Book. August 20, 2013, Moritz Erhardt was found lifeless in his shower, was struck by a seizure after having spent three sleepless nights at work. The death of the young German of 21-year-old intern at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for the summer, highlights the rhythms of work in the big banks business, stress, lack of sleep, the practice of the magic roundabout : the employee returns to his home by taxi late in the night, showered, changed, and then resumes the same taxi to go back to work.
In the aftermath of the shock caused by this death, the bank offers the students finish early with their work. According to the Financial Times, they decide to work on it until the last day, in the hope of winning the very competitive full-time associate proposed to half of them. Surprising ? Not really. Despite a private life almost non-existent and a competitive and exhausting, these professions continue to attract young graduates. In 2014, Morgan Stanley would have received not less than 90 000 applications for a summer internship, summer analyst, for 1 000 places available.
The banks represent the climax of the report on the work of the business elite. In his book The heart of the audit firms and consulting, teacher / researcher at the ISG and the university of Paris-I-Panthéon-Sorbonne Sébastien Stenger survey on the investment and over-investment in the four large audit firms and of the council of the anglo-saxons named the “Big Four” (Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers). Careers there are selective and competitive, the culture encourages the employees to push their limits.
“Moments of life native, the funny ”
But, despite the schedule extension, the competition and the stress, the Big Four remain very attractive to young graduates. Why ? What is the meaning that give the people…
