<p>For my first job out of grad school, I came in at a very low salary (actually took a cut in pay moving to NYC from what I had been bringing home between GI bill and waitressing in Texas). Some people in our training class (back then the firm trained new hires in a group) had negotiated much higher salaries. </p>
<p>It turned out more was expected of them as a result and most were ultimately fired because they weren’t living up to those higher expectations. After all, none of us really knew how to do this particular job any better than anyone else regardless of where they went to college. My salary was increased in huge chunks each year as my experience made me more likely to be hired away by a competitor. The trick is get your foot in the door, in my opinion, at a place that has opportunities.</p>
<p>Please look at the rental ads on [Chicago</a> Reader](<a href=“http://www.chicagoreader.com%5DChicago”>http://www.chicagoreader.com) or craigslist. Finding housing is not difficult, although you want to make sure you have something convenient to transportation. <a href=“http://www.transitchicago.com%5B/url%5D”>www.transitchicago.com</a> is the CTA website where you can find out transit routes and times.</p>
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Part of it’s arrogance, too, but only to the extent that I know I’ve got a lot of great skills under my belt that many of my Wharton peers don’t have – it’s just that I’m really bad at networking and asking around, and I’ve had a lot of other things to focus on. It bothers me when I see people I know I can outperform land fun jobs at 80k/year…
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<p>Keep in mind that this is your first job and the things that matter for getting a first job out of Wharton do not matter later on. I know exactly what you’re talking about in terms of ‘marketing’ yourself – there were plenty of people who were ‘in the recruiters’ faces’ at Wharton and I always felt like they were the ones who were noticed whether or not they had the grades, the underlying skill set etc. It’s not always going to be that way. When you’re moving on to your second job, you’re not going to be on campus competing with 400 other wharton grads for the same exact job, trying to impress at some presentation by a company. You’ll likely be one of a handful (or possibly the only) of Wharton grads and you’ll stand out on that basis, in addition to whatever skillsets you’ve developed in your first job. Just because things were hard at OCR doesn’t mean they always will be; I definitely have friends from Wharton who are proof of this – barely got a job through OCR even though they had good grades and all because they were quiet, not good at marketing themselves, didn’t appear as over-confident as lots of others etc. They took jobs that their classmates scoffed at as being lower paying or whatever, but now a few years down the road – they are VPs at investment banks etc.</p>
<p>Legend, congrats on landing a decent job in the current environment. I suspect that you will be able to find roommates or housemates in Chicago without too much difficulty.</p>
<p>On a more general note, Legend mentions getting another offer for $120K in NY. Seriously?? With a bachelors degree? Guess not much has changed on Wall St.</p>
<p>MOWC: Yeah, the workforce itself has just been torn apart… not a good time to be graduating (although I suppose it’s better this way than to have been hired at a firm and then canned to cut costs). I just feel as if I am the only Wharton student who seems to be complaining about the impact of the crisis on the job market. Many of my Wharton friends have enjoyable, decent-paying jobs and I can’t help but feel as if I’ve failed somewhere despite all the hard work. But I do agree with your post 100% – will definitely try to get the foot in the door. It’s just been a neverending struggle. </p>
<p>Pizzagirl: It’s not so much because I’m a Wharton grad strictly speaking, but the fact that it’s a very difficult school that I worked hard to pay for throughout the years in the face of other obstacles (long, long story). By far the hardest 4 years of my life – I just hoped that all this hard work would lead to a light at the end of the tunnel, but instead we’ve all got a crisis and I have no realization of all my time and effort investments into my education.</p>
<p>anxiousmom: Do you have a family? If I may ask (if you’d be willing to reply in a PM), how does a year break down for you financially?</p>
<p>anothermom2: Awesome story I’m glad you were able to make the switch – hopefully I’ll be able to share a similar fate :P</p>
<p>midwesterner: Thanks for the links.</p>
<p>aj725: Yeah, I’ve always noticed that too – I’m somewhat introverted and not so much mega-bubbly and outgoing like my more successful peers were when it came to OCR stuff (I was only ever able to get one job offer from OCR, which I took junior year. Senior year, jobs were gouged hardcore). My main worry is that my current job offer is not exactly something that utilizes my strong suits. It doesn’t mean I won’t work hard, but it’ll perhaps be harder for me to stand out (it’s not so much active problem-solving and development, which is what I am good at), but I may be worrying too much.</p>
<p>cadbury: It’s actually not a Wall St firm I got the $120k offer from – I’m not even sure if that particular offer is something I can bank on. The firm has a slightly shady history and the job description itself was beyond awful – even compared to the 100 hr/week banking jobs. I have worked 100/wk before (last summer I was holding three jobs, two fulltime and one part-time) and it was pretty exhausting… this was on-par time wise and yet involved tasks that were just not suited for me at all. I won’t get into the specifics but it was a no-brainer decision to reject it.</p>
<p>OP, also remember that the 2007 grad who got a $100k starting salary and bonus may be currently unemployed.</p>
<p>MOWC has excellent advice. If the $120k job seemed shady to you wheninterviewing, imagine what it would be like to work there. Positivley putrid – there’s a reason they were offering that kind of enticement.</p>
