Current Events > Do most people stand zero chance at landing a highly paid prestigious job?

(+) Yeah! (+)

If they are not from a rich or affluent background?

I hear that many jobs in investment banking for example are classist.

If that is the case... if one grew up working class and that persons parents were both janitors for example, I think that person would stand no chance at being a level C employee at a big company like Goldman Sachs or Bank of America because they would forever have that working class stigma attached to them

I assume would also have the same problem if their resume shows that they worked a crappy job in the past like an Amazon warehouse employee or an Uber driver because that background would also scream working class

any truth to this? the rich and elite seem to be the only ones who can get these big important jobs

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Maybe like 50+ years ago

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Maybe if they had a genius level IQ, where discovered early, got a scholarship to a top university and managed to make friends in high places.

AKA 1 in a million.

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If you dont know anyone in senior management and youre not related to the CEO dont even fucking bother wasting your time writing a cover letter

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Go to college and get a computer science degree. Worked for me

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Unless you're a standout, most of the really good jobs are locked up in a combination of networking, nepotism, & cultural biases.

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Manipulate a course of events that make you and your boss become best friends. Life is like the movies. They just don't want you to know the secrets are so easily available.

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Yes, it is out of reach for most people.

You probably need to be at least at the 75th percentile for intelligence, and at that intelligence, probably 99th percentile in work ethic. If you are at 99th percentile intelligence, maybe only need to be 60th percentile work ethic.

Then you need to get into the right field early enough and grind it out. Maybe only 10% of people are capable of getting those top .1% jobs, for most it is out of reach no matter what they do.

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KILBOTz posted...

Yes, it is out of reach for most people.

You probably need to be at least at the 75th percentile for intelligence, and at that intelligence, probably 99th percentile in work ethic. If you are at 99th percentile intelligence, maybe only need to be 60th percentile work ethic.

Then you need to get into the right field early enough and grind it out. Maybe only 10% of people are capable of getting those top .1% jobs, for most it is out of reach no matter what they do.

what kind of jobs are you talking about? CEO?

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Jeff Bezo's first job was a bs hourly wage job at mcdonalds.

Thinking you're gonna land a prestigious "job" is the pitfall too many fall into. If you wanna be the man then go out and try to be the man. Nothing wrong with working for someone else but don't operate under the illusion that you're "the man"

You're an employee, plain and simple. You're the instrument of another man's vision. Once again, nothing to be ashamed of. Plenty of people have made a good life for themselves building another man's vision

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Probably to an extent but not totally

Like a family friend can usually get someone an interview or an internship, maybe a job outright but probably not, but once youre in i doubt connections will help that much with getting promoted. The reality is that a lot of those jobs (e.g. investment banking) are really fucking hard, and the senior folks wont keep someone around who will lose them money

I dont think middle class folks are likely to be explicitly discriminated against, they are just likely to get into the kind of schools IBs recruit from

My job isnt particularly prestigious but i do work with people from some pretty loaded families, and i have been promoted over them plenty of times.

Idk class is a factor but not a deciding one. It probably correlates to a better education and a foot in the door tho
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of course not.

if you have a degree and just work your way up from entry level to where you want to be, you can get it eventually. But you have to keep doing beyond what's expected and produce the results. prove that you are an asset to the company.

connections can help you get into a company of course. but in a western country, you can start from zero to getting a degree to a high paying job if you bust your ass

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Solid Snake07 posted...

Jeff Bezo's first job was a bs hourly wage job at mcdonalds.

Thinking you're gonna land a prestigious "job" is the pitfall too many fall into. If you wanna be the man then go out and try to be the man. Nothing wrong with working for someone else but don't operate under the illusion that you're "the man"

You're an employee, plain and simple. You're the instrument of another man's vision. Once again, nothing to be ashamed of. Plenty of people have made a good life for themselves building another man's vision

Tbh though Bezos made his own company

different from applying

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It's mostly luck, but being from a wealthy family with the right pedigree makes it easier to be at the right place at the right time, so to speak

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berlyman101 posted...

what kind of jobs are you talking about? CEO?

You know, on second thought I will revise my math by a decimal point, saying that those top 10% or so of intelligent / work ethic people, that will get to them to the top 1%, not top .1%.

So at top 1% (~$700k a year) talking about CEOs for mid-sized companies. Presidents, Sr. VPs., people with a "chief" in their title. Also talking about high end doctors (many doctors will never approach $700K), investment bankers, sr. engineers (including software) at certain companies, company founders, and various athletes and media personalities, who in most case don't need the high IQ but normally need to be on the extreme end of work ethic to make it.

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So that $700k figure (I think it's more like $600k) is for household income. For individuals the top one percent is some where in the $300k range

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no chance for the most part

thats why the best jobs are never advertised on indeed or craigslist

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Arcanine2009 posted...

of course not.

if you have a degree and just work your way up from entry level to where you want to be, you can get it eventually. But you have to keep doing beyond what's expected and produce the results. prove that you are an asset to the company.

connections can help you get into a company of course. but in a western country, you can start from zero to getting a degree to a high paying job if you bust your ass

This is true however this is not a meritocracy and that glass ceiling is far, farrrrr lower than hard working average joes think it is, so most of that effort eventually goes to waste and people move on somewhere else, thus repeating the cycle which still benefits employers because they don't have to offer anything.

The key to get promoted anywhere anymore is to quit and find another job elsewhere. Sad and frustrating but true.

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Most people here have zero chance, yes

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The system is definitely rigged to fuck over certain people.

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Definitely not today, nah.

You do have to be able to play the office politics game effectively though, and lose the defensive huddling of always pointing to your upbringing as being something that holds you back in life.

Fact is, the corporate world in general now welcomes those less-than-optimal types of background stories, but you still have to actually play the game of job climbing. A lot of it at least at the start boils down to holding your tongue and watching how things get done with some patience.

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Solid Snake07 posted...

Jeff Bezo's first job was a bs hourly wage job at mcdonalds.

Thinking you're gonna land a prestigious "job" is the pitfall too many fall into. If you wanna be the man then go out and try to be the man. Nothing wrong with working for someone else but don't operate under the illusion that you're "the man"

You're an employee, plain and simple. You're the instrument of another man's vision. Once again, nothing to be ashamed of. Plenty of people have made a good life for themselves building another man's vision

Jeff Bezos also got $300,000 from his parents for his business.

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RchHomieQuanChi posted...

Jeff Bezos also got $300,000 from his parents for his business.

You're never going to be a jeff bezos

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Balrog0 posted...

So that $700k figure (I think it's more like $600k) is for household income. For individuals the top one percent is some where in the $300k range

My b, i did all of 30 seconds of research to find a number

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