Is it possible to rise through the ranks in corporate if you start from the bottom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes old people like boomers and Genx were able to do this however nowadays everyone has advance degrees and internships after college so it's not likely anymore

Also because younger people getting degrees delay their careers makes it harder.

I am a Boomer and my brother and I started our careers at 18. I worked a major bank 18-19 as a full time employee, 19-22 a second major bank, 22-23 a third smaller bank post college in a mgt. training program then a fourth large investment bank managing a team of people from 23-27 then a really great job at 28. By 28 I had 10 years work experience and 5 complained on resume.

My brother did same and by 29 he was managing 40 people at a VP at Morgan Stanley with 11 years in resume.

Boomers worked through college, did not go away to school and did MBA at night.

I worked one complaint my 36 year old boss was 20 years at company. She started at 16 part time and worked up way up to VP by 36 and did college while working part time.

No one wants to work that hard anymore and I don’t blame them.

I even worked at a company we had a 50th anniversary employee who was only 64 she started part time at 14!! DCUM is full of lawyers who start work at 24 and retire at 55.

Look at the CEO of GM who is 61 she is there 43 years. Takes a long time to go from assembly line to CEO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes old people like boomers and Genx were able to do this however nowadays everyone has advance degrees and internships after college so it's not likely anymore

Also because younger people getting degrees delay their careers makes it harder.

I am a Boomer and my brother and I started our careers at 18. I worked a major bank 18-19 as a full time employee, 19-22 a second major bank, 22-23 a third smaller bank post college in a mgt. training program then a fourth large investment bank managing a team of people from 23-27 then a really great job at 28. By 28 I had 10 years work experience and 5 complained on resume.

My brother did same and by 29 he was managing 40 people at a VP at Morgan Stanley with 11 years in resume.

Boomers worked through college, did not go away to school and did MBA at night.

I worked one complaint my 36 year old boss was 20 years at company. She started at 16 part time and worked up way up to VP by 36 and did college while working part time.

No one wants to work that hard anymore and I don’t blame them.

I even worked at a company we had a 50th anniversary employee who was only 64 she started part time at 14!! DCUM is full of lawyers who start work at 24 and retire at 55.

Look at the CEO of GM who is 61 she is there 43 years. Takes a long time to go from assembly line to CEO.

Are you kidding? No bank is hiring an 18 year old let alone 16 year, even for a teller position it’s dicey. Definitely not promoted to VP without a college degree — and not the kind you can get part time.

Boomers had it easier because there was huge discrimination which winnowed the potential candidates significantly; it’s more level now or at least try to appear so take into consideration education and experience.

Trust me, working as a banker in the 60s was WAY WAY easier than college today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have. In finance/wealth management. Started as an assistant to an advisor, barely understanding what a stock even is and certainly not owning any. I am now SVP. It took about 15 years. I always have said yes to new opportunities, using each to learn a different aspect of the business. Some roles were easy, others excruciatingly hard. I’m a woman.

I don’t think you’re my good friend, but you could be! She started at a NYC financial company without even a desk - she answered phones, poured oj and coffee etc. Someone saw her potential and suggested she go through their training program. She eventually was part of a real helping them establish a new location in Asia. She’s now a SVP in the US with a different company.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My spouse did. Started at Deloitte at 22 and made partner at 39.

Has it been hard on her health?

[Anonymous]

Famously, Richard Grasso of NYSE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My spouse did. Started at Deloitte at 22 and made partner at 39.

Has it been hard on her health?

Everything in life is a tradeoff. Before you aspire to go from the mail room to the board room, ask yourself what you're willing to sacrifice to do it. Don't think you can avoid giving anything up - the corporate gods always require a sacrifice. Look at any of the great industrial families. The man who started the company often gave up everything, including his life at an early age. There are some exceptions, like Warren Buffet, was a genius with investing and corporate reorganization. By comparison, look at Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, etc... every one of them gave up something significant, often regretting that sacrifice decades later.

[Anonymous]

Are you saying Jobs got cancer because of his job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Famously, Richard Grasso of NYSE

And Jimmy Kane at Bear Stearns 😬

[Anonymous]

I spent ten years at a DC startup which had about two dozen people when I started working there in the early 90s. Company now has $2+ billion in revenue and there are definitely people who started at the entry level while I was there who are in the upper ranks now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's possible. But you must be always on the lookout for new opportunities to build skills, get to know people (network), take on challenges for highly-visible work, publish articles, public speaking, etc.... The MBA is nice, but you need something tangible to go with it (and no well-respected MBA program will take you absent this).

Are you tall, white male, exuding “leadership” charisma? And willing to throw some elbows to advance? Maybe.

Otherwise no.

This. I look at those in top positions for companies I've worked at and it's only ever those types of guys that can rise to top positions without really clear (externally validated) credentials.

[Anonymous]

Possible, yes, depending on organization. Not at all likely.

[Anonymous]

Work for a tech start-up. There are not many layers of management in the early stages and if the company hits and grows the opportunities for senior roles will be available. I left a job at a system integrator where opportunities for promotion were few and far between. Went to work for a cybersecurity company and was promoted 4 times in 8 years and now in a very senior role. Numerous other people I worked with have had similar trajectories.