September 15, 2008

Industry in collapse

If you are planning on moving, one thing to be sure not to forget is a shower curtain. Even if you manage to go the whole weekend by not showering or showering at the boyfriend’s place, it becomes rather difficult not to get your entire bathroom soaked while getting ready for work on Monday morning.

This was going to be the start of a (hopefully funny) post on how much moving sucks, and then lead into my race report from yesterday. However, this morning while driving to my client, I got hit with the triple shock news about Lehman, Merrill, and AIG. The first two are where several of my best friends work, and I have some other friends at AIG. Almost all of my friends work in banking or consulting, and we were finishing up our first year of work and thinking how well we’re doing and that we’ve finally “made it” to grownup life. Not so. We’re are finding that suddenly the enviable job offers they accepted are worthless, and that even though they graduated at the top of their class at a top university, they’re unemployed and without any real prospects. A friend of a friend just moved out to Houston to take a job with Lehman there – talk about being hit with a double whammy this weekend.

My job is safe and my company is doing well – at least for now. But how long will that last?

I hope all of you are safe and well.

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25 thoughts on “Industry in collapse”

  1. It’s so nuts here (I work at a custody bank in Securities Lending), and my heart goes out to everyone at Lehman. Just a horrible time right now for anyone in the financial industry.

  2. Yes, this was distressing news, even moreso for anyone with a personal stake in the latest meltdown.

    Having survived the 2000-2003 dotcom crash, during which I had little or no income for close to two years, I can offer three pieces of advice:
    – get (and stay) out of debt
    – save at least a third of everything you make
    – keep your skills and resume updated

  3. All my friends lost their jobs 🙁 Some of them were actually re-located to Asia. My dad, who was heartbroken after I decided to fore-go anything banking/finance related for marketing, is now relieved.

  4. I heard the news about Lehman and others this morning and I was shocked. I, too, have friends who work in the industry and it’s just so sad. Who’s next? Seriously, Wall Street just isn’t going to be the same anymore!! I’m glad to hear that your job is safe!

  5. Thanks for checking in 🙂 I’m alive – just chilling. I’ve been traveling a ton 🙁 with no computer! I’m trying to keep on top of things!! Moving is no fun – I’m feeling your pain! Good luck!

  6. I’ve missed the swinging axe somehow several times over the last few years. Many prayers we’ll look back at these times in the future and be able to say the same 5 years from now.

  7. Wow. That sucks. I found that over here in Australia graduating a s a teacher. They hyped us up at uni talking about how all the baby-boomers will be retiring in the next 5 years so there’s going to be heaps of full time work.

    Suddenly, out in the real-world, you find that they’ve been saying that to the last 15 years of graduates, and in actual fact, there’s a 17 YEAR WAITING list for permanent work in my area.

    Needless-to-say I’ll be doing temporary shit-kicking jobs for a long time to come. Talk about disillusionment.

    Keep in touch
    -xx-

  8. When I moved up to SF, we went out and bought a shower curtain first thing on our second morning there. I love showers and a shower curtain is definitely a necessity.

  9. Bad day. Tomorrow will be better! Really!

    Fingers crossed for your friends. Everybody gets laid off sooner or later – now they’ve got it out of the way! 🙂

  10. I thought about you when I heard the news. The market looks bleak for the rest of the year. One thing is for sure, debt destroys. I’m glad you’re a smart cookie so you will be just fine. Just in case, you might start getting some back-up plans in place.

  11. oh man, and OH MAN. 1) i also didn’t have a shower curtain for the first week when i moved back in june. i tried really hard to turn the shower head towards the wall as to avoid getting a lot of water on the floor, but it still got water everywhere. 2) i was reading about the whole markets crashing and huge firms crumbling and absolutely thank whatever powers at be that i’ve got a little bit of luck. the architecture & building world is going through such a downturn as well, and i sit back watching my boyfriend and so many friends looking for work. our friends need as much support as we can possibly give them!

  12. the real world likes to slap us around a bit. we just need to keep doing what we can, be smart, and cross our fingers for all of those friends out looking for jobs.

    keep your head up.

    and buy a shower curtain.

  13. I feel that that kind of thing is going around throughout almost every industry right now. IT is suffering too. Hopefully your friends will be able to find something soon.

  14. I used to work for Bear Stearns’ mortgage company. They shut our office down last summer. It didn’t take long for the rest of the company to go too. Up until the end, management would tell us that we’d be okay. Bear Stearns has been around for 80+yrs. Blah, blah, blah. But I knew better. If they’re discussing the mortgage crisis on the Today Show, it’s not okay. I wonder who’s next.

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