This essay is based on a conversation with Nick Rutherford, a recent University of Pennsylvania graduate who interned at JPMorgan Private Bank and will join Unilever this fall. It has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has reviewed his offer letter.
I didn’t have a specific career plan in mind before I enrolled in college — I wasn’t passionate about math or science, and I thought I would go to law school after my undergraduate degree.
I was a political science major, but I took classes at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and I was surrounded by career-minded students who were always talking about resumes and internships, and that got me interested in those things.
I had a variety of internships during college, working for a non-profit media company, an advertising agency, and a think tank.
My strategy is to always add 100-150 job details to a spreadsheet and apply to 5 per day until I run out. During my last summer before graduating, I managed to secure three internship offers: from a consulting firm, a consumer goods company, and JP Morgan.
I was so excited and really grateful when I got the call that I got accepted for an internship at JP Morgan. I would be working in their private banking department in Seattle. I wasn’t too nervous because they made it clear that they would teach me even if I didn’t know anything.
Despite what I had heard about banking from other friends, the interns and even the analysts we supervised did not have to work outside of working hours or on weekends. I did not feel the internship was taxing on me physically or mentally.
When it came time to get the offer to come back full time, I knew I would get it because I had done a good job and felt I deserved it. They chose three of five people from my class, including me.
But by the time the offer came through, I think I had already gotten the feeling that this wasn’t an environment I wanted to be in long term.
Even though my starting salary was $100,000 a year, I had mixed feelings about the offer.
The No. 1 element on my pros and cons list was financial security and knowing that a six-figure salary was within reach of signing a contract. I didn’t come from a wealthy family, my mother was a single parent to me and my three siblings. I was able to attend college thanks to a few scholarships.
Nick Rutherford and his brother Nick Rutherford
It was a tough number to turn down, but I’m a very growth-oriented person and I care a lot about how I spend my time and the person I’m becoming. I was eager to be in a place where I felt inspired and interested in the work I was doing.
I was doing well, but I didn’t get that feeling during my internship. I didn’t have any bad experiences, but there wasn’t much work that I really enjoyed, like making models.
I didn’t have any other offers, so my alternative was to start my job search from scratch, without any idea what kind of work I would get or whether any offers would even come close to the salary I was making at JP Morgan.
“I thought to myself, ‘What’s the worst that could happen if I turn it down?’ The answer was that I would be out of work for a few months, but I would find work. I discussed my decision with my family and my business school professors, and I turned down the offer.
After sending that email, I didn’t dwell on my decision. I went right back to looking for more work, creating spreadsheets and going to interviews just like I had before. A few months later, I applied for a position in Unilever’s leadership program.
I used many of the same skills in my Unilever interview that helped me land the finance internship.
I received a job offer from the company’s New Jersey branch and plan to start working there this fall. The salary is significantly lower than the first offer, but I believe that “if you enjoy your work, the money will follow.”
Sure, for a few years it was a prestigious honor to have JP Morgan on my resume, but I didn’t care about it as much as what else I wanted in a job.
I think a lot of Gen Zers these days have a similar view of work. They no longer want to dedicate 40 years of their life to a yearly paycheck. We’ve become more demanding, looking for more than just company culture and a simple paycheck.
Have a career story to tell? Contact this reporter: shubhangigoel@insider.com
