Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
Analysis:
Being my first interview, I was anxious and really excited to meet Ms. P. I made
sure to read her bio on the company website prior to the interview, and was thrilled to
know that she had a variety of experiences in the Finance field - she worked for both
large corporate firms and small family-oriented firms. In addition, the Finance
industry is male-dominated, making the female perspective very realistic in terms of
gender discrimination in the workplace. When I entered the firm, the receptionist
ushered me in and talked to me about how her son was also in the ISM program, which
significantly reduced my anxiety before the interview. The interview was highly
informative and Ms. P really emphasized the job description of a Financial Planner,
differences in corporate versus small firms, and personality traits needed to be
successful.
Finance, in general, had intense work loads and only worked with numbers. However,
Ms. P explained to me that a Financial Planner acts like a Doctor, in that she builds a
proper retirement plan based on her “diagnosis” of the client’s portfolio. To her,
Accounting is focused on the current financial state of the portfolio for taxes and
statements versus Finance which looks at the financial state in terms of the
investments. Because she works on a plan for the client’s retirement, she spends a
significant portion of her time getting to know her client and spending time with them.
This more leisure Finance job really opened my eyes to the diversity in the market, and
Besides discussing her current job duties, I inquired about her background in
Finance. Ms. P has over 19 years of experience in Financial Planning and worked for
major brokerage firms like Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab, which gave me
insight into the corporate stereotypes that exist. She despised the corporate
environment, because she was handed projects upon projects, was expected to travel
around the world to meet clients, and was required to work long hours. She justifies
this work ethic as essential in a large global company like Fidelity Investments.
However, she switched to a more local and family-oriented firm to focus on client
interactions and to better balance her work and life. Her diverse experience in Finance
According to Ms. P, having the persistence to push through and learn new
lessons is the key to success in the Finance field. She describes her passion for
numbers and human interaction driving her to work in the corporate firms for over
fifteen years, even if she hated the environment. She says that everyone has good days,
where you make a deal or your client is satisfied. But she states that perseverance
through bad days really distinguishes a dedicated individual from the others. To her,
“bad days are moments of wisdom”, which mimics my mom’s favorite saying, “failure
is the stepping stone to success”. Namely, Ms. P went through a lot of discrimination in
her workplace, which caused her to almost give up her career. She said that everyone
from her bosses to her peers treated her lower than what she deserved based on her
merit. Her account of discrimination revealed the harsh reality for a female of color
wishing to pursue a field dominated by Caucasian men. But she clearly emphasized
that perseverance and dedication eventually outshined gender and skin color, which
gave me hope.
This was a very rewarding first interview that delved me into the professional
valuable advice about job duties, work environments, and perseverance that gave me
insight into the work ethic and mindset required for the general Finance field. Out of
this interview, the most shocking information was the gender discrimination. I thought
that discrimination was just a stereotype, given the prevalence of men in the field. But
Ms. P’s experiences proved that I, as a female of color, have extra hurdles to pass, in