- Herman Ko, 27, deferred his college graduation by one semester to intern at JPMorgan.
- He managed to land a full time role there but decided to quit just over three years into the job.
- Ko said the long hours, as well as a mismatch with his career aspirations, drove him to leave.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Herman Ko, 27, a former banker at JPMorgan. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified his employment history.
I wasn’t the most academically focused student back in college.
I didn’t have a perfect GPA, and I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to do for my career. I only knew I wanted two things in a job — one, it had to be prestigious, and two, it had to offer good career mobility if I ever wanted to leave my job.
I decided to focus on getting a job at an investment bank. Admittedly, I was chasing a shiny object but it ticked all my boxes, whether be it in terms of pay, prestige, and exit opportunities.
I figured that since there wasn’t something I particularly enjoyed doing, I might as well pick a job that offered the maximum potential and benefits.
That said, the journey to landing a job at a bulge bracket bank was tough. When I started applying for internships, my GPA was only 2.4 out of 4.3. I also didn’t have any familial connections who could offer me job referrals.
That drove me to approach my job hunt differently from most of my peers. I knew that I couldn’t let my GPA, which is really just one line in my entire CV, define my application.
To that end, I experimented with different interview methods and revised my CV countless times. I networked with finance professionals to get a better sense of what life is like on the trading floor. That way, I could try to position myself as an industry professional instead of a wide-eyed student trying to find his way.
Another thing I did to distinguish myself during my internships was to perform magic tricks at events like my boss’s birthday. That helped to leave a memorable impression on my colleagues.
Deferring my graduation to clinch a gig at JPMorgan
I actually secured a return offer from Deutsche Bank after interning for them, one year before my graduation.
However, in my final year, I decided to apply to American banks since they are seen as more prestigious than their European counterparts. That’s when I received a summer internship offer from JPMorgan.
That presented two problems for me. Firstly, if I wanted to intern at JPMorgan, I had to give up my job offer at Deutsche Bank. Secondly, I had to defer my graduation by a semester in order to intern at JPMorgan as an undergraduate.
Although it was a huge gamble, I decided to intern at JPMorgan anyway. To me, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work at one of the top banks in the world.
Fortunately, I did well in the internship and earned a spot on JPMorgan’s two-year graduate rotation program. I did four different rotations, where I got to pitch and sell cash management and treasury products to clients. At the end of the program, I landed a full time role at the bank.
Working at JPMorgan was an exhilarating experience. Everyone I got to work with was insanely smart. I learnt a lot from JPMorgan’s in-house training as well as on the job.
Leaving JPMorgan and charting a new path
After working at JPMorgan for about three and a half years, I decided to call it quits. For one, the long hours I was clocking were starting to take a toll on my body.
I also realized that the work done in an investment bank is very specialized. In my case, I was tasked with marketing financial products specifically to financial institutions.
That wasn’t what I wanted for my career. I wanted to stay ahead of the curve and cover solutions powered by the latest technologies instead of traditional financial products.
On a deeper level, I also wanted to challenge myself. Though I was achieving a lot at JPMorgan, I couldn’t tell how much of that was driven by the bank’s reputation. I wanted to see if I could still excel without relying on the JPMorgan brand.
That eventually led me to my current employer, Career Hackers, a human resources and education technology startup. My new role aligned with my passions and interest in mentoring and technology.
Even though I’m now working at a start-up, I can still use the sales skills I picked up at JPMorgan. As a junior banker, I got to learn the ropes by first taking meeting minutes and then gradually progress to lead client conversations myself.
That has made the transition to my new role a lot smoother since startup work tends to be self-directed.
Looking back, I have no regrets about starting my career at JPMorgan. The opportunities and exposure I got there could not have been found anywhere else.
