Exit
“We understand the disconnect
now,” Wingrad said. “They’ve
seen the effects of parents who
work very hard, and they’re
afraid of it. What is it that we can
do to entice them so that they
stay longer [at the firm]?”
For the past several years, grueling internships at Wall Street
banks have marked the pinnacle of
success for young, ambitious students. Finance interns typically
earn between $3,000 and $5,000
a month and are in the running
for full-time jobs that can start in
the six figures in some cases. But
today’s 20-somethings are starting to demand a little bit more
than prestige. They want promises
their contributions will be valued
and a schedule that gives them a
life — or, at least if they’re going
to stick around the office all day,
they want to have fun.
When Blake was an investment banking intern at JPMorgan Chase, he pulled 12-hour
days toiling away — often in
boredom. Blake, who asked that
his last name be withheld to protect his career, remembers one
particularly late night, or rather
early morning, when he found
himself walking home at 4:30
a.m. after sitting behind a com-
THE THIRD
METRIC
HUFFINGTON
02.23.14
puter for hours tweaking PowerPoint slides to death.
“What am I doing?” Blake said
he remembers thinking, as the
sun began to peek out from the
horizon on his walk home. “This
is just two and a half months. I
was dying doing it, and people
do this for two years.”
Blake earned about $12,000
that summer, but it wasn’t worth
it, he said. “The attitude is just
Goldman is also starting
to tap into practices typically
more associated with a
startup than a staid bank.
The Wall Street giant now
offers meditation classes.”
always having to be there and just
always trying to impress people.
So metimes you needed to be sitting there just to be sitting there.”
Now at a smaller private equity
firm, Blake works from 9 to 7, and
he said he’s occupied every day
with actual responsibilities. The
24-year-old leads conference calls
with CFOs of small companies and
travels across the country giving
clients advice. And when he does
have to stay late, the atmosphere