After my MBA, whenever I met my classmates in New York, the way they described their jobs (especially in investment banking), it sounded like a house of horrors.
Some were getting 24 hours of sleep — per week! And when people around you are so tortured, can you expect a compassionate work culture?
Yet, year after year, hordes of Wharton students would desperately court these companies with their best charm. Why?
Part of the answer is money — in good years, the bonuses were so good that you could quickly pay off your student loans.
But there is another part — the conspiracy of silence. And we are all part of it. Here is how this conspiracy works.
When you leave a job, no matter how ridiculously torturous your job is, you say, “I learned so much! It was such a great experience!”
Yay.
Some people may genuinely love these jobs but most hate it. Yet you can’t say it openly for three reasons:
First, doing so would degrade the perceived value of your work experience. Who wants to say, “I spent 5 years of my life doing a job I hated — so please hire me.”?
And to be fair, many of these jobs teach you a lot — the horror was real, but so was the learning.
Second, you would get ostracised and lose friends. Who wants that?
Third, if you say negative things, you fear being branded as a “negative person.”
In the phraseology of game theory, your dominant strategy is to say good things about your past jobs. Bingo, the facade continues.
We are all part of this conspiracy. It works. But at least let us acknowledge that it exists.
Here is the ultimate irony. The smartest and the best join these Ivy League schools, wanting to live their best life. Only to end up in glorified, well-paying sweat shops.
For what? I don’t know.
– Rajan