So Long Jealously of My Banker Friend
A few months ago, I was visiting a few friends in New York and had the opportunity to briefly meet up with an old High School acquaintance. As a recent graduate from an Ivy League school, she was doing quite well for herself. Having quickly moved her way up at Lehman Bros., her salary must have been more than a copywriter like myself could ever dream of earning, especially at my age.
At the time she was downsizing to a shared residence somewhere on the southern end of Manhattan from a solo bachelorette pad on the upper-east side. She seemed to love her job, or at least love it for the time being, even though it required long, hard hours.
And today, my friend, my very intelligent Ivy-educated friend, is out of a job.
She'll recover, certainly. Even if banking jobs are slim pickings now, they still exist. And anyone with that kind of background could move into other financial career paths. Money will always need management.
But it's still obviously a nightmare on her end. One second you think you have a stable job, working for a company that's been around since *before* the great depression, and then the next day it's gone.
That's why I like working for a startup company. I always assume it will go under any second. If it succeeds, all the better. But in this economy, nothing is certain. I'm lucky to have a job right now, but who knows how long that will last. The important thing is to build up your skills so you may be able to apply to any number of jobs, if your industry or position is taking an nose dive.
3 comments:
not related to this post, but just wanted to wish you the best with your dad. I hope things will go well for your family, and though the conversations about finances may be hard to initiate, hopefully your parents will see your doing so as an act of caring and love.
amen sister, start ups rock. been at mine going on 3 years now and every week it's a surprise! haha....there's been talk about us selling and making a tidy profit, but as always, i'll believe it when i see it. i've been enjoying each day as they come, so the more the merrier!
i do hope your friend is fine though, and i'm sure she will be. and i second whatever madame x is talking about :)
I had a similar epiphany a few months back. I really wanted to switch jobs and go work on wall street. I am a information technology professional working in financial services so I wanted to go experience wall street from the techy side. Boy am I glad i didnt make that jump because I would have been in a heap of trouble!! I am happy to have the job security i do now and will stand pat here for a little bit now. Great post!
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