, public school

 

Had a friend who did SA at GS/MS and went on a full week vacation over the summer. He didn't even tell them until ~3 days before. Still got a return offer. This was a few years ago and to this day I am baffled as to how he pulled that off.

It's highly recommended that you do not do it but its not a 100% death sentence if you are the standout all-star in all other respects.

"I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
 
mirus

Just out of curiosity: what about public holidays? Like Easter etc. Is it "normal" to have those days off or do you actually have to ask for holidays?

Well, Easter is a Sunday. Generally speaking you'll have public holidays off. But for the "less important" ones (e.g. Columbus Day) expect to be working even if your bank has it off. Hey, you still get to wear jeans and sleep in.

youayou

just wonder do actual banker (associate/vp) take any vacation days? In some banks I know there is policy that everyone must take at least one full week vacation. Not sure if it is common.

Yes. I took 2 weeks after my 1st year bonus hit when I was a BB analyst. All levels of bankers take 1-2 weeks per year (although YMMV slightly based on bank). The great thing about analyst vaca is you're really not important, so you can pretty much go out of pocket (again in my experience) and have others pick up the slack

 
fryguy22 mirus:

Just out of curiosity: what about public holidays? Like Easter etc. Is it "normal" to have those days off or do you actually have to ask for holidays?

Well, Easter is a Sunday. Generally speaking you'll have public holidays off. But for the "less important" ones (e.g. Columbus Day) expect to be working even if your bank has it off. Hey, you still get to wear jeans and sleep in.

yea but in some (or at least one) European cities Sunday is a normal working day in banking ;)

 

Why do ibankers have to think in this 0/1 binary way? Either you slave away till 4 am to show engagement or you don't deserve the job at all.

 

I don't think actual bankers do, I think college kids trying to get into banking do....that being said op, I would personally avoid taking the vacation - frankly, if your goal is banking and you get the job you want, your family will have to get used to you not being able to do stuff. It will suck more for you than for them, because you're the one missing out on the vacation.

 
Best Response
existor

Why do ibankers have to think in this 0/1 binary way? Either you slave away till 4 am to show engagement or you don't deserve the job at all.

I think the basic premise behind this thinking is that you are allotted a 10 week window within which you do everything reasonably (and unreasonably) possible in order to secure a full-time job. The thought being, once you have a full-time job, all doors are opened for the rest of your career / life.

Because the stakes are so high, the circumstances naturally produce a binary, all-out, code of conduct. It is an all-or-nothing proposition for 10 weeks because the reward (career) far, far, far outweighs the investment (life sucks for 10 weeks). These circumstances produce an environment in which slaving away till 4 am to show engagement is the expected course of action.

 

just wonder do actual banker (associate/vp) take any vacation days? In some banks I know there is policy that everyone must take at least one full week vacation. Not sure if it is common.

 

It's just a bad idea. You won't enjoy the vacation because you'll be worried about what's going on at work. You can probably get away during 4th of July weekend; i.e. this past summer, I skipped town Thursday night through Sunday because July 4th fell on a Friday. But you won't know whether you can leave or not until a day or two before then, and you definitely need to bring your laptop and be somewhere where you can do work remotely if necessary.

Best time for a vacation would be in May after school / before your internship. After the internship could work too but you may want to give yourself at least a week post-internship in case you want to do accelerated FT recruiting. A lot of FT recruiting is going on the week after internships end.

 

You probably won't get a return offer. When someone above you like an MD or associate asks where you are and someone, bitterly, says you're on 'vacation'--expect to make some enemies. You think the associate on a live deal at the office until 1 AM with a family at home doesn't want to be on vacation? I personally wouldn't vote for you to get a return offer, but maybe I'm also a bit of a dick.

The only time you MIGHT be able to even swing this is 4th of July weekend.

 

I was on vacation for 3 days in both my internships and still got the return offers. Also overslept until lunch once b/c I was getting hammered with the analysts. It's not a big deal as long as you deliver top notch work and most importantly be likeable.

We actually tell our interns to take their vacation days. And if they don't take them during the internship, then they just finish off earlier. It's no big deal, but maybe it's different here in London.

 

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