If you look at my LinkedIn profile, you’ll see I’ve had five different jobs since graduating from college. I know what you’re thinking – Nick, what the fuck? It’s the exact same question my family asks me! However, I got solid reasoning for why I worked five different jobs.

Analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (Jul. ’20 – Mar. ’21)

My first job out of college was working as an Analyst in the Global Finance and Business Management Analyst program at JPMorgan Chase & Co. After a few weeks working there, I found myself not enjoying the job. In fact, I dreaded having to work every single day; so much that my mental health was affected by it. Was it because of a terrible team? Nope. Was it because of bad company culture? Hell no. I dreaded working at the job because I just didn’t find the job to be fulfilling for me, yet I felt like I was stuck in the program.

The only reason I accepted the full-time offer to work at JPMC was simply for the money. If you check out the My Story page, you’ll understand why. I figured that if I hated the job, at least I’d be getting paid well. While I was miserable working, I did try to do things within the firm to lift up my spirits. I joined the Community Partnerships committee of Adelante, JPMC’s Latino employee resource group (ERG), and also cold emailed Lehman College alumni working at the firm. I did these two things to network with others and lower the level of my misery. It worked for a few weeks until I just couldn’t do it anymore.

My passion and career goals were all related to recruiting. I thought I should wait until I make a year at the firm and then leave, but my mental health wasn’t worth sticking it out. I began job hunting and applied to many campus recruiting roles. I heard back from only one company, which will remain anonymous. They had me do 7 interviews before asking for a call in January to tell me they picked someone over me. Their exact words, “It was down to the wire between you and another candidate but we felt the other candidate would be a better fit.” Absolute fucking weirdos for having me do 7 interviews for a COORDINATOR role.

Eventually, I found out about an opportunity at RBC Capital Markets as a Campus Recruitment Coordinator. After a lengthy and somewhat odd interviewing process, I got the call with an offer! I immediately gave my two-weeks notice to JPMC and was on my way to launching my career in recruiting.

My tenure at JPMC ended after only 9 months due to my desire to work in recruiting.

Campus Recruitment Coordinator at RBC Capital Markets (Apr. ’21 – Aug. ’21)

When I got the offer at RBC Capital Markets, I was excited as fuck. I would be working as a contractor on a 6-month contract, which unfortunately meant no benefits. While it was an initial 6-month contract, the managers consistently stated that contractors were renewed for up to 2 years. In addition to no benefits, I had taken a $20,000 pay cut and had to pay back my bonus to JPMC. Frankly, I didn’t care; I was just happy to be working in recruiting.

As a coordinator, I learned a lot about the recruiting process, superdays, and what it takes for an applicant to go from applicant to intern to a full-time employee. It was insightful for me because I’ve been rejected by plenty of firms, so to see what exactly goes into a hiring decision for an internship was pretty cool. It made me think, what the fuck did those firms think of me when I royally fucked up an interview? On top of this, I got to work on diversity-related projects and attended a diversity recruiting event representing RBC. I was pretty happy with the work that I was doing and the people I got to work with.

Also, the biggest personal highlight I’ve ever had in any job occurred at RBC….

I used to be the CEO of a nonprofit organization I founded as a college student. I worked multiple internships and part-time jobs since founding the organization. Never once did a co-worker or manager do what one of my managers at RBC did. It was Saturday morning, and I got a text from my manager. I was pretty confused on why they were texting me during the weekend, but my confusion immediately turned to happiness after reading their message. My manager texted me to wish me luck at the workshop for my nonprofit. It may seem pretty minor, given it was only a text but it meant the world to me.

My primary manager was also great. They allowed me to take some time off as I had something happen in my personal life that really fucked up my mental health. I am very thankful for their understanding of what I was going through at the time.

Despite these wonderful things, my time at RBC came to a permanent end on August 11th. I won’t get into all the details in this post (maybe in another), but it was because I’d be gone for 11 weeks to go to Army Basic Combat Training. I gave them over 3 months’ notice that I’d be away. Isn’t it great when a firm fires the only person of color on the team for joining the military?

My tenure at RBC lasted 5 months because they didn’t support my time away for the Army.

Basic Combat Training Trainee at U.S. Army (Aug. ’21 – Oct. ’21)

In May 2021, I signed an enlistment contract with the New York Army National Guard as a 09S, Officer Candidate. My ship date for Army Basic Combat Training was set for August 16th. When the day to leave for basic training came, I was one sad man. I’d be away from my family and friends for what seemed like a significant amount of time: 11 weeks. Despite my sadness, I manned up and just fucking went.

Throughout the first few weeks of Army Basic Combat Training, I remember asking myself did I make a mistake joining? I missed waking up at a decent time, eating good food, and not having to share one bathroom with 55 other people. I wanted to go home, but I signed a 6-year contract and I knew I needed to fulfill my obligations.

There was actually one trainee who went to the drill sergeants’ office crying and begging to go home. And you wanna know what the caring and thoughtful drill sergeants did? They laughed at him and one drill sergeant told him, “Trainee, quit yo’ fucking crying and be a man. You not leaving here. It’s too late to fucking quit now, trainee. Fuck out my face.”

