Financial analyst by day

So I seem to have developed myself an "About Me" slogan. You can find it on Facebook, or Twitter, or on this here blog.  

"Financial analyst by day, blogger by night. And Jesus freak 24/7." 
Sums me up pretty darn well.  

I've blogged a little bit here and there about my job, but mainly just about how it found me. I thought today I'd go into a little more detail on what exactly this "financial analyst" side of me does. 9 hours a day. 4-5 days a week. 

(If you're confused on that schedule, check out this post)

Growing up, I always wanted to be a teacher. Ever since elementary school, all the way up through the middle of college, that was the plan. In elementary school, I wanted to teach elementary school. In middle school, I wanted to teach middle school English. And in high school, I wanted to teach high school math. 

English was always my thing. I wrote poems, stories, scripts, journals, everything. My mom had been a math major (at UCSB, too!), and for that reason, she always kept me working on my math skills. Even as I was glued to the Diary of Anne Frank in middle school and getting a deficiency notice in pre-algebra (yupp, that happened), she pushed me in math. 

And thank goodness she did, because when it clicked, it clicked. I'm a stubborn wanna-be perfectionist, and when they opened up the honors algebra II/trigonometry class to anyone who wanted to try it, I jumped on board. Even when my counselors advised against it, I pushed through. And lo' and behold, I fell in love with math. Took 2 years of calculus before graduating high school, and bam. My dreams of becoming an English teacher turned into dreams of becoming a math teacher. 

Fast forward to the middle of college when my path changed. To keep this post from becoming an essay (already well on its way), I'll skip the minor details, and just say that I developed an interest in business. Corporate America was flirting with me, and I was definitely interested. 

And as you probably know, I've been in Corporate America ever since graduating in March of 2011. Here I am, on job #2, and still loving it. Will I be here forever? No clue. I'll be here for as long as God wants it.

So what does a financial analyst do? Well, I would imagine that we are all slightly different. Depending on the company, and depending on your particular focus. I work for a large engineering company. There are different branches of finance within our company, and my particular team is called the Financial Planning & Analysis team, or FP&A.

Our team's job is to analyze and keep track of the financial metrics for our division of the company. What are financial metrics? Bookings, sales, profit and cash. My focus is bookings, which I find super interesting because it's all of the future business that we are hoping to bring in. 

Being in a large, public, corporate company, we are given goals for the amount of dollars we must bring in with these various metrics each year. It is my job to help make sure that we meet those goals, and I am extremely privileged to work on a team with incredibly intelligent and successful men and women that make that possible.  

So now that you have an idea of what I do, I thought I would see if you have any questions! Could be about work, could be about getting a job after college, could be about what to do in college to prepare yourself for the workplace. I know a lot of you guys are either in college, or young professionals like meee. So if you have any questions, feel free to throw em' out there. 

Happy Humpday!
 

Post College Advice

Happy Friday!!

This was originally a guest post on my lovely friend Diana's blog, where I talked about my transition from college to the real world. I listed the 5 lessons that I've learned since graduating in 2011.

I figure I could ramble on for hours, so for your sake (and to avoid getting carpel-tunnel), I kept it to 5 main points. 

I know many of you beautiful readers are going to find yourselves in this transition very shortly!
So I hope this advice resonates with you :)

1. Don't be afraid of rejection.

I was fortunate to find a job right after college, but believe me, senior year I sent out my fair share of job applications and resumes.

Most of which I never heard back from. And the ones I did? Well, let's say I quickly became a lot better at dealing with rejection. 

I had by far the worst interview of my life while applying for an actuary position. It was seriously awful. I probably should have known it wasn't the right fit when I had to google "actuary" before the interview. 

The plus side? I can now walk into every interview knowing it can't be that bad.  

If you're anything like me, the road up until college was pretty clearly paved for you. 

Elementary School: check
Junior High: check
High School: check
College: check

Okay... now what?

For the first time, I was faced with a completely blank canvas. Having endless possible doors staring you in the face can lead to a decent amount of them being closed for you. 

Don't be afraid of that. Embrace it. Throw yourself out there, and just see what happens. 

And rest assured that there is a very loving God who has a perfect plan for you!

2. What makes you happy?

Once you're done with school, you have this beautiful thing called free time. 

Unless your job is the kind that comes home with you, when you leave the office, that's your chance to check out. For me, week days after 5PM and weekends are my time. 