<p>A good friend of our was an associate at a major NY law firm after she graduated, and while she made tons of $$, the long hours necessitated that she spend a lot of income on conveniences (too much fast food, lots of dry cleaning, etc.) that enabled her to work those long hours.</p>
<p>$50k in Chicago with a roommate would not be bad – especially if this includes medical coverage and are within public transit of your job!</p>
<p>Part of being an adult is being able to make shrewd long-term choices even if not as immediately gratifying as say, a bigger salary. Remember you aren’t a mere droid worker but, living in a place, interacting with coworkers…in short, building a life for yourself. Pick the place you are more comfortable.</p>
<p>Wharton degree or not, nobody owes you anything. I don’t mean that as a put-down but, more encouragement to prove yourself. My friends who went into IB/Con for the salary haven’t done nearly as well as those who really are into it. So, pick which job makes you more curious/intrigued. $ matters but, you have the luxury of reflecting on that piece in abstract of the other consequences as a college senior. </p>
<p>If you can live, and pay your loans if there are any, (I remember you from when you were applying) take the job. You say you aren’t good at networking. The thing is, people pay for those skills. You will learn them much more quickly in a job than elsewhere. At a certain point, we all just have to start. You can do ANYTHING in your 20’s and still wind up a VP by the time you are 40. What you learned in school is maybe 20% of what you will actually wind up doing to contribute in any position, and you need to start getting that other 80% under your belt now. Do you like the people in this firm? The company culture? THOSE are the important questions. BTW, I’m on your side. Go legend. But there’s no way to choose the perfect job at this point, you don’t have enough data. Go and start getting data.</p>
<p>LegendofMax- WildChild tells me LOTS of the Wharton seniors are really sweating getting jobs. The 3.8 kids are landing the occasional high-paying Wall Street job, the wrestlers have been “connected” to jobs, but the 3.2-3.5 kids are going insane. The career counselors are talking kids down off the ledge (figuratively). Do NOT think you are the only one “settling”. Also- many of these grads who have accepted the kind of job you are coveting are going to hate that job and leave it or get canned. If this Chicago job seems to be a good life-style fit (other than you wish it paid more- (don’t we all :] )) then go for it. Living down around UChicago (won’t seem bad to you compared to Penn) would be an option. You can take the train to work and land some inexpensive grad-student type housing.</p>
<p>legendofmax,
My son is a grad student at UChicago and I can tell you that housing in Chicago is MUCH cheaper than it is in NYC. He lives in Hyde Park in a very nice, secure building. There are studios to be had for probably in the $750-$800 range, and one bedrooms would probably run ~$900+. If you pick a place near the Metra, you can be downtown pretty quickly. I understand your disappointment after all your hard work, but from everything I hear from recent graduates, you are quite fortunate to get a reasonable offer. You won’t be there forever. Good luck!</p>
<p>Perhaps you got this figure from what some of your fellow grads have been offered. It is the going rate for first year hires in IB and S & T in NYC. But this salary is for jobs in NYC. You have already been told the col in Chicago is less than NYC. So probably $50k will go as far (or almost) as the salary paid in NYC.</p>
<p>I think, like others on this thread, you should take the job and get the needed experience. Plus you get to live in a great city you may not have lived in before.</p>
<p>FWIW, my D goes to the University of Chicago and lives in a 2 br Hyde Park apartment 5 blocks from the Metra. She commuted to work in the Loop this summer and found it to be very convenient. The rent, for the apartment, is $1050 and includes heat. Luxurious, no, but very livable. The cost of living in Chicago is substantially less than in NYC, even living in some of the trendier neighborhoods. If you don’t need to live in Lincoln Park it can be very affordable.</p>
<p>ledgend, it wasn’t Chicago but my son found a great apartment with a great roommate through Craig’s List. Guess what, he (the roommate) is a Wharton alumnus! </p>
<p>You’ll have to invest some looking time in Chicago which may mean taking a short-term hotel like rental or staying with friends. Everyone who relocates goes through an uncomfortable period of re-adjustment. It seems like forever but after you’re settled you forget all about it.</p>
<p>The key questions are still Do you want to live in Chicago? Do you like the company/boss?</p>
<p>A lot of people – not just recent grads – are severely impacted by the downturn in hiring. We have NO IDEA where this is heading and there are no indications that it’s going to get better before it gets worse so looking backwards or left or right for guideposts of what you “should” be earning is no longer valid.</p>
<p>If you’re open to living in Chicago, if it’s a reasonably successful firm with reasonably nice people – grab it.</p>
<p>Will your new employer help you with leads on housing and where some of the other younger employees are living? Also, start a separate thread on this forum about ideas for Chicago housing. I know there are plenty of Chicago parents/students. AND-look at the online Northwestern and UChicago student newspapers.</p>
<p>OP, do you know if your employer is willing to put you up for a month or so when you’re looking an apartment? When I got my first job, and it was ages ago, my employer paid me for a month at Marriott. If they don’t have it in the offer, you might ask them nicely :-)</p>
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I’m glad you were able to make the switch – hopefully I’ll be able to share a similar fate :P</p>