Oxford Odyssey

Author: cowleycorporateclimbers

  • The value of the side hustle

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    The Why Entrepreneurship Takes Time While the allure of starting your own business is strong, it’s essential to recognize that entrepreneurial ambitions often take a long time to come to fruition, if they succeed at all. Building a successful business requires time, effort, and resilience. By maintaining a job while working on your side hustle,…

  • Fear the MLM

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    I was 15 years old when I was approached by someone on Facebook asking me to be a partner in their distribution business. I was very interested – wow, some business is actually interested in teenager me! I was an immensely stupid kid, but fortunately, they backed off when I said that I was still…

  • What drives long hours in a job?

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    Investment banking is famous for long hours – going up to 120 hours a week at times. Meanwhile, consulting works around 60-80 hours, far fewer than investment banking but also takes up twelve hours a day at the minimum. While it’s easy to dismiss the hours as something analysts deserve for the pay they get,…

  • Applications for job and internships

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    This article is meant for the UK context, for undergraduates who are already seeking that sweet career path after university. These will mostly apply to jobs with a structured graduate scheme, such as in investment banking, consulting, and technology. Always seek out a full time job as soon as possible. You can convert from Springs…

  • What makes a good marketer?

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    Too often, marketing is framed as the art of getting people to buy stuff they don’t need – promoting consumerism and materialism. They do this with a mix of slick charm and lies about the efficacy of their products. At its best, marketing is about understanding customers deeply and creating meaningful exchanges of value. While…

  • What drives compensation in a job?

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    In 2022, CEOs were paid 290 times more than the typical worker, a stark increase from 1965 when the ratio stood at 21:1 (Economic Policy Institute, 2023). This disparity raises critical questions about compensation dynamics and systemic inequities. Why are some essential professions – cleaners, nurses and teachers – often perceived to be underpaid, despite…

  • The efficient labour market hypothesis – on passion

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    “Love your job and never work a day in your life.“ It’s a great platitude to work for a passion. Unfortunately, unless you have a niche interest, following your passion is unlikely to result in financial upside. The depressed pay of “socially-helpful” jobs A large number of individuals are drawn to do good, or pursue…

  • Micro-internships

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    Micro-internships are an excellent way to gain some exposure to the working world, while not committing your entire holiday to work. The annoying thing about Oxford’s holidays system is that six-week is a long time to be doing nothing (there’s only so much traveling you can do!) but it’s usually not enough to do a…

  • The false linearity of careers

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    “For the loser now will be later to win” – Bob Dylan At 18, I mapped out my life with the precision of a military campaign. Before even stepping foot in Oxford, I had a 10-year plan: the societies I’d join, the internships I’d secure, and the career trajectory I’d follow. I envisioned leveraging the…

  • Lessons for those entering the workplace as a fresh grad

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    Bias towards over-communication Do not be afraid of asking questions. The cardinal rule in being a newbie is to be always asking questions whenever you are not sure, but to ask Google and ChatGPT before turning to a colleague or manager. Remember, your job is to make your manager’s job easier. It is a lot…