Off the record: the inside take on life in the City

Forget the official line - here's the real deal on working in the City. All contributors have direct experience of applying to and/or working for the banks. Their names have been removed for obvious reasons!

The power of temping

Many students turn up their noses at temping as an alternative to a 'real graduate job'. They think investment banks will take the fact that they are a temp to mean they were not good enough to be offered a graduate position. But they'd be wrong.

A graduate on the training programme of a bulge-bracket investment bank has told us that six out of 30 people on his graduate scheme had previously been temping with the bank for between six and 12 months. This meant they were in a position to apply internally for a place on the graduate programme. What's more, one of these temps was apparently able to roll off the graduate training programme early because of the additional experience gained while temping for the bank over the previous year. He's now an associate managing a small team.

Don't be too cocksure

For those of you new recruits who think you've hit the big time with your offer to work in an investment bank, a word of caution: do not become too full of yourselves. Self-confidence is important, but bad things can happen to new recruits who appear over-confident and too cocksure - you may be 'broken-in.'

For one analyst, being 'broken-in' involved his team dumping him with so much work - pitch-book after pitch-book, mainly - that he was in until 2 or 3am every weeknight and all weekend for about three weeks in a row. What's more, when his colleagues reviewed his work, they came down hard on every little mistake he had made, pressed him on deadlines and forced loads of rework back on him. After these three weeks, the analyst was too exhausted and too demoralised to be cocky, and someone finally took him aside and advised him that he needed to change his behaviour. He learned his lesson, if painfully, and in the end became a solid analyst.

Producers vs non-producers

Within investment banks the world is divided essentially into two discrete populations. There are the producers, and then there is everyone else - the non-producers.

Producers are those who are directly responsible for generating revenue for the bank. Non-producers are people in operations, IT, controlling, compliance, HR, finance, treasury, etc. Important though these other roles are, the reality is that the power in an investment bank lies with the producers. What's more, producers typically view non-producers as second-class citizens.

If you're not in a producing role, your realistic chances of making it to the top are slimmer and the process will take substantially longer. If you look at all the managing directors in an average investment bank and split them into producers and non-producers, you will see something like an 80/20 split in favour of the producers. Similarly, if you look at their experience you will see many young managing directors on the producer side with as little as seven or eight years' total experience. Rare is the example of a non-producer who made it to managing director in less than 10 or 12 years.

Right or wrong, this two-tier culture is the reality.

Working hours culture

Do not believe the recruiting departments on lifestyle in the City.

As a new recruit in corporate finance you should expect to work a minimum of 70-80 hours a week on average. You will work many weekends and will frequently work late, even into the next day. 'All-nighters' will not be unusual.

There is also unquestionably face time. Everyone starts between 8 and 9:30am. Managing directors tend to leave around 7-7:30pm, directors between 7:30 and 8:30pm, vice presidents between 8.30 and 9.30pm. And associates and analysts are often still around at 11:00pm. You need to be at your desk when your superiors leave and you need to be contactable when they call to check in - and they will call. Your working hours will be highly variable, and it is hard to plan your personal life.

On the markets side (trading and sales), life is a little friendlier, although if you are not a fan of early rising you will struggle. Sales and trading are in between 7 and 7:30am usually, and an 11-12 hour day is the norm.

The truth about taking vacation

Vacation allowances in the City are typically five weeks and on Wall Street can be as little as two weeks. However, you need to be clever about how to schedule and take your vacation, because another of the lifestyle sacrifices that you may have to make is around your holidays. The calendar year is as volatile (ie unpredictable) as your working hours: while there is some seasonality, it is generally hard to predict when the busy times will be and when it is therefore appropriate to take vacation.

There are some things you can do to minimise your chances of having to cancel. Firstly, most deals tend to have a finite timetable, of course, and you should be able to establish the date the deal closes. It is right after one of these dates that you should seek to take vacation.

Also, run your vacation plans by your bosses and get their approval. They are less likely to ask you to cancel if they have given initial approval.

Broadcast your hard work (isn't that the same as brown nosing?)

When I was on an internship, there was enormous competition because everyone wanted to make sure they got a job with the bank. It was hard to stand out because everyone is smart really, and there were interns trying to suck up to people at the bank to improve their chances. I'm not like that, and I think it's just too obvious anyway. So I found my own way to stand out. I always made sure I stayed at the office late and I used to send emails asking questions or documenting what I'd completed to people in my team (not the interns!), so that everyone would know I had worked late. That really worked in my favour, I'm sure, because I got the job and showed my team I was willing to work hard and would be committed to the job. That's what they want at the end of the day.

Are you happy to share your first-hand experience of applying to or working in a bank? Email your story or tip to editor@efinancialcareers.com. All tips used will be posted anonymously.