Nobel Prize in Economics
Skyscrapers full of analysts, auditors, and executives—is this where I want to be?
After having my interview with TD Financial Bank; my eyes were definitely opened up to a world of chance, luck and hard-work also known as business.
Never have I felt the confidence, power or authority that I did as I walked through the streets of downtown Toronto in my suit. The sheer amount of self-worth I gained, from the momentary walk to the bank, is simply indescribable. If I had to wake up every morning, and walk through the barrage of individuals rushing to their daily work—it would bring a smile to my face.
But, is that all there is to it? Sure it may be extremely rewarding emotionally, and I’m sure that it rewards financially as well, but is that all there is to it?
My two interviewers, the Senior Auditor and the Senior Manager, both made me feel completely welcome. They were charismatic, cheerful and had a great sense of humour. Not only that, but their expertise within their field was impressive and I felt a great sense of positivity around them. Their encouragement to delve further into the economic sector of financial organizations and banks has lead me to start reconsidering my prospective post-secondary plans.
From the original Honours degree in Applied Mathematics with a possible Earth Sciences specialization option, the two of them both stated that studies in financial analysis and/or risk management would be of utmost help to my future. I love the math—the probability, the risks; I’d love doing it. But I’m not convinced.
Do I want to wake up every morning at half past six, to dress up into a suit, and commute through the mayhem of traffic to a sixty-storey skyscraper? Do I want to be the reason behind a company’s success and fantastic last quarter turnover? Do I want to help the business make money?
It seems rather selfish to me. All business, for that matter, seems selfish, but of course—reminiscent of human nature nonetheless. But I don’t think I’d be able to handle it. I don’t think I’d be able to spend my whole day inside that skyscraper except for the seventy-five or minutes allocated to a lunch break. I don’t think I’d be able to come home after 5, to relax for a bit, realize it’s already 10pm, and hit the hay for tomorrow is another day. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat.
Before, I had absolutely zero knowledge of this field. Thankfully, I have delved a bit into it and I’m not too sure that this is something I want to do. It seems to be analogous to Thursday’s For the Workforce Drowning:
people inside,
dressed for the funeral in black and white.
These ties strangle our necks, hanging in the closet,
found in the cubicle;without a name, just numbers, on the resume stored in the mainframe, marked for delete
9 to 5! 9 to 5!
and we’re up to our necks,
drowning in the seconds,
ingesting the morning commute
lost in a dead subway sleep
Now we lie wide awake in our parents beds,
tossing and turning.
tomorrow we’ll get up
drive to work,
single file
with everyday
it’s like the last.save our ship
the anchor is part of the desk
we can’t cut free,
the water is flooding the decks
the memo’s sent through the currents
computers spark like flares
As of right now, I’ve decided to accept the internship offer for August at TD Financial Bank, most likely in the auditing department. That’s not to say I’ll enjoy it, though I might. That’s not to say it’s what I want to do for the rest of my life, though it’s of course possible. It’s just to experience it, and see for myself, so I can create my own opinion toward it, rather than rely on others’ experiences.
For now, what my future career will be is still a mystery.
