The Freedom Dillemma
Alright WSO, this monkey is looking for some help. Long time lurker, and have searched relevant threads. Really appreciate any insight for my current situation.
Completed my UG last summer, and have a FT offer for IBD in M&A at a BB in NYC. I am definitely a non-target, being Australian and graduating from an Aussie Uni. Things worked out really well and I was supposed to start end of December last year. Unfortunately, I had a family tragedy, and needed a few weeks delay for my start date. HR said I could simply start in the summer if I prefer. I agreed (my mother especially needs me here).
Now I have 6 months off before re-locating. I know under normal circumstances people go on an epic South East Asia bender trip... but I don't really have that choice. I need to stay in my hometown. I would really appreciate your thoughts on what are good ways to spend the time, and not feel completely unproductive. My mother will be back at work FT soon, and all my buddies are either working or in school full-time.
Some things on my list of potential items to focus on in my 6-months off (there is no silver bullet, would be a mix of the following I'm guessing right now...):
1) Get a job - don't really need the money, but could work somewhere chill and hit on all the cuties.
2) Study for GMAT - try and crush it and freeze my score for 5 years. I have a slight worry that if I want to jump careers in NYC, I will be at a major disadvantage coming from such a non-target, even though my bank is reputable. Could be nice to get a better US brand name, and hopefully learn a thing or two (may also consider MFIN).
3) Learn Spanish - I'm guessing once I'm in NY, my vacations will consist of Mexico, Caribbean etc... to get my dose of sunshine. Spanish could be helpful for work, and most importantly enhance my vacation interaction with the local female population.
4) Volunteer - would love to give back to my community before I become locked up in the golden handcuffs. Could be nice to help as a Big Brother, or volunteer at the Cancer Society etc...
5) Get in touch with professors at my Uni and help out on a research project?
6) Look for an unpaid internship in buy-side to try and see if this is something I really will want to pursue. Would need to network aggressively.
7) Work on fundamentals to be a better analyst - accounting, modeling etc... (not really feeling this idea)
8) Learn something new - computer programming? Definitely interested in being involved in a start-up at some point before I hit 35 and taking a risk for once. Don't feel like I've learned that many tangible skills in my Business studies... all seemed like common sense.
9) Work on footy skills to one day achieve Torres like 50 mill pound transfer fees. (nope)
Overall, I can keep myself fairly busy but just need to be around to have some quality family time in the evenings. I know it would mean the world to the fam just to have me close-by during these tough times, but I really don't want to look back at these 6 months and feel like I've been completely unproductive. So far, days consist of just WSO, FB, TV, PS3, Picking up regulars etc... cannot continue this routine.
Thanks a bunch for any comments, really appreciate it.
Recap: Stuck in hometown in Australia, need to stay close to Mom before moving to NY in 6 months for M&A analyst position. How can I not feel like a complete waste of space during the lonely days when others will be busy with work, school etc...
5 & 8 get my vote. Neither cost anything, both are mind expanding and stimulating, both look great on a resumé, and both will aid your career down the line.
I'd go the Torres way. He is getting 200k per week (net of tax). Add a few random commercials and sponsorships and you are set for life in a couple of years.
Thanks for the input guys. +1
Alas dacasale, went out and played some footy at the park just now and realized it won't be happening no matter how many times I nutmeg those 18 year old kids.
Do whatever feels right, man. Depends on your preferences. I would go with learning a new programming language, but that's because I'm a geek like that. I definitely like the footy skills idea.
Also, why not do multiple things?
You can learn a new programming language for 2-3 hours a day. Volunteer on Saturdays and Sundays (or go tutor 3rd grade kids for an hour every day after school). Work a part-time job in the evenings or afternoons. You would still have tons of free time to try to knock out the GMAT or Spanish once programming starts getting boring.
Hold on, let me get this straight. You are walking into a first year analyst role in NYC after graduating from an Australian university, and are no doubt Aussie. How the fuck did you pull that? I've done my fair share of recruiting and this type of thing is COMPLETELY unheard of. Maybe if you had completed at least 1 year of work and then requesting it or getting seconded. But to get an immediate start in NYC is pretty ridic. I call bullshit or troll.
You can't do all of that at once? Are you sure you have what it takes to work in M&A ;)!? Just kidding, I would definitely learn C++ programming. Theres lots of good online courses. Get Stoustroups classic book as well and write some programs of your own. I have found that having programming skills can be really helpful when you try to model something in excel. Sure, it's a different language and stuff, but once you learn to apply rigorous logics and start to be able to think like a computer, you will be able to do much greater things in Excel.
