The Bright Side of Life

I've been humming that song for the past couple of days now. Been kind of nice to wake up a bit later, eat a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and watch the Tour de France on Versus.

Just wrapped up another interview with a local investment firm. Seems Monster.com actually works when you post your resume. About the only shady responses I get are from car dealerships. Not that it's bad or anything, but I have no interest in working as a car salesman. I'm sure the money is good, but standing around all day waiting for shit to happen, or my favorite image, circling the parking lot like a bunch of land sharks, is not my idea of career development.

This investment house is about 45 people strong in the Houston area. Mostly college business grads. A smattering of Texas A&M rings on fingers, and one HOT HOT HOT HOT HR recruiter. Thankfully, I am more mature and married. My hormones evaporated shortly after the wedding. I tend to make less a fool of myself than my younger days.

The company harps on some of the same philosophies and values that Frost instilled in me, which is good. I'd rather be in a place like that where everyone believed in the company and product the same. Working with the same core values in mind also builds a strong working relationship with everyone in the office. These guys are real big into team cooperation and working together. If all goes well the next couple of weeks, I hope to have gainful employment by the beginning of August.

I don't want to jinx anything now by assuming I have the job. There's still a background check they have to perform and I have at least two more interviews to complete with the President and Vice President of the company. This next go round, I have to provide a list of near 200 contacts that I may wish to call on as part of my job. Shouldn't be too hard. And, no, they are not going to steal my names and call on them if I don't take the job. This is some exercise handed down by hottie the HR queen to see where my contacts break down into (i.e. friends/family, work contacts, acquaintances, etc.). Next week, I meet with the VP. I've been told he'll ask some curve ball questions about my background and do some role play regarding my contacts. He will also go through the benefits and pay structure. This is the lead up to making an offer of employment in the last meeting.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I may be a financial advisor in a couple more weeks. Once I get in the door, I next have to worry about getting licensed with a Series 7, 66 and Group I Insurance license. The more I think about it, the more I want to pursue this career track. Lending and banking are great, and they prepared me well for where I am now. I kept feeling the cold shoulder come down from on high in the senior lender ranks. It appeared to me that they didn't want to consider a mere lobby serf without the proper bona fides. That, and I still refuse to kiss anyone's ass. And although I promised never to badmouth Frost Bank, they had a crappy bonus/incentive structure. Conservative would be one name for it...I call it being a tight ass. Other banks have uncapped commission for their bankers. They also help their bankers get licensed to sell securities and annuty products, too. Frost is one of the very few that doesn't require it, or help someone get it (unless you work in the Financial Management Group).

I'm going cross-eyed thinking back on it, and I'd like to get a peaceful night's sleep before my interview with another Investment firm (bigger name company...not too interested, just going to polish my interview skills and see if they pay better). I'll rail on my former employer some more later.

night.