I executed an internship for Johnson and Johnson, in the medical devices division, for the well-respected industry leader Biosense Webster; my position was within Operations Finance. Shortly after beginning the internship, I came to the quick and painful realization of how understaffed the operations finance department was at the time; with global operations reaching nearly a billion dollars in revenue, the Ops Finance team consisted of two full-time employees (one US, one Mexico), two sub-contractors (one Israel, one Mexico), and me, the intern. Several weeks into the internship, my direct report left the company to pursue a competitive offer; by so doing, I became the only Operations Finance personnel based in the US, for the entire company. To further compound the stress, my new direct report was located in Israel, which made communication for guidance very difficult; I also had the gruesome responsibility to get our financial reports online, which required basic computer programming, though far beyond VBA and ISYS 201. The business partners in other departments repeatedly asked when the reports would be ready; the reports were vital to assist in their daily, weekly, quarterly, and even annual decision making. Now that I was the only go to guy, the amount of pressure to get the reports done and soon was increasing daily; needless to say I was stressed.
At the end of my internship, by God's help, I had accomplished every task given to me, in a reasonable time period. I had also produced a new manual, nearly 150 pages, for all interns that follow after me; engineered and consulted in the automation of the critical reports so that the key reports, so vital to decision making, can never go offline again; and created a new process for accomplishing key tasks that by the end of my internship, I literally was asking others if I could help them with their work, as I had finished my own. Before leaving the internship, the VP of Operations asked me if I was coming back; we had a conversation in which he tried to persuade me to apply for the position, so he could hire me. The FLDP program for JNJ for SoCal pays around $60K, plus benefits. Not bad to start out; however, I had another great opportunity to become a sales manager with Vivint, $100K, plus other benefits. A model in strategy illustrates the two opportunities:
Looking at the graph shows the analysis I used to make my decision. The decision is essentially between doing sales at Vivint, something I had done three years previously, or enter the corporate finance world directly. The x axis represents the top four categories that are important to me personally; the HL and LL signify "High Level" and "Low Level" respectively.
Passion is something I love doing; opportunity is the the future bridges that are built as a result of the decision; free time is time outside of work; monetary compensation, as a means to support my family and invest early to secure our financial future. As the graph depicts, the decision was close, but I chose Vivint. Why? The ability to pass the CFA exams much faster than working full time, plus double earning power I currently earn to invest in properties and secure perpetual rents, compensate for lower opportunities available upon leaving Vivint. I furthermore have a strategy of transitioning from Vivint to an equity-research position with a well-respected firm. In a sense, I am taking a back-door approach to a successful life, but to me, it's not risky at all; I've done my due diligence, I have hedge the risk, and God willing and with his blessing, I will be successful. The model helps depict the logic of what may appear to be an illogical decision.
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