Since graduating, I've really been able to think about what makes me happy. I started asking myself what activities add joy to my life? Those are the things that fill up that priceless free time. 

What makes me happy? Running, reading and growing closer to Jesus. 

I don't yet have a picture of me and Jesus, but when I do I'll try my best to send it to you all. 

In The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin talks about one of her Secrets of Adulthood:

What's fun for other people may not be fun for you - and vise versa. 

This is a huge thing that I've learned post college. Just because something brings joy to someone else, does not necessarily mean it will bring me joy. Do a little searching and find what's really fun for you. 

3. Make an effort.

Friendships take work. Any form of a relationship takes a lot of time and effort in order to thrive, and your friendships are no exception. After college, you might be lucky and still have your closest friends just minutes away. Or, maybe they are hours, even states away. 

Regardless, I have learned that the older I get, the more important quality time is to keep my friendships strong. 

Spoiler alert: after college, life gets pretty cray. Between working 40 or more hours a week, and filling your free time with that stuff that makes you happy, you may find yourself staring at a pretty packed schedule. 

Make an effort to keep in touch with your friends. And heck, I would dare to say make an effort to make some new ones! Get out of your comfort zone, talk to some strangers, you never know who's going to become one of your best pals down the line. 

Your friends that are far away? Go take a weekend getaway to enjoy some quality time together. Your friends that are close by? Set aside an hour every so often for that much needed coffee date. 

And yes, I'm gonna go here: that blog friend that you just know you would be bffs with in real life? Go ahead and schedule a skype date to get to know each other better.

When life gets crazy, you'll be glad that you have the amazing friendships in your life to help you get through. I know I am!

4. Write it down.

So, you just finished college, earned your degree and have either gotten or are searching for your big break into the working work. 

Now what?

Your career is just one part of your entire glorious life. So what are you gonna do with the rest?

A few months after finishing school, I got the crazy idea to start a blog. And I am so glad that I did! By seeing other people doing this post-college life thing, I realized that for a goal-oriented person, I had barely any concrete goals for myself. 

Get a job. Get a husband. Make some babies. 

That was it! Pretty lofty expectations for myself, huh?

So I changed that. I got to thinking, what do I want to do with this one glorious life? And as I figured it out, I would write it down. Heck, I'm still figuring it out, and still writing it down. Which usually lands itself on the blog.

Writing something down helps you track your progress, and holds you accountable. Pick some goals for yourself, heck even make some crazy ones. And go after them!

5. Enjoy the ride!

I learned something very quickly after college: none of us have it all. 

I found myself with a great job, great friends and living somewhere far greater than I ever could have imagined. 

You know what I didn't have? A great boyfriend. 

And growing up, that's what I most wanted to have at this age. 

But as I looked around at all of my friends, it became very clear to me that none of us have everything we thought we would. Some of my friends had the boyfriend, but not the career. Some had the great job, but felt isolated without any close friends. And some were like me, no where near close to marriage, but seemed to have the rest pretty lined up. 

I took a good look in the mirror, and realized I'm pretty darn happy with what I've got. 

You can always focus on what you don't have, but choose to focus on what you do have. 

Enjoy this beautiful ride of life, and all of the unexpected twists and turns that come with it! Don't forget. the Conductor knows what He's doing ;)

Some Post-College Insight (A guest post)

My first guest post, to be exact! And I could not be more excited to welcome Diana to my blog. 

We became fast friends when we met on The Influence Network, and basically, we're a match made in heaven. 

See? Told ya. 

Without further adieu, the lovely Diana!

***

Hi! I'm Diana Palka from On The Heights and I am absolutely, 100% thankful that mine and Amy's "virtual paths" crossed. From day one (which actually wasn't that long ago!) Amy has been such a huge encouragement. Whether it's through e-mail or rapid-fire G-Chats while we're at work - this California girl is awesome in so many ways and I encourage you to get to know her heart!

Today I'm here to talk about that transition no one really ever talks about. You know, the one where you leave all your best friends who you've lived with for the past four years and you move on with your life. The one where you become an adult, but you still feel like you're 19. You know - graduating college. And just like Amy's doing over on my blog today, I'm listing out some of the things I've learned in the almost two years since graduating.

