Once I Graduate from Lbs, Should I Seek Employment? Or, Start My Own Venture?

Once I graduate from LBS, should I seek employment? Or, start my own venture?

My name is Sarah Faiz. I am a chartered accountant and ever since I qualified (2008), I have been working in the M&A advisory in the Big Four firms. Only recently, I started working with Grant Thornton, which is the fifth largest firm in the world.

In short, I have only worked with the established firms during my career.

Employment

I suppose the top two reasons why I may consider a job after my graduation would be:

1. I am familiar with the work. The security and comfort of knowing that you know what you are doing can have a huge impact on ones’ overall stress levels. One also finds comfort in the fact that they know things that need doing in order to be successful
2. Structure and support. One has a structured work life when working for an established firm. Also, there is plenty support around. So, you know that if you are not around, the work will not come to a grinding halt and similarly when the work load is too much, you know you can ask for help

Own Venture

I would consider starting my own venture because:

1. It is more satisfying. Creating something and then being recognised for it, I consider to be the greatest success. If you have your own venture, you can do something that helps the world around you. This is in stark contrast to what I do right now. Right now, I only help shareholders make more money which is not one of the greatest sources of pleasures
2. I can fully leverage my strengths. In a corporate world, if you must get promoted, you need to check all the boxes that they set up for you. I don’t quite agree with that approach as we all have different strengths and weaknesses. I once missed a promotion round just because I was not doing one thing right. I believe that we should spend more time leveraging our strengths as opposed working on improving on our weaknesses.