Career transitions-article snippet

Harry B. Weiner, a partner at On-Ramps, a recruiting and consulting firm that works with financial professionals, says the economic downturn is creating a new psychology of career transition.

“People feel there’s nothing to lose in terms of taking a risk and pursuing a new direction, especially when you have a résumé that says ‘banking’ and no banks are hiring,” Mr. Weiner said.

That was certainly the calculus for Benjamin Cox, 33. After leaving his job as a vice president at Goldman Sachs in August, he immediately began incubating his plans to work on his screenplay — he calls it a cross between “Swingers” and “Annie Hall” — and start a production company.

Mr. Cox said that with the upheaval on Wall Street, he feels relieved to have a backup plan. “I’m seeing a lot of people who never thought of an alternative to banking.”

Shaun Gatter, 38, left his position as a vice president and counsel at a large investment bank last year to work on his novel about a Jewish South African family, a story set against the backdrop of apartheid.

Mr. Gatter says that the decision has meant a huge financial adjustment, but that the payback — having more mental energy for his book — has been worth it.

“It’s been euphoric to be able to think mainly about the book and less about equity derivatives and client risk.”

Greg Collett, 37, left his job as a director in the commodity exchange-traded fund business at Deutsche Bank in June to explore a career in stand-up comedy.

“I had this gnawing feeling that things were only going to get worse and that Wall Street was not the place to be,” Mr. Collett said, adding that it was easier to leave knowing that compensation packages were going to be a fraction of what they were a few years ago.

Richard Florida, author of “Who’s Your City?” and director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto, sees the gravitational pull away from Wall Street and toward more creative industries as part of a necessary economic recalibration.

“The economy couldn’t survive on speculation and what really amounted to advanced financial alchemy,” he said. “We are now realizing it is our human creativity that is our real capital.

“The economic downturn is going to free up top talent to do other things that are going to change the metabolism of cities like New York in a very good way.”

Understanding women

Forewarning: This story is based on observations from a night of drinking. An entirely separate and more logical set of observations may have sprung from a sober night reflecting on the couch. Unfortunately those nights typically don't motivate me to type. Unlike tonight.

I don't understand girls. I mean, who are we kidding here. But from time to time I put my thinking cap on and say to it "Okay fella, let's see if we can learn a thing or two tonight about the non-males."

Here's a relatively easy lesson. Guys pride themselves on going to the bathroom separately. No need to chit chat with other guys while our hands are near our crotch. We assumed we had that one all figured out.

Girls don't see life that simply. They go to the bathroom and while sequestered share vital information with each other about how the night is progressing, who said what about who, and what the strategy should be upon exiting the bathroom.

The girls are plotting strategy in there. You can't win a war you're not trying to fight. Guys aren't fighting this war. We're letting it get away from us, drowning our intellect in sports scores.

It's kind of like halftime speeches. Guys go out on the town, they get zero speeches from anyone. The only speech they get is a self reminder: Try to talk to a cute girl. Girls go out, they may not have a speech to start. But sooner or later they go to the bathroom together and one of them is down and out. The other one gives her a pep talk, they regroup, and they rally around the pep talk.

This is a whole new layer of intimacy guys don't really understand. We're generally on auto pilot ranking ourselves on how long we talk to you and how pretty we think you are.

Actually what do I know. I'm not generally in women's bathrooms. I assume this is what's happening in there.

Second observation: Girls in groups are very in tune with what the other girls in the group are thinking and feeling. Every so often they look around the group, one by one, surveying emotions to see if anyone is unhappy. If everyone seems happy, great, let's keep having fun. If someone is unhappy, well then, why is she unhappy? And more importantly, does she annoy us? If so, her unhappiness annoys us and our annoyance wins out over her unhappiness. If she's justifiably unhappy and we like her (overall) then we need to fix this and are ourselves unhappy until it's fixed. And so on.

If you, a solo guy, spend time with groups of girls, sooner or later you'll find yourself in an eye lock with the girls. Why, you think, are we all looking at each other? Well, simple man, it's because we all care about each other and we all have empathy that we tap regularly. And so we make eye contact with each other now and then to see how everyone is doing. I know this is a simple act but I don't think most guys are aware that it happens. Guys are too focused on making the night a success or too focused on not focusing on anything at all.

At any rate, I pick these things up from time to time and apparently I've started to report my findings. Hey, it passes the time.

Let me know if you'd like to be insulted!

My friend Max came up with a fun idea that will likely go nowhere. Personalized insults. All you do is fill out a little profile and maybe email me a photo. Then, Max and I get to work insulting you in as many ways possible.

Also, it's a great gift idea. Why not outsource your hatred? Let us goof on your friends for you.

Here is all we need...

Name of person to be insulted:

Occupation:

Age:

City:

Race:

Sexuality:

Any dumb interests or hobbies they may have:

Any specific insult areas you'd like us to focus on:

Anything else we should know (Embarrassing story? Topics that anger them?)


Hey it's free, what do you have to lose besides a friend? Also, this posting comes with a built in insult. If no one takes advantage of the service, bam--Max and I get insulted. This is win win for everyone.

Sorry, I was thinking about something more enjoyable

A girl actually said this to me after she spaced out during a conversation the other day. That stung. But it's fun to look back on. Anyway, this is my blog. Yeah, well, I don't like yours either. I'm mulling possible themes. Among the candidates:

1. Retaliation
2. Career Whims I've Recently Abandoned
3. How My Tummy's Been Doing

Also, I will probably try to use big words from time to time so people smarter than me reading this think "Aw, the little guy's really breaking a sweat."

I figure if I use a lot of paragraph breaks that will appeal to the younger readers. Hey younger readers. I can score you beer and what looks like meth if you agree to drink it all in my apartment.

There's a pattern on my living room rug that looks like either an Asian woman with a mask on or a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle who's into flowers. I might need to cover that spot up with a smaller rug, a smaller rug without patterns.

You were expecting more, weren't you? Okay. I can provide that to you. I moved to New York City (spelled out so I don't come across like a complete dick just yet. Although maybe spelling it out is a dickbag move on its own. Feel free to weigh in.) in May to try to pursue a career in comedy. I figure this is a new tactic in the field, moving to New YC and signing up for comedy classes. I bet I'll look back on these early days fondly when I'm a 50 year old tax accountant.

One thing I've learned--stand up is no bed of primroses or similar metaphor. It's easy to crack jokes around a small group of 4 to 5 super drunk people who can barely hear what you're saying because the music is so loud. Or people you've known for a long time who can barely wait for your sentence to end so they can make fun of something you did when you were 19.

A group of 9 sober people in a bright room on a Monday at 6:45? That's a different story. Also, I would recommend remembering your jokes.

So maybe comedy writing could be something. That would be fun. I'm giving that a shot too, by doing things such as writing "spec scripts" and fantasizing about these scripts being read and immediately embraced by all the top minds in Hollywood. I figure the best possible thing that could happen is "Mac" from It's Always Sunny in Philadephia flies to New York to tell me I'm the new executive producer of the show, starting tomorrow. We feast on crab legs and then Danny DeVito lands a helicopter on the restaurant. The cops are kind of pissed but they deal.

Then Danny DeVito (yes, he's wearing a tuxedo) flies me to LA in the helicopter and we briefly pretend we're in Flight of the Navigator before I nap in the back. West Coast Danny puts me up in his guest house (for now) where the rebellious daughter from Uncle Buck is packing a bong and starting to get ready for bed. Before we start making out Devito demands I share a couple episode ideas and doubles over with laughter at my stories from college. Rhea keeps texting him but after awhile he just puts his phone on silent.

Failing that, I may continue blogging.