1. Community doesn't come easy.

I went to a small Christian college in the foothills of North Carolina. It was a beautifully quaint campus where "everybody knew your name." The university was comfortably situated in a small-town with only one stoplight - and a day never went by when someone didn't give you a hug or invite you somewhere. For me, college was the definition of community. More specifically - and perhaps more importantly - it was a beautifully active representation of the Body of Christ. 

And then I graduated.

In May 2011, I moved back home with my mom, dad and two sisters. And while my relationships with each of them are beautiful in their own way - the sense of community that you feel in your parents' home pales in comparison to the community you participate in on a college campus. I went from living with three other girls - teammates - to living with my parents and sisters. It's not that I liked or loved my friends more - but the nature of the relationships were just different. 

There is a certain charm gleaned only from truly doing life together. And for me, that's what college was all about. Not only was I thirsty for community, but I was at a well of  it. Everywhere I looked, there were opportunities to get involved, get connected and get plugged-in.

When I graduated I realized that I had to seek out community because it was no longer looking for me. It meant going to church and being intentional about meeting people. It meant getting involved in a community group and not just going once a week - but texting girls and asking if they wanted to meet up for coffee. It meant doing life together, even if "life" was just folding laundry or driving to work together. 

After college, you have to really hunker down and look for community - at times, you may even have to build it on your own. But I promise, community life is so much better than the alternative.

2. You will be working for the rest of your life.

Like Amy, I was super blessed to land a great full-time job right out of college. I can remember my first day filling out all the necessary Human Resources paper to start my benefits and all that jazz and I was filling out a 401K form. When I asked the Office Manager which box I should check for my "Target Retirement date" she giggled and said, "2055."

YIKES.

It was such a ridiculous slap in the face - and even kind of funny - but eventually, I got over it and realized that this job (and really any job!) was a serious blessing. 

What took the real adjusting was this: your "work" isn't the only work you'll be doing for the rest of your life.

Relationships are work.

Faith is work.

Dreams are work.

Loving is work.

A lot of things in life are work. And in college - for whatever reason - I didn't quite understand that. I didn't understand how so much of life would be so much work and I had this notion that, "Some things are just easy."

It wasn't until I graduated college and life was a little bit hard that I realized,most things worth having are worth fighting for. And when you have to fight for something, there's a certain element of work that you have to just bear down and do.

Just because things are hard doesn't mean they're not worth it. Just because obstacles are all you see doesn't mean it's over. Just because you just got to the part of life where things are supposed to be exciting and great and new and paying off and it's not,doesn't mean it never will be.

Hang in there, beloved. Keep pressing on.

3. Your life is going to look completely different than everyone else's. 

Embrace that, okay?

Remember how I said I went to a small Christian college... in North Carolina? Well, in case you're not from 'round them parts, that translates to "OH SNAP! WE'RE 21?! LET'S GET HITCHED!" By the time graduation rolled around, 75% of my friends changed their Facebook loves from "In a Relationship with," to "Engaged to," or "Married to." 

By that point, I'd been dating my boyfriend Blake for almost four years - and I felt weird that I wasn't where (what seemed like) everyone else was in their lives. And embarrassing as this is, it hurt my relationship with Blake. I wouldn't let it go. (It being the fact that everyone else was engaged, and I wasn't.) For a while, I was stuck in this awful pit of self-comparison and it stole joy from not only my own life, but my relationship with someone I love and care so deeply for. 

The same was true when I browsed LinkedIn. How on earth does, SHE have that job? She can't even write! (I'm serious.These thoughts have been in my head before!) In these moments of such unsound metrics - I valued myself better or worse for something I didn't have. And the long and short of it is that, rooted in an evil jealousy, it was wrong. Not only was it wrong, but it was an insult to the God who made me and is continuing to write my life's story.

There is so much to be said of embracing your story - right now, whatever page your own. When you look at these chapters - these seasons - as saccharine bits on the way to a decadent ending, I promise you - I promise you - you can make it through anything.

This transition - from college to life after - is weird. And it's awkward and it's sticky and it's uncomfortable and at times, outright sucky. But there is hope. Hope because we serve a God who is sovereign and who cares and who is no stranger to discomfort. And in this season of stretching and changing - He is there. 

***

I hope you enjoyed Diana's insight as much as I did! I would say that we've learned some similar things. Check out the 5 things that I listed over at On The Heights to compare!

Happy Friday, friends!! :)