Am I screwed? Career crisis...at 24.



mafoofan said:

The OP said he could probably slot himself into a position at the same organization he's already at in New York.
Anyway, say the OP does land a finance job in Canada. As he is currently learning, the financial sector is much smaller there. In this market, a layoff is always a possibility--even without the OP's particular circumstances (why would you ever tell your boss you aren't planning on staying without an exit opportunity lined up. . .). Should he found himself laid-off in Canada, then what? It will be much harder to land somewhere else.

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I didn't catch that first part. I thought he had expressed interest at doing so but it hadn't happened yet.
But the rest is a very good point.

Never, ever leave your current job without another lined up. 90 times harder to get a good job when unemployed vs. job hopping.

So we're giving career advice to someone that makes $150,000 a year at 24. Somehow he got into that 2-3 years ago out of college when the job market was abysmal for college grads. Honestly, you should be the one fielding questions.



mafoofan said:

... (why would you ever tell your boss you aren't planning on staying without an exit opportunity lined up. . .)

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The plan was to move laterally within the organization to our Canadian office; the only way to do that was to talk to my boss. He's been helpful and even has his boss involved. Unfortunately, nothing has come up there in six months, which is unexpectedly disappointing -- I missed ~3 job openings in Canada by a couple weeks.

Why is her moving to NY not an option?



chevron said:

Why is her moving to NY not an option?

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Terrorist ties was my first thought.



mafoofan said:

Avoid being unemployed at all costs. This is not the job market you want to dump yourself into. If that means staying at your current job and remaining apart from your girlfriend for a while longer, so be it. If she is really marriage material, she will understand that is good for your shared, long-term prosperity.

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This really is it. At 24 you shouldn't be sacrificing your career for a girlfriend. Get a job anywhere, right now. Do not get unemployed.

-signed
Formerly unemployed

If she's really the one, take some of that 150k and fly her out for a weekend each month. While the expense will obviously add up, I would venture to guess it will not be greater than your loss in comp from switching industries. It will help hold you over until you find something.

As for your job situation, I would go tell your boss that you have decided that your career with the firm is more valuable to you than your relationship with this girl of yours and you would like to stay on. If your MD is anything like mine, he will probably respect the hell out of you.

She should move, many more opportunities in NYC. Life is not over at 24 with one misstep, I've asked many people who are old and wealthy how they got there and it is rarely a linear path....unless they were I-bankers.

On your first day, walk up to the biggest, blackest MF'er you can find and attack him. You'll be set from that day forward.

Edit - accidentally copy and pasted jail advice.

Keep your head up and improve your interviewing skills.



leftover_salmon said:

I want the kind of job where I can think strategically but don't want a career path where the end goal is middle management -- i.e. I don't want to be a 50-year old "Vice President" or "Senior Manager" in some kind of Office Space environment.

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Let me get this straight, you are having a career crisis because the path to a potential $200K a year job is not satisfactory?



Fraiche said:

Let me get this straight, you are having a career crisis because the path to a potential $200K a year job is not satisfactory?

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A lot of investment banking analysts seem to get similarly disillusioned. They don't realize how exceptional their situations and opportunities are.



mafoofan said:

A lot of investment banking analysts seem to get similarly disillusioned. They don't realize how exceptional their situations and opportunities are.

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It's tough to realize how "exceptional" your opportunity is when you're getting paid surprisingly little (in terms of salary for hours worked) to log 90 hour work weeks changing font sizes and heading colors in a pitch book no one will read. The guy slinging fries at Burger King probably does more creative thinking at his job than the average IB analyst.

Investment banking analyst is, bar none, one of the worst and least challenging jobs a young person can do. It is a great opportunity if you use is as a springboard to other paths (i.e. corporate finance, MBA, etc.) but no one should be surprised when these kids start losing steam a year in to the IB adventure.



leftover_salmon said:

The plan was to move laterally within the organization to our Canadian office; the only way to do that was to talk to my boss. He's been helpful and even has his boss involved. Unfortunately, nothing has come up there in six months, which is unexpectedly disappointing -- I missed ~3 job openings in Canada by a couple weeks.

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Is it possible to get some sort of job at the canadian job while you wait for something to open up?



Fraiche said:

Let me get this straight, you are having a career crisis because the path to a potential $200K a year job is not satisfactory?

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People love to snicker that those who work hard and make decent money can't really be happy. But then when someone admits that money isn't everything, he gets derided for it?

In any case, I like making money but I don't want to do it in my specific job function. I like thinking creatively and having an opinion, neither of which matters much when you're working in sell-side investment banking. I'd much rather take a 50% pay cut to have the type of the job where someone gives me a company and tells me to come back in three weeks with an opinion of whether or not they should buy it.

mafoofan said:

A lot of investment banking analysts seem to get similarly disillusioned. They don't realize how exceptional their situations and opportunities are.

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Yeah, I'm in a great situation -- right now. I just don't want to be a salesperson for the rest of my life, which is essentially what an investment banker is. The problem is that my current group's focus is too narrow to help me get the jobs I want. I want to really dig into companies, learn what makes them tick, and then bet that I'm right. I don't want to push paper around.