I’d just like to share this as it might be helpful to someone in a similar position.
I graduated from business school in April of last year. At the time, I had been working with one of the major Canadian banks as a teller. When I graduated I was offered a full time office position (essentially a branch level sales position) which I accepted.
For context, my manager and the team around me are great. Everyone is insanely helpful and nice and I have developed relationship I hope to continue . These people deserve way more for the shit they put up with.
Anywho, I was very successful immediately. Top of the community & regional market leaderboards and was promoted quickly to a role where I manage a book of around 600 clients
From September – now, I have been questioning the choice of banking of several reasons, morality being the biggest one. Banking is lucrative. If you’re good at sales and work hard, you can make a lot of money quickly. I’m currently being groomed for a $100k/ year position at 24 that I’d move in to next year. But, I have come to realize to work in this industry you have to sell your your soul. The amount of predation within the Canadian banking industry is disgusting. Everyone knows this, that banks are in it for money over your best interest. But the extend to which this is the case is insane. Unethical business practices, are fueled by ever increasing targets that sales people have to hit (someone we are all supposed to sell 100 credit cards without giving anyone who doesn’t need a CC on is a joke).I could ramble about how unethical and horrible the financial industry is from the inside but I’ll leave it at don’t trust your bank they just want your money.
The last few months, my mental health had been in the gutter. Seeing the affect of my organization on people’s lives is something I couldn’t grapple with. So, I’ve decided to move on. I’m leaving on very good terms and doing the best to make my colleagues live easy. I’ll be taking a part time serving job starting shortly.
This decision was terribly difficult. Anxiety over making the right decision is something I had to grapple with. The security of leaving a promising job was also scary. But, at the end of the day, I decided I couldn’t be complicit in fostering inequality and this perversion towards money.
Leaving a job for whatever reason you see fit is the right choice for you. For me it was morals and mental health for another it could simply be the workload. At the end of the day, we need to make decisions that are best for us. Being caught up in career building and telling yourself “I’ll give up the time i built with this company “ will only lead to more strife later on. Funny enough, this is the sentiment I’m getting from all my co-workers who seem terribly unhappy. But also, from clients. It seems a lot of people have stuck with jobs they didn’t want and now can’t see a way out. At first I viewed serving as a downgrade. In reality, being where you want to be will always be an upgrade.
I don’t know if this will be particularly insightful, but hopefully it helps someone in the position I was in feel more comfortable with their decision because the last month absolutely tore me apart while making it.
Some side thoughts: therapy is great to help work through these tough decisions. But, so is just talking about it with someone. Make the decision that’s best for you not your career. Go help the world don’t hurt it.
Edit: wrote this while taking a shit at work and my leg fell asleep