Reedu Taha

23Jul07

In 2002, I graduated from Baruch College with a bachelor’s degree in corporate communications. It was the summer after 9/11, the economy was stagnant, and so were my employment prospects. After a fruitless job search, I did what any young, passionate, unemployed student would do… I packed my bags and trekked through Europe and Morocco.

When I returned from my travels, I found work as a bartender and applied to the graduate business journalism program at Baruch, into which I was accepted. I had no practical business experience, but, ironically enough, it was through my bartending job in Brooklyn that I got my first break in the business world. I was a month into graduate school then, and the idea of having a desk job, in an office with professional people, was a very attractive one.

I was offered a well-paid internship at the New York Stock Exchange. During my three years there, I published an investigative article, was promoted to “financial consultant,” and graduated from Baruch with my master’s. With three years of financial services under my belt, I had no idea that I had begun to dig my way into a “career corner.” However, as I began to apply for other jobs, I realized that the only interviews I could get with a comparable salary were with other financial service companies like Refco, UBS, and finally, in 2005, Goldman Sachs.

I knew from Day 1 that the buttoned-down, corporate-culture at Goldman Sachs did not suit me. I found the environment to be stifling and impersonal, and worst of all, the very business writing skills that I had invested great time, energy, and money in learning were not being applied. In fact, I found myself writing little more than emails.

My career exploration needed to take another turn. I had inadvertently attained a successful career in financial services and wanted to find a way out. I went to networking events, and set up coffee, dinner and drink dates with contacts in the communications industry for nearly a year. Among the many conversations I had, I clearly recall one with a woman who was the managing director of a PR firm in NY. She put it into perspective for me: I had pigeonholed myself in an industry by blindly going after my paycheck and not my passion.

Change finally came this past January. I was hired for a financial news writing position that I had interviewed for exactly one year earlier. After my initial interview with the company, I had followed up by sending emails and attending other media events that they held. At the time, it seemed as though all my networking was for naught. However, the position was part of a web show that was being developed, and as it turned out, it took my current boss a full year to move forward in hiring. A steady combination of patience, perseverance, and networking had paid off.

Today, I am an in-house writer for a stock loan company. I write financial news scripts for an online web show that combines stock news with humor and entertainment. At long last, I have finally found the job that is a perfect fit. It may sound silly, but I would not have found my way if I had not at first been lost.

As for the corporate world that I left behind, let’s just say I like referring to it in the past tense. And as for my career, I’m often surprised to hear myself use the words “love” and “job” in the same sentence… but I’m beginning to get used to it. 

Reedu Taha is a writer and also teaches business courses at Baruch College. She lives in Brooklyn Heights.

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