The Corporate World

well look im blogging!!!


working in corporate america for about a year and 1/2 full-time and some summers has been a tremendous learning experience.
you develop a penchant for dealing with extremely difficult people, manage on tight time deadlines, learn how to not take no for an answer, and enjoy awesome perks that come with large firms. you also are also able to afford a few trips to saks or barneys, especially if it is just you and you happen to love shoes...

it has not always been easy though. i have had to give up friends' birthday parties, family time, even my best friend's engagement party.
you must pick up every phone call or at the very least return every voicemail. ive been called into the office motzi shabbos, on sundays. ive been dragged downtown to the printers during the weekday, at night, and on weekends. ive pulled all-nighters with closings.

so ill back up a minute. while i wont disclose the name the name of my current firm, i will say that i am the only legal assistant in my department. so when things need to get done, often i am the one called. furthermore there are certain things we do on excel that very few ppl in our dept know how to do so often again i am the go-to person.

the printers is another hellacious experience. this is where huge corporate documents, like a 10-k for example, get filed and drafts get turned and comments are received from all sides. it is more economical to sit in the central filing location than at the office. its hellacious because often you there for hours, days, sometimes a week at a time, turning drafts of the same document. both sides of counsel representation are there as well as the bankers and other finance ppl. its pretty intense.

there was a time when i thought about going into finance, then i thought about being an attorney. i spent an exorbitant amount of money in the thousands on an LSAT tutor and took the LSATs last year. then i actually sat down and thought long and hard about what i wanted to do with my life. what really makes me happy. but even more than that what makes me excited and creates a drive inside me. and while i understand the appeal and sense of satisfaction that comes with completing a huge merger or corporate acquisition, thats not what ultitmately i have the heart for.

when i was an economics major at columbia, the best, meaning the most stimulating and cerebrally-challenging, classes i took were ones relating to education and urban poverty. why there is a disparate diffrence between private and public schools in america, why policy reform has not worked so far, why bush's No Child Left Behind was more lip service than action.

yes i can be as cutthroat as anyone but i really dont want to spend the rest of my life working for big tobacco or "the man". having worked for large corporations i DO know their importance in keeping economies of scale going. money is money is what makes the world go round. and my career pursuits also aren't because i'm a bleeding heart liberal (though lets go dems 08!!!) but there are other things i really believe in.

so for now ill appreciate the perks and toughness of the corporate job for a few more months and then its on to other endeavors........