Do you regret rejecting any of the job offers that you have had in the past? If so is it more like “I must have been smoking pot at that point of time” kind of regret?
No but I almost had a situation where I chose the wrong job. I had gotten offers from a hedge fund and a well-known daytrading chopshop the same week, both had approximately the same base but the daytrading company was promising 7-figure profits under their tutelage and even showed me all of their traders’ P/Ls, a few of whom were actually pulling down that kind of dough (this was at the height of the tech bubble). The hedge fund said there would be a discretionary bonus but did not make any wild promises of instant riches. After each company called with their offer I told them both I would like a week to think about it and they both said it was ok. Being the naive young’un that I was I decided that I wanted the big bucks and called the daytrading company a week later to accept their offer, however when I said “yes, I accept” the guy went “sorry, we pulled your offer because you did not accept on the spot.” That’s kind of when it hit me that I would’ve made a huge mistake if I had taken that job if they were already treating me like that before I had even joined the firm. I ended up going with the hedge fund and the rest is history.
Yes, I would have chose the other job (had two offers at my last move) if I could go back. I took the offer with the small startup (for less money) vs. the established consulting firm hoping there would be more upside later (hasn’t panned out). I ultimately want to work in asset management, so in that regards I made the right choice. But, I would have taken the other job just to avoid the headaches of this gig and got into asset management at a later date. Hindsight is always 20/20.
ughh… I just got off the phone with an internal recruiter for a consulting firm that I interviewed with last year. Apparently, since we last spoke the job I went for merged with another group (this happened about a month after i turned down a second interview) which handles different aspects of corp fin, valuations, etc. – areas that I’ve been trying to get into for years. Now the recruiter is telling me to try back in a few months to see if anything opens up.
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There was a time last year when I started to regret not going into investment banking. Some of it was due to the fact that I began to see how people from a banking background tended to have the advantage when it came to private equity job recruiting, but with some persistence, I began to get interviews as well. More than anything though, there were certain things about my past job that I was not particularly keen about, and every time dissatisfaction with my job set in, I started thinking about what life would have been like if I did something else. I don’t really know if my life would really have been that much better had I done banking instead of research – I guess it’s only natural to think that the grass is greener on the other side – but it seems like every time I’m not happy with where I’m at, I start thinking about alternatives. Does anyone else get this feeling? I wonder what this says about me.
Yes for the job I just quit about a month ago. Absolutely not for my new gig. Willy
farley, i experienced the same as you. i had a decent offer from a fairly decent asset management firm…decent pay, good prospects, international exposure, and it would have been a huge step up in my career. Thing was, the firm couldnt give me a contract to sign, claiming legal issues which they are resolving. I refused to resign from my then job cos i dont feel secure about it. i waited for a month to see the contract, i told them i couldnt resign until i have seen something concrete, cos come on, this is standard HR/ potential employee practice right? next thing i know, they pulled the rug off under me, citing my lack of commitment to the job. I was disappointed, but ultimately i was glad that i didnt join that crapshit of a company. i wish them hell.
numi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There was a time last year when I started to > regret not going into investment banking. Some of > it was due to the fact that I began to see how > people from a banking background tended to have > the advantage when it came to private equity job > recruiting, but with some persistence, I began to > get interviews as well. More than anything though, > there were certain things about my past job that I > was not particularly keen about, and every time > dissatisfaction with my job set in, I started > thinking about what life would have been like if I > did something else. > > I don’t really know if my life would really have > been that much better had I done banking instead > of research – I guess it’s only natural to think > that the grass is greener on the other side – but > it seems like every time I’m not happy with where > I’m at, I start thinking about alternatives. > > Does anyone else get this feeling? I wonder what > this says about me. It is natural to think about alternatives when one is not satisfied with the current position. Instinctively, i always tend to feel ‘grass is greener on the other side’ but then after analysing the alternatives, i form actual opinion. Thus, i dont end up acting on impulse. But yeah i have the tendency to get bored of whatever i am doing after few months and ends up being ineffecient and frustrated until I see some challenge or competition…is it human nature too or is it just me?
Second guessing is a dangerous game, yet we all do it. Try to avoid it and make the best of where you are. The best thing you can do is have a plan, with discrete steps / milestones so you can get to where you want to go (with a vision today). Don’t get bogged down with “what ifs” and regrets, they will eat you up.
I went into IBanking. I shouldn’t have. I didn’t really want to do it; I only applied to one IBank, but then I got the gig and I thought “s**t, I can’t turn this down; all my buddies have been sweating it, making 40+ application to try to get what I have”. Now I can see it never made sense. I left with my first bonus cheque (same day), which was in the region of $50k. The following year, I moved to the buy-side in a junior PM position which I could have gotten out of college. If I now had 4 years, rather than 3 years of buy-side experience, I would be making $50k more than I am, so even from a financial perspective, it was not worthwhile. The moral of the story is that you should focus on the big picture.
Gecco, I hear you. Two years ago I had two offers one from a hedge fund, which was outsourcing some decent analytical work to India and a pension firm which was doing actuarial valuation of pension. I took the second gig and within one month realised pension valuation is crap. I wanted to move out as soon as possible and made one desperate move after another. Four years out of college I have not made much progress in my career. Didnt realise one wrong move could be this disastrous.
Gecco Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Second guessing is a dangerous game, yet we all do > it. Try to avoid it and make the best of where > you are. The best thing you can do is have a > plan, with discrete steps / milestones so you can > get to where you want to go (with a vision today). > Don’t get bogged down with “what ifs” and > regrets, they will eat you up. This is a good idea, and it was definitely one of the things I kept in mind to keep me on track. There were times where I wasn’t pleased with my former job that it was all too easy to start pondering all the hypotheticals, but getting caught up in that would only have deterred me from reaching my end goal, which was to get a good buy-side job. Eventually with much persistence, I reached my goal, and I think that was when everything in my life just seemed to be right. While it was hard to block out my misgivings about my former job, rather than letting that hold me back, I used it to motivate myself to bust my chops and get a better job.