Hi Guys,Although relatively new to this forum, I love to read all the threads..and its so disappointing when no updates are available on the forum..I just realised that, this forum is pretty heavily updated during weekdays..and weekends are completely dull with no one contributing..it seems all the top consultants here spend time on this forum during their regular weekdays while doing their regular jobs..and weekends no body wants to spend time here..! :)

Once, as an analyst, I worked for a company that thought nothing of making me work at the weekend. I eventually left that company and saw that life doesn't have to be a long miserable existence of being chained to a desk. I promised myself at that point that I would never, never EVER work at the weekend again. As in NEVER. No matter what the problem, crisis, urgency, repercussions for me personally or whatever - I would absolutely as a matter of principle NEVER do any work at the weekend. Whatever it is, it can wait until Monday. I couldn't care less if it's a major client and we'll lose the contract - I for one simply will NEVER work at the weekend!To all you younger folk out there - no doubt many of you want to progress in your careers and need to maintain a steady income, but working at weekends is not the way to do it in the long term. If your manager expects you to work at the weekend, then he's disrespecting you and putting his own career advancement over your own personal well-being. Working at the weekends is a fast track to a miserable life and/or the grave, even if you enjoy the work itself. Make up some excuse or another (keep saying you've got a wedding to go to - they'll soon get the message) - but value your own time. If you don't value your own time, nobody else will. Look for another job if you have to. Maybe do a weekend or two if that's what it takes to cling on to your next paycheque - but in the longer term, restructure your affairs such that you don't ever have to work at weekends! Just look at many of the losers in the city who earn quite a lot but go home to a ready meal each night. Personally, I'd rather be a postman and see my family than earn a fortune and go into the office at the weekend or get home after bedtime each night. Besides, people respect you more if you set down clear markers. Let them know you'll get your job done, but you're not a 24/7 on-call resource. It takes guts to do that, but your life will be all the better for it."Nobody ever died wishing they'd spent more time in the office..."

All true BEP, but what if you honestly and vibrantly liked what you were doing to the point that you wouldn't mind doing some 5-6 hours of it over a saturday or a sunday?"Choose a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life"

Hmm, well I can't argue with that, other than to say: "Is there anybody on here who genuinely loves their work so much that 40+ hours of it per week just simply isn't enough?"I can understand how the Chief Taster for Cadbury's might want to take his work home at the weekend and do a few hours extra for free, but I've yet to see an analyst who craves an extra dollop of report writing at the weekends?

I got to the point where Excel is some sort of videogame, but that it's clearly my fault... but yes, 40-50 a week should be enough of that too.:)

LOL, reminds me of that flight simulator Easter Egg in Excel 97...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6nY0QkG9nQ

[quote]Once, as an analyst, I worked for a company that thought nothing of making me work at the weekend. I eventually left that company and saw that life doesn't have to be a long miserable existence of being chained to a desk. I promised myself at that point that I would never, never EVER work at the weekend again. As in NEVER. No matter what the problem, crisis, urgency, repercussions for me personally or whatever - I would absolutely as a matter of principle NEVER do any work at the weekend. Whatever it is, it can wait until Monday. I couldn't care less if it's a major client and we'll lose the contract - I for one simply will NEVER work at the weekend!To all you younger folk out there - no doubt many of you want to progress in your careers and need to maintain a steady income, but working at weekends is not the way to do it in the long term. If your manager expects you to work at the weekend, then he's disrespecting you and putting his own career advancement over your own personal well-being. Working at the weekends is a fast track to a miserable life and/or the grave, even if you enjoy the work itself. Make up some excuse or another (keep saying you've got a wedding to go to - they'll soon get the message) - but value your own time. If you don't value your own time, nobody else will. Look for another job if you have to. Maybe do a weekend or two if that's what it takes to cling on to your next paycheque - but in the longer term, restructure your affairs such that you don't ever have to work at weekends! Just look at many of the losers in the city who earn quite a lot but go home to a ready meal each night. Personally, I'd rather be a postman and see my family than earn a fortune and go into the office at the weekend or get home after bedtime each night. Besides, people respect you more if you set down clear markers. Let them know you'll get your job done, but you're not a 24/7 on-call resource. It takes guts to do that, but your life will be all the better for it."Nobody ever died wishing they'd spent more time in the office..."[/quote]Good points, thanks for sharing. One of the very reasons I've avoided the banks like the plague in my bid for my dream grad job; no concept of (self) respect from either parties, agent or principal. I'm sure I'll work very hard in consultancy but the chances of a sadistic public school pr**k being my boss or such bullsh*t notions as 'we eat what we kill' might be less prevalent, I hope. You tell me...

The really smart Oxbridge grads/public school kids are actually smart enough to pass entry tests for banks and top consultancies, so if they wish, they end up there.It's those who have the ambition but lack the skills that end up in the Big4, if anything because they are much bigger and can fit more of them in...:Dbut yes, weekends should be mostly free outside MBB and other top consultancies. For the rest, I might get along better with a bloodthirsty type of manager than with a peer who thinks there's a direct correlation between his intellectual worth and his parents wealth...

This forum during their regular weekdays while doing their regular jobs.