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Biggest career regrets?

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  1. #1

    Biggest career regrets?

    Beginning to wonder whether I've made the wrong career choice....I started out in medicine (got side-tracked to the 'glamorous' banking lifestyle, oh how wrong I was) and ended up in finance (hence up at this hour rushing deadlines) and am starting to get burnout from the brutal hours.
    Has anyone here been through the same transition ie. Medicine --> Finance, or vice versa?

    As I miss the helping patients side of work, I volunteer at a hospital on some weekends, if time allows it. Though it seems to me the doctors I got to know there regret their career decisions immensely and advise anyone to opt for finance/business instead. I guess it's a case of the grass is always greener on the other side' *sigh*....

    What's your biggest career regret?


  2. #2

    Join Date
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    Biggest career regret was wasting 5 and a half years of my 'career' in a U.S. Bank in HK.

    Managed by clueless Texans and micro managed by 'local' managers.

    Was asked to take on more responsibility but when I asked for it I was rejected and ignored.

    So in the end I undermined the manager and got a nice payoff.


  3. #3

    My biggest career mistake was not taking the time to become fluent in Putonghua. I have been here for 20 years and my Cantonese is good due to the immersion but there had been career opportunities in Singapore I had to pass up because of language skills.

    shri, dreamerinhk and cookie09 like this.

  4. #4

    Join Date
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    Biggest career regret was wasting 5 and a half years of my 'career' in a U.S. Bank in HK.

    Managed by clueless Texans and micro managed by 'local' managers.
    @jimbo - I hear this day in and day out from people who work for the US banks. The politics are just vicious and stress levels are through the roof - from what I hear. But then I also have friends who work for European banks and they are a lot more laid back. Would your experience have been different if you had switched to a French / German bank?

  5. #5

    Are US based entities more political due to them being more localised whereas European entities tend to have foreign managers in local offices?


  6. #6

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    Deam,

    DoNOT be so easily influenced by others!! As a young man, you have all the time you need to enjoy one job after another. Whatever job you are into, enjoy every moment of it. Having a tough boss is like going through a good training for our EQ.

    My first job was also with a tough boss, but I enjoyed serving him so much because I knew that I could really learn alot with a demanding person; which proved that I did.

    Good luck and never regret, just trasure your experience. Only enjoy a job that you will do a good job!!

    Last edited by motivationworks; 14-08-2015 at 09:22 AM. Reason: wrong spelling

  7. #7

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    I was in US Financial Services company (in the US and China) and now a European Bank (here in HK). Miss the US style big time. Dunno what you guys are talking about.


  8. #8

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    Here is my take from a cynical point of view. Many smart kids don't know what they want to do with their lives. They are influenced by their parents, teachers, etc to be a success (usually this means money). Since they are smart they can get into medical school and everyone is happy except the student if this is not the field they want to be in. Medicine is one of the highest earning careers and very prestigious. Student does not feel fulfilled and then decides to go into Banking which is also highly paid, and since they are very smart they will get lots of job offers.

    So you see the issue is really how do you define success. If it is all about the money, then there is a price to pay - long hours, stress. Measuring success based on achieving set goals (money, fame, promotion, championships) is a fallacy since there will always a need for more, once you've achieved a level.

    You need to ask yourself what makes you happy. If helping people makes you happy, then maybe a career in an NGO, social work is better suited for you. If having control and remaining independent are goals then perhaps something entrepreneurial is something that you can look into. So my advice is not start with the material target but look into the internal satisfaction target first to determine what areas are best for you.


  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dankleness:
    I was in US Financial Services company (in the US and China) and now a European Bank (here in HK). Miss the US style big time. Dunno what you guys are talking about.
    Is US style anything like that TV show SUITS?

  10. #10

    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    @jimbo - I hear this day in and day out from people who work for the US banks. The politics are just vicious and stress levels are through the roof - from what I hear. But then I also have friends who work for European banks and they are a lot more laid back. Would your experience have been different if you had switched to a French / German bank?
    Entierly different - aside from maybe CS/UBS and DB who to a certain extend are in between Euro and US banks.
    For all the money in the world I wouldnt touch an US bank (nearly made the move 4 years ago to JPM). Not because I cannot just because I value other things in life.
    dreamerinhk, jimbo and z754103 like this.

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