That trainee didn’t get any sympathy from me or the other trainees because we all wanted to go home and his case was no more special than ours. However, that same trainee ended up graduating and was ultimately happy he didn’t go home.

One of the worst smoking sessions I had was when one of my drill sergeants had our platoon do laps around the bay by bear crawling. He would give the 56 of us about 3 minutes to bear crawl for at least 3 laps around the bay. We obviously couldn’t do it since there were so many of us, so he had us do it again, and again, and again, and again…He did it until we literally couldn’t move our bodies anymore.

Right after, he proceeded to have us do v-ups. He told us we only had to do 50 v-ups and started the count. When he got to 49, he said, “Wait, what number am I on again? Y’know what – my fault, trainees; let’s start it over.” He purposely would “forget” what number he was on MULTIPLE times. I hated it at the time but I’m not gonna lie to you – that shit helped me get abs!

One of the things that made basic suck a little less was the friends I got to make over there. When you’re dealing with the same bullshit alongside a large group of people, you’re bound to build a friendship. You get to complain about it and go through the bullshit together. I even found a love for country music!

Eventually, I fulfilled all the graduation requirements and earned the title: Soldier. At the ceremony, I remember tearing up a bit when my senior drill sergeant put my rank on my chest. It was right after completing a 10-mile ruck with about 40 lbs on our backs. I had swollen knees, a broken rib, and blisters on my feet, but at that moment, that pain ain’t mean shit. I was officially a Soldier! Then came family day and graduation, and I reunited with my family to get back to New York.

My full-time tenure with the Army lasted 3 months because I needed to return home and wait for an OCS (Officer Candidate School) start date.

Talent Acquisition Coordinator at Bloomberg LP (Nov. ’21 – May ’22)

When I arrived back home from Army BCT, it was back to the real world. I now had to think about paying my bills, finding a job, and dealing with some personal matters. Finding a job was what stressed me out the most.

I was confident about finding a job though – just sucked I had to in the first place. After spending the first few days at home relaxing, I remembered receiving a text from a mentor of mine while I was at Fort Jackson. It was in regards to an open role as a Talent Acquisition Coordinator at Bloomberg LP. I contacted her and let her know I was finally home.

After getting on the phone with her and learning more about the role, I was scheduled for two rounds of interviews for the role. Thankfully, I got the offer and it was within the first couple of weeks I got back home!

RBC’s termination of my contract was honestly the best thing they could’ve done for me. I remember being heated when they did, but Bloomberg’s opportunity had been better from an all-around perspective. The money was much higher than RBC, the team was larger, and the hours were less as well. While I was still going to be a contractor at Bloomberg, I was happy that I’d still be working in my desired career field.

I’d say the best thing about working at Bloomberg is that everyone seemed so open to chatting with you. I networked there more than at any other company I previously worked at. I think I only had one person not respond to an email outreach.

The only thing I didn’t like was that Bloomberg went through a restructuring phase and I had to change teams. My new team wasn’t bad, but I had just gotten comfortable settling into my previous one. This was only my gripe about my time at the firm. Besides that, everything else was great.

The reason I decided to leave Bloomberg was because of the Army. Around February, I had been told by my Captain that my ship date for Officer Candidate School would likely be coming soon. She didn’t specify a date, but I knew it would be creeping up on me. My contract with Bloomberg was expiring November 29, 2022. I didn’t want to risk once again coming back home unemployed, so I started the job search. However, this time – my next job was going to be two things: full-time and it’d be as a recruiter.

I interviewed with four different firms between February and May. I will make a separate post on the job search because it had been the most frustrating process due to dumbass recruiters and weird firms.

I eventually got an offer and let my team know. My mentor who helped get me the role was happy for me, and my team was supportive of my decision. If you want to work in an HR role, definitely check out Bloomberg!

My time at Bloomberg ended because I didn’t want to risk unemployment after coming back from OCS.

Campus Recruiter at Bank of America (Jun. ’22 – present)

Eventually, I got an offer from Bank of America to work as a Campus Recruiter! I’m recruiting for their investment banking internship programs. I’m looking forward to expanding my skill set and gaining more experience in my role.

Thus far, everything’s gone great and I’m being given interesting projects to work on.

For any students reading this, feel free to reach out to discuss investment banking internship opportunities at the firm!

Takeaways

I learned a lot from having 5 different jobs in less than 2 years. While I may seem like a job hopper, I have valid reasons for why my career has been a bit of a roller coaster. Here were the top three takeaways I had from this whole ordeal:

1. Don’t pursue a career or job solely for the money. Your mental health and your desire to work somewhere should not be impacted for the sake of a nice checking account. Pursue something you know you’d gladly do. Once you work in a field you genuinely enjoy, feel free to prioritize money in future job searches.
2. Don’t fall in love with working at a company. This may sound controversial but it’s true. I was loving my time at RBC and could see no bad until I was blinded by the termination of my contract. No matter how much you love a company, they can still do whatever they please. Be aware!
3. It’s okay to not have a traditional career path. I get asked by family and friends why I’ve switched jobs so frequently. Everyone I know has been in their first job after college for at least a year. I haven’t had that experience yet, and it’s okay! Everything happens for a reason and you just need to trust the process.

All views are my own – I do not represent any organizations mentioned in this post.