NYC CareerFilter
July 28, 2009 11:12 PM Subscribe
Careerfilter: Career suggestions for a mid-career Manhattanite downsized by the financial collapse
I was laid off by my company due to the collapse of the financial markets (please spare me your sympathies; my financial situation is much better than most).
So, I am flailing about trying to figure out what is next.
Constraints:
1) Further education is not in the cards
2) I want to stay in Manhattan
3) I want to earn a wage sufficient for a single guy in Manhattan to have a nice apartment in a nice neighborhood. (Note: I have in mind what this wage should be, so I'm not asking for dollar amounts. Just assume that this means that a career in, say, social work is not for me.)
Educational history:
Bachelor's degree, earned 1998, from a major four year research university
Work history (most recent to oldest):
1) Finance company
2) New media company
3) Dot-com company
Interests (in no particular order):
1) finance
2) politics (reading about and discussing it, not participating in it)
3) economics
4) writing
5) New York City
6) working out
7) writing
Miscellany:
My Myers-Briggs personality type, for what that is worth, is either INTP or INTJ, depending on when I have taken the test.
Despite my introversion I like meeting new people and talking to them about what's going on in their lives. People and ideas intrigue me.
I have no idea if this is enough information to generate interesting replies, so if you think I'm leaving something out, fire away.
I was laid off by my company due to the collapse of the financial markets (please spare me your sympathies; my financial situation is much better than most).
So, I am flailing about trying to figure out what is next.
Constraints:
1) Further education is not in the cards
2) I want to stay in Manhattan
3) I want to earn a wage sufficient for a single guy in Manhattan to have a nice apartment in a nice neighborhood. (Note: I have in mind what this wage should be, so I'm not asking for dollar amounts. Just assume that this means that a career in, say, social work is not for me.)
Educational history:
Bachelor's degree, earned 1998, from a major four year research university
Work history (most recent to oldest):
1) Finance company
2) New media company
3) Dot-com company
Interests (in no particular order):
1) finance
2) politics (reading about and discussing it, not participating in it)
3) economics
4) writing
5) New York City
6) working out
7) writing
Miscellany:
My Myers-Briggs personality type, for what that is worth, is either INTP or INTJ, depending on when I have taken the test.
Despite my introversion I like meeting new people and talking to them about what's going on in their lives. People and ideas intrigue me.
I have no idea if this is enough information to generate interesting replies, so if you think I'm leaving something out, fire away.
That's pretty vague. I mean, you don't say what you did, you don't say what you want to do, you don't say what you're degree is in, and you don't say how much you want to make. Seems like it would be pretty hard to make any specific suggestions without that.
posted by delmoi at 12:30 AM on July 29, 2009
posted by delmoi at 12:30 AM on July 29, 2009
if you think I'm leaving something out, fire away
Well, you told us what kind of companies you worked at, and what your "interests" are, but not what you are qualified to do. By my standards, to afford a nice apt in a nice neighborhood in Manhattan, you have to make about $150K, but I have no idea who's going to pay you that much to read and discuss politics, or to work out.
Talking Points Memo is hiring, which might put your interests in politics and writing to good use.
NYPD's new recruits now make $43,000 while in the academy and $46,250 once they're on the street, not counting overtime. Benefits and promotions are excellent, your interests numbered 5 (the city) and 6 (working out) will be richly indulged, and you will (to say the least) meet new people and talk to them.
posted by nicwolff at 12:40 AM on July 29, 2009
Well, you told us what kind of companies you worked at, and what your "interests" are, but not what you are qualified to do. By my standards, to afford a nice apt in a nice neighborhood in Manhattan, you have to make about $150K, but I have no idea who's going to pay you that much to read and discuss politics, or to work out.
Talking Points Memo is hiring, which might put your interests in politics and writing to good use.
NYPD's new recruits now make $43,000 while in the academy and $46,250 once they're on the street, not counting overtime. Benefits and promotions are excellent, your interests numbered 5 (the city) and 6 (working out) will be richly indulged, and you will (to say the least) meet new people and talk to them.
posted by nicwolff at 12:40 AM on July 29, 2009
Yeah, but OP doesn't want to make what a lowly social worker makes, poor things, so being a cop isn't a whole lot better (until you are at it a few years and can get connected and on the take, like so many of NY's finest.) It's also not a job for "introverts," far from it.
Expecting to make $150K with a narrow skillset honed in a dying/changing industry in which, in any case, you have only a decade's experience at best, and with only a 4 year bachelor degree, is like hoping you will win the lottery. Even in Manhattan. Unless you can get back into the financial sector (or sell/lease real estate), you're dreaming childish dreams, especially if you're unwilling to get more education.
There are precious few professions in which you can make over $100K with only a BA degree and a couple of years of experience.
Now you know how skilled laborers feel.
posted by fourcheesemac at 5:35 AM on July 29, 2009
Expecting to make $150K with a narrow skillset honed in a dying/changing industry in which, in any case, you have only a decade's experience at best, and with only a 4 year bachelor degree, is like hoping you will win the lottery. Even in Manhattan. Unless you can get back into the financial sector (or sell/lease real estate), you're dreaming childish dreams, especially if you're unwilling to get more education.
There are precious few professions in which you can make over $100K with only a BA degree and a couple of years of experience.
Now you know how skilled laborers feel.
posted by fourcheesemac at 5:35 AM on July 29, 2009
Start, or redouble, efforts to find a job in finance!
The New York finance job market is dramatically better than it was even a few weeks ago. Not only are layoffs largely done with (knock on wood), new hiring is accelerating. The feeling is that firms over-corrected and that lots of opportunity is left on the table.
