HSBC

My desk!

So every Friday a group of girls + our token gay guy Skip (who I adore, by the way....he did a strip tease for us to It's Gettin Hot in Herre to be initiated into the group) has Cupcake Friday. We get cupcakes from Crumbs Bakery and dish every Friday afternoon.

This is what I see everyday when I walk onto my floor, or "tower", as they call it. I work on tower 9.

So I came out here initially looking for a job in sales. I'd posted my resume on monster.com (I highly recommend that, by the way) and for the first two weeks interviewed like crazy for entry level sales positions. I was offered a couple jobs, one of which was my number one choice, however it just didn't feel right to go this route.
I ended up changing directions and started working with a couple staffing agencies looking for a job as some sort of an executive assistant/receptionist/administrative assistant type job. I interviewed at a bunch more places and ended up accepting a job with a company called HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation.) A lot of you probably haven't heard of it because it's a global bank and is fairly new to the US. Here's a little information about it:

The HSBC Group is named after its founding member, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, which was established in 1865 to finance the growing trade between China and Europe.

Headquartered in London, HSBC is one of the largest banking and financial services organizations in the world. HSBC's international network comprises around 10,000 offices in 82 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa.

With listings on the London, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and Bermuda stock exchanges, shares in HSBC Holdings plc are held by around 200,000 shareholders in over 100 countries and territories. The shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American Depositary Receipts.

Through an international network linked by advanced technology, including a rapidly growing e-commerce capability, HSBC provides a comprehensive range of financial services: personal financial services; commercial banking; corporate, investment banking and markets; private banking; and other activities.

So I've been with the company for a month now, and it's definitely an adjustment working for a large company. I've only ever worked for companys that have about 40 people, and everyone knows everyone. At HSBC I work in a huge building where I'll never even know everyone on my floor. I'll never even know HALF the people on my floor. There's so many different departments and it's so complicated. Most companies here rent out suites or floors of a building, however the building I work in is all HSBC employees. It's at a great location, right on the corner of 40th Street and 5th Avenue (yes, where all the upscale shopping is.) That probably doesn't mean a lot, but basically I'm right in midtown. I'm only one block from my subway stop so I don't have to walk far. I'm across the street from Bryant Park which is SO NICE for lunch time. Seriously, there are a MILLION people at the park during lunch when the weather's nice. I'm close to everything, shopping, food, nail salons, etc, so I can get anything done on lunch breaks.
Okay, so as far as the actual job goes....I basically have 6 bosses. One of them is in sales, 4 of them are traders, and the last one is the boss of the traders. Then, there's a whole bunch of guys underneith my bosses that I also assist with anything they need. They do a lot of traveling so I make their travel arrangements, fill out expense reports, schedule cars for them, help with power point presentations, etc. Anything they need, basically. All the guys are really great. My desk is right next to the trading floor so it's a really exciting environment. It's so strange to work at a place where people are shouting, and I'm not just talking about, like, when they're working. Someone will be yelling across the room to someone else about going to get coffee. And when there's a Yankees game on? Forget it. People are seriously SCREAMING making bets and cheering. It's seriously out of control and I love it. One of my favorite things about my job is how much freedom I have. I'm not tied to my desk. I'm not micromanaged. No one comes around checking to see if I'm doing my job. If I need to run out for an errand in the middle of the day, I just do it. As long as I get my work done, no one cares.