What No One Told Me

The last time I looked for a job, I was almost 18 years old.  I had been working at a grocery store in the deli with my older sister.  My father was also a night stocker (stocker, not stalker) there too and that is how both my sister and I landed our jobs.  We were, at first, queens of the baggers.  Well, she was, I was just her minion.  I was making a mere $4.85 an hour and it was with this money that I was to go to college.  I did some calculations in my ever-analytical mind and even a summer of 40-50 hours a week, that money was really going to have to stretch over tuition, books, a car, car insurance, room and board at my parents' house (oh, yes! $200 a month!), clothes, food, and whatever else I thought I needed or wanted.

So I applied at a national retail store, against the wishes and advice of my parents who told me I'd "never get the job" because we were religious and I was not allowed to work on Sundays.  But in fact, I did get the job and only a few months into my position as a shoe department clerk, I was offered a supervisory position and topped out my hourly wage at $8.50 by the time I left.  I was quite revered as a hard worker, willingly staying 15 hours a day during holiday season and earned a coveted spot in the return center, post-Christmas.  This is when I first fell in love with working and over-time.

By my sophomore year, I had been referred for 3 other part-time jobs.  One with my sister (you'll notice a pattern here) working part-time in a psychologists' office, another with my sister (see, I told you) working in the Honors College office and a position that would herald my career, with my sister's friend, as a file clerk for the asset management division of a local bank.  One position lead to another within the investment company, later acquired by a large super-regional bank and long story short, was promoted and transferred slightly closer to the Mason-Dixon line.  For a while, I worked 4 part-time jobs, so I could study in Brasil and eventually, sometime around 2003, dropped a night-time position with the retail store and focused on my engaging and intellectually stimulating career in investment management.

Since then, I have never had to look for a job.  Not really.  I did reach out to another firm, with whom I worked, and almost took a position but was so wary of the company's financial and regulatory standing that I didn't take the position.  But this time around, this is what no one told me: you can't do it all on your own.

You really can't.  Not in this business, not in this economy.  With the markets all wonky since the May 6 nose-dive, firms are engaging in more cya-ing than ever.  And they should, they have a fiduciary duty and are responsible to shareholders to remain strong and stable.  The good news in all of this may be that more and more compliance individuals will be needed to assess and monitor controls in trading, to ensure they do not inadvertently or otherwise contribute to a market flop.  

But I've realized in the last few weeks, while digging myself out of my hole, that I need help.  I have to squeeze every positive connection I've made over my almost 10 year career for what it's worth.  My name used to be worth its weight in million-dollar trade settlements (which is like gold).  I've shipped out Worldcom bonds during a gas leak which lead to our temporary eviction from our offices, using only my memory to dial the pertinent parties on my cell and my charm to get it done...a day before Worldcom all went to hell in a handbasket.  I made the top of the list to receive bonds that were short the entire street over, because I knew who to talk to and how to talk to them.  I never knew I'd be relying on trading my own name and reputation for a job, years later.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to pick up the phone and get the help I need.  I'm starting to do just that and I wish I'd done it sooner.  I just didn't think I'd have trouble finding a job all on my own.  I'm sure I'll find that more people are willing to help me than I first thought.  Don't be afraid and don't be shy.  If you have a good reputation, and people remember you for what you did for them, it's time to ask them what they can do for you.  I have discovered that colleagues who I didn't think I had a strong bond with, remembered me anyways and because of my reputation, they're willing to help me.  

This is the first piece of advice I'd give to anyone recently laid off: get on the phone and call everyone you think you have even a limited amout of credibility with, and ask for help.  Because that's what no one told me, and that's what I wish I would have known.