Stage 4 – Bargaining
It was soon after the Bear Stearns collapse that I started reaching out in new directions. I realized that my focus on valuations and related positions at investment banks, private equity and hedge funds might be too narrow.
I started to look for business development positions. Before I had transitioned to commercial and investment banking, my experience had been in international business development for a satellite network communication company.
It was my way of entering the next stage of financial grief, bargaining. That’s when you try an alternative route to avoid disaster or temper the effects of a disaster that has already happened.
It was then that I started reaching out to acquaintances I barely knew. My wife and I started asking the parents of our children’s nursery school and kindergarten classmates if they knew of any job openings.
Amazingly, one of our acquaintances responded positively. He was a Director of Business Development for one of the largest computer manufacturers and business services providers in the world and said he might be able to squeeze me in. He just needed to convince a few colleagues and get budget approval.
The possibility of a job with one of the biggest and best companies in the world kept my hopes up, but the process moved forward slowly.
I had a telephone interview at the end of April which seemed to go well, but toward the end of May my acquaintance said he was still waiting for approval to hire me.
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