Income Risk

When I was a senior in High School, I was not admitted to the University of Illinois’ business school. At this point in my life, I knew that I wanted to major in something that was business related-either finance or marketing because I was never really introduced to Economics courses. I ended up going to the University of Iowa’s business school for a semester; however, I felt that the University of Illinois offered more opportunities that I was interested in such as business related organizations and study abroad programs. In addition, I took two economics courses while I was at the University of Iowa and became very interested in the subject. During my first semester, I decided to reapply to the University of Illinois for Economics instead of business. I don’t think my change in major was necessarily to manage my future income risk, but more to pursue a major that I enjoyed. I felt that my major in either business or economics would ultimately allow me to achieve my career goals, so I don’t think that one choice was better than another. The choice to switch schools was to help my future income risk because it allowed me to have access to more opportunities for my future career path, and it was in state tuition instead of out of state.

 Although I really enjoyed Iowa, I ended up transferring and am very happy with my decision to do so. I believe this was a good decision because I was able to gain a lot more professional opportunities and experience, which was aimed to help me obtain a job in the future. Once I transferred, I got involved in a couple of business organizations such as Illinois Business Consulting and Business Ethics Academy. I interviewed for these organizations because I thought they would help me seek professional skills, opportunities, and increase my network for the future. I learned a lot about professionalism and technical skills, and I was able to speak about my experiences in these organizations during interviews for internships.


I have been seeking internships the last couple summers after my sophomore and junior year in order to increase my chances of obtaining a full time job after college. Throughout these internships, I decided to pursue the finance route in corporate finance and banking. Through my internship this past summer, I received a return offer to come back and work for the bank after graduating. This job offer was for a rotational program that takes candidates through four rotations in different areas of banking over the course of two years. I was pretty satisfied with the salary; however, I have been very conflicted about pursuing this career path. After my summer internship, I wasn’t sure about the finance industry anymore because I felt like I was doing it to reduce my income risk more than doing it because I enjoyed it. I also started to question if I really wanted to work for a large corporation after seeing the culture of certain work environments. I have always wanted to start my own business one day, and I didn’t envision myself trying to climb the corporate ladder-especially when I saw many people over summer complaining about how they felt stuck in their careers. I was very conflicted about taking the safe route or starting something new. My senior year has been extremely stressful because I made a lot of decisions throughout college that seemed like good decisions for my future income, but this left me feeling confused about what I really enjoy and want to do in my career path.

Comments

  1. Professor ArvanMay 14, 2020 at 6:17 AM

    Based on the email you sent, you wrote this post before the pandemic, even though it is dated yesterday. I want to make only a few quick observations.

    If you still have the chance to work for the bank now, I would take it. We're in a different world since the pandemic. A job is a scarce commodity. Enjoying the line of work you are in, under the current circumstances, is a luxury item few can afford.

    If circumstances were more normal, I think it would be quite okay to try something for a while and if it doesn't suit you then try something else. It's almost impossible to know whether something is a good fit for you without experiencing it.

    The last thing I'll note is that when you do try something you have to give it your all. If you do it half-heartedly, it's almost guaranteed that you won't like. It might seem that's the way to hedge. But it is not a good play. Be all in about it and do that for a while - maybe a year. Then assess where you are. It's sometimes hard to tell when you experience a disappointment if it is a mountain or a molehill. This approach lets you figure that out.

    Good luck.

    ReplyDelete

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