1) Volunteer 2) Learn a language 3) Do some writing for a local paper 4) Attend Toastmasters and work on public speaking
You'd still have loads of time left and I would say with that try and set up some sort of venture...a website selling stuff or anything..even if its a disaster the experience will look good.
This is not specifically on your list, but I would use the time to set up a low maintenance cash flow if you can, ie start a business that can be very hands off once you start.
Having an independent cash flow outside of your job is in my opinion indispensable.
Agree 100%. It's not as easy as it sounds, but then again it could be as simple as creating a 50-page guide to something you know a lot about, putting up a little webpage, and marketing the crap out of it through affiliate marketing.
1- Volunteer 2- Buy and read a stack of great books (nothing written in the last 30 years) 3- Spend time with friends/family
Carn straya!
Start a website or blog? Aside from that, I'd read and spend lots of time with friends/family.
2 is by far the best choice. As your career progresses; people use universities as heuristics for how smart you are (I know it sucks, but that's reality). As such, if you got a great GMAT score and had BB experience (but you'd be a special candidate cuz you're Aussie), then you could go somewhere like HBS and your career could really take off from there. You will not have any time for GMAT studying once you're working, trust me.
Thanks for the advice so far, threw some sb's I had left.
To those calling troll, I agree it is a very non-traditional path but not impossible. I maintained a very strong GPA, and attended an exchange term at a target university in the US. Leveraged this to the max (since I wanted to work in NYC) and got on my grind for a lot of my exchange term and landed an SA position. Then I worked my ass off as an SA, and really clicked with my team. They were really happy with my work ethic and I quickly built a reputation as the funny guy with the weird accent who got things done. Leading to my FT offer.
Thanks again to those who have been helpful, will look into Stoustroups books.
@derivstrading - any examples? is this like the 4 hour work week book premise?
Sydney Uni?
Nah, University of Melbourne, my hometown.
Cheers for "Carn straya!" by the way.
Hope your family is safe right now...
zyzz u mad brah?
This is how big you need to get: http://www.fitness.com/tools/greek_proportions/
Alternatively, learn how to fight.
Create a list of books you want to read but never got to reading (ie The Art of War, The Four-Hour Workweek). Read them.
Help with chores around the house
Read finance books and practice your Excel so when you do get to NYC you hit the ground running. The alternative to that is to not keep up with your Excel and be slow as balls when you start work.
Have a religious/spiritual experience.
Look at this 6 month period as a time of extreme self-improvement. Be so good that they're shocked at how you went from being a boy to a MAN once you return. Learn about fashion (very important in NYC).
But most importantly of all, have some fun too. And relax.
too long for me to read entirely but you should relax, travel, chill out, and enjoy the remainder of your free time because the day you start working at a bb is the day your freedom dies.
RossJohnson I'm feeling your username. I'm pretty sure you did your exchange term at Wharton since Melb partners with them, so good on you to leverage what you were given.
I think you should find a mix between 3-4 of these. Spend time with family, crank GMAT, work on a research project with one of your favorite profs, and learn some new skills like coding. Lastly play lots of footie simply to stay in shape before you lose the ability to go out an play in the sun at will...
Good luck, and hope all is well with the family and that you weren't affected by the floods.
Lay out, tan, go to bars, tell girls your moving to NYC, do everything your not gonna do for the next 2 years.
I really wouldn't worry about C++ as much as I would VBA
Go pick up Visual basic for Dummies and work through it....I'm assuming you are going to be doing a lot with excel, if you know how to proficiently write programs and functions in Visual Basic you will be invaluable to your team.
Absolutely true. Forget C++. If you do want to learn a language, VBasic is a good bet.
But I would also look into web programming. Specifically, PHP/MySQL is a great skill, and much easier to learn than C++. You can get fancy and learn things like Ruby on Rails and Python, but you can build anything with PHP (Facebook was built in PHP for the first several years).
GET A JOB! It'll be a rude wake up call when you go from sitting on your ass to working banking hours. Doesn't have to be anything crazy... get a job at a bar. You'll make some money, learn to work late, and meet girls. Problem solved.
Whatever you do make sure you have a plan and are disciplined in executing it, nothing would be more sad than to waste that time away before you are shackled forever.
That face looks like it just smoked a lot of weed or he just got his dick sucked.
Good point. +1 for making me laugh.
For the others, thanks for the input. It's been constructive in coming up with some sort of vague plan for the next while.
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