By no means is the job market yet easy in finance, but I think it's distinctly better odds than any other industry right now, where there's been plenty of job loss and not the sense of huge opportunity awaiting. Changing industries is always hard, and extra-hard now.
posted by MattD at 6:43 AM on July 29, 2009
The New York finance job market is dramatically better than it was even a few weeks ago. Not only are layoffs largely done with (knock on wood), new hiring is accelerating. The feeling is that firms over-corrected and that lots of opportunity is left on the table.
By no means is the job market yet easy in finance, but I think it's distinctly better odds than any other industry right now, where there's been plenty of job loss and not the sense of huge opportunity awaiting. Changing industries is always hard, and extra-hard now.
posted by MattD at 6:43 AM on July 29, 2009
I don't have much advice for finding another job, but I'd like to throw in the obligatory, overly bitter caution to anyone who thinks they can hop on the writing train after spending years at a job where you made enough cash to live comfortably in Manhattan.
1) you generally get your foot in the door with papers, blogs, etc by freelancing, and freelancing opportunities are shriveling up. I worked as a freelance writer/editor for several years, and since September my assignments have plummeted and my editors are coming up with more and more of nothing.
2) you're competing in a market crawling with more experienced people. You can bet that TPM job listing drew, I'm not kidding, thousands of applicants.
2a) lots of journalists wouldn't admit this to your face, but our industry is pretty wary of formerly wealthy moneymen and the like who've been shunted from the cradle of capitalism and now magically decide that they're going to elbow their way into a fulfilling career of writing, acting, theater set design, etc. Is this fair? Not at all, which is why I probably wouldn't say this to your face, but hey dude, you're on the Internet, kicking around the idea of finally getting that break in writing after I just read four emails from various editors with the same premise: "Sorry, freelancers aren't in our budgets." Remember that 30 Rock episode when the former Wall Street guys become NBC interns? That's pretty much how the creative community feels about this breed of outsider. Editors, at least the ones in my sphere, are typically more loyal to writers who were working before the armageddon, and have scores of experienced, hungry freelancers to choose from as it is.
3) Ground-floor writing gigs aren't going to afford you the lifestyle to which you are accustomed.
posted by zoomorphic at 7:31 AM on July 29, 2009 [5 favorites]
1) you generally get your foot in the door with papers, blogs, etc by freelancing, and freelancing opportunities are shriveling up. I worked as a freelance writer/editor for several years, and since September my assignments have plummeted and my editors are coming up with more and more of nothing.
2) you're competing in a market crawling with more experienced people. You can bet that TPM job listing drew, I'm not kidding, thousands of applicants.
2a) lots of journalists wouldn't admit this to your face, but our industry is pretty wary of formerly wealthy moneymen and the like who've been shunted from the cradle of capitalism and now magically decide that they're going to elbow their way into a fulfilling career of writing, acting, theater set design, etc. Is this fair? Not at all, which is why I probably wouldn't say this to your face, but hey dude, you're on the Internet, kicking around the idea of finally getting that break in writing after I just read four emails from various editors with the same premise: "Sorry, freelancers aren't in our budgets." Remember that 30 Rock episode when the former Wall Street guys become NBC interns? That's pretty much how the creative community feels about this breed of outsider. Editors, at least the ones in my sphere, are typically more loyal to writers who were working before the armageddon, and have scores of experienced, hungry freelancers to choose from as it is.
3) Ground-floor writing gigs aren't going to afford you the lifestyle to which you are accustomed.
posted by zoomorphic at 7:31 AM on July 29, 2009 [5 favorites]
Have you considered, you know, finding a new job?
Here are some job search websites to help you along.
posted by shownomercy at 8:32 AM on July 29, 2009 [2 favorites]
Here are some job search websites to help you along.
posted by shownomercy at 8:32 AM on July 29, 2009 [2 favorites]
I heard the CIA was looking for Wallstreet castoffs though. But I don't know if you would be able to stay in NYC with that job.
posted by delmoi at 11:38 PM on July 29, 2009
posted by delmoi at 11:38 PM on July 29, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
My sense is that, if the economy makes the kind of major rebound that recent stock market performance would like you to believe it will, Manhattan will be all right. For the most part, Americans would, economically, be pretty satisfied if the financial system climbed back to January 2008 levels in the next 12 months.
If that doesn't happen, however, or if the continuing economic contractions and realignments occurring around the rest of the nation persist, Manhattan's very character may change, fundamentally. If America, and the world, no longer funnel money in the amazing pre-collapse rates they once did through Manhattan and London, can such centers of civilization continue to furnish the same amentities and characters that they did, during boom times? If not, will you want to remain in a Manhattan where high commercial vacancy rates and lower rents are the new norm?
For the moment, I assume you have an inexplicable fascination for Central Park, the Met, or the Lincoln Center, or the ESB, or all of it, combined. Then, how are you positioning yourself to support and continue what you most love about the place, in a changing environment? If Manhattan ceases to be the beneficiary of enormous capital flows, what do you think are going to be the sustainable local economic bones, upon which a somewhat depopulated, creatively retrenched Manhattan will continue?
My sense is, Manhattan being an inconvenient island, for most goods and services delivered to its residents, that there is a living to be made in assuring that what needs they have for consumable supplies is satisfied, daily. The cognoscenti will leave when their coffee is sub-par, their groceries aren't fancy and fresh, or their clothing choices aren't satisfactory. The upper middle class will leave, if enough of the cognoscenti leave. The service folks, have long since started to leave.
Now is the time for the committed New Yorker to roll up his/her sleeves, and work on the basics. Get those office suites leased! Make sure the tax base remains viable. Develop quasi-local food cooperatives, with low transportation overheads.
Tough times have ever been a New York entrepreneur's cradle.
posted by paulsc at 11:54 PM on July 28, 2009 [1 favorite]