Soundbites of Adulthood: Careers!
Hi!
If you've been keeping up with me, which I expect you have, you would know I started a four part series called Soundbites of Adulthood.
If you've been under a rock, here is the quick synopsis: I interview my friends who graduated college and have now entered the adult world. I ask them questions about things that have changed since we graduated and if college influenced those changes. Last week I talked about friendships, so go check that out to hear the conversation and read more of my vision.
This week, I ventured into the world of jobs. College is only four years. What do you do after?
Lets get started with Manuela (Mannie).
On an extremely hot day, I walked over to Mannie's apartment to chat. Mannie and I have been friends since our first day of college, so I was looking forward to our conversation. She works at Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, in the Human Resources department.
I dove right in. But we had some technical (funny) difficulties, check out the video below.
Once she got comfortable and I repeated that we were recording, I started asking what her job entails. Apparently, its more than firing and hiring people! But within the first few minutes, the conversation turned towards how your family influences the career choices you have in college. Hear what she said in the video below.
After chatting about families and how she didn't do so well in a science class, we touched on her going into economics. She works in finance and at Columbia/Barnard, and it is common for people to choose finance once graduating. It's so common, that it appears as if finance is the route to go, and is endorsed by the school. So, I asked Mannie, if she felt like finance was the path for her and she clarified that college does not tell you everything about investment banks.
To finish off, I asked her one last question.
Me: To lighten the mood, tell me your most embarrassing moment at work.
Mannie: Thats so hard!
Me: Try for me!
Mannie: Okay. So this one man at work, called me Manual, not Manuel or Manuela, because at least that is how my name is spelled. No. He wrote Manual and he put it in an email to all my bosses.
Me: Noooooooo!
Mannie: And I was so embarrassed for him! Not for myself!
Me: Thats actually really funny!! Thanks Mannie!
Next, I interviewed Josh, who within our friend group we all joke is the most driven person we know. Someone who is always on top of their game. Its a joke that stems from our respect for him. He is currently out in Los Angeles in grad school for architecture at USC, so we talked over FaceTime. After figuring out the whole time zone issue, we were able to chat. Thank goodness for technology.
Me: What career have you always wanted?
Josh: [That] changed throughout time. I wanted to be president up until I was 5 [years old].
Me: Why does that not surprise me? You wanting to be president!
Josh: [Laughs] Well then, I wanted to be in the NFL until sophomore year of high school. I started to realize my passion for other things and ideas, so I slowly went into architecture.
Me: Did college change that career path?
Josh: Not so much changed the career, but it changed the reason I chose to do architecture. At first I thought it was something cool and something I was good at. But then I realized how much architecture impacts people. Its completely different than what people think, its not just about beautiful designs. I mean, every memory you have goes back to a place or is near a place. I want to create those spaces.
Me: What career are you currently in? Do you like it?
Josh: Grad school. I work during the summers. Sometimes I do freelance design work.
Me: Freelance?
Josh: Yes, I actually did some work for an uber driver I met. We started chatting and then he asked me to do some work on his house. A lot of it is connections and meeting people. Its cheap work for them and solid practice for me.
Me: That's really cool you could help out your Uber driver. It really is about who you know. To finish off, tell me an embarrassing moment at work!
Josh: At my internship there were two other guys named Josh, so anytime something happened I would think they were talking to me. It was hard because sometimes I had no idea what they were talking about. Went on like that for 4 months.
Me: Huh! We seem to have a theme with names! Mannie's embarrassing moment also included her name. Thanks Josh!
Josh and I caught up for a bit after the interview, and then I let him go enjoy the rest of his night, as I went to sleep. Of course a day after our conversation, I found out that Josh got invited to the Forbes Under 30 event as a Scholar. Continuously killing the game.
I finished up my round of interviews this week, with Trevor. Having Trevor and Josh featured on the same post, worked out because all three of us have worked together before.
They were roommates while at Columbia and a few months ago started a website called An Unscriptd Journey that shares young people's journeys in life. I am featured on that website along with a few other people who we went to school with and some people outside of our community. Check it out here: https://anunscriptdjourney.com.
Trevor is not only working at Northwestern Mutual in the Wealth Management department, but he is also a trainer on the side, and on top of that a budding social media influencer. I don't think he sleeps, the jury is still out on that. With all that going on, I had to get some information on what he thinks about college and careers.
We started talking about his job and what he does. Then we got into the topic alternative careers, something that college may not give so much guidance on. Hear what he said below.
As our conversation kept moving along, it was clear that this idea of alternative careers and looking outside of your "traditional" job was something that resonated with Trevor. So I tailored my questions.
Me: So if people don't know who are reading this; you are involved on social media. Do you want to talk about that more? Explain what you are doing? I mean you don't have to say everything you can keep some things on the low, if you don't want everything out there.
Trevor: Its funny you say on the low, because I feel like everything I am doing is the opposite.
Me: I mean yes. People can see things, we can go on your instagram, but what are you doing? Whats the reasoning?
Trevor: The reasoning. So for people who don't know, I am on instagram, I am [also] on the platform Josh and I created earlier this year. I am very involved in media. I think there is value in social capital and having people's attention, having people look at you. That can be beneficial to you and your brand. Once you have people's trust, people know who you are, and can identify with you as a person. Then at that point, like I said earlier, if you want to talk about flowers, or in my case fitness, people are going to take your word with more merit.
Me: Do you think college plays into that, social capital?
Trevor: Yeah I do. Even in college social capital is still a thing. I think if you're popular even at Columbia, you are going to have a lot of things flying around. It can help you and get you opportunities, so just in general social capital.
Me: That's interesting.
Trevor: Is it?
Me: It is!
Finally, in the spirit of consistency, I ended my interview with Trevor the same way I did with Mannie and Josh. What was his most embarrassing moment at work? After going back and forth for a while, he finally thought of something that could be perceived as embarrassing. Hear it below.
It was a lot of fun to catch up with friends and hear their thoughts on the way college impacts our careers. On top of that, its great to see how much your friends are growing and succeeding. When thinking about this week's post, I automatically knew the people I wanted to be a part of it. Every person I interviewed is incredibly driven. Its admirable! I can't wait to see the things that Mannie, Josh, and Trevor do.
Looking forward to next week!
Thanks for reading!
