The past, the now and the future of work

[MrPurple]

This is mainly aimed at the older members who with age should have experiance in the work force of the USA, or anywhere else in general.

Here is my conudrum, I have recently been luck to get a job at Lehman Brothers in their corprate security department.
It is a part time job on the weekends (2 12 hours shifts).
I am very happy about this since the company is very prestigious, and I could not get this job without a friend getting me in and giving me his recomendation.

Now my frat borther has offered me another job, part time, this one being 2 to 3 days on the weekdays, and I would be working in the IT departament. This sounds great to me since IT is a great place to start and get experiance in the networking field.

The conundrum is that I do not know if should try to work both jobs (go for the semi-formal interview at the IT job), or stay with Lehman.
On the one hand I would make more money at Lehman then I would at the IT job (about $10 per hour more), and when there is a full time place oppened I would be considered for it. But I get no networking experiance there.
I was thinking of working both jobs, but two problems arise.
One will my boss at Lehman allow it (should not be a problem since the only restriciton I have is I can not work for the competion)
Two how would this look to my boss at Lehman, how would he see me when there is a full time position open if I am working two jobs. If offered a full time position I would take it a Lehman since it is a very prestigious company plus they took me in first and I, in a way feel loyalty to them, but I would like to get some networking experiance.
Honesly I am at a crossroads, and do not know where to go.

If any of you have any advice to offer I would be very thankfull.

[U-96]

While you may may feel loyal to your company, there are very few corporate entities that will reciprocate the sentiment.

IT is a tough sector at the moment, but jobs with training are like gold dust. If you feel that you can benefit more from the alternative, go for it, but be prepared to explain to a future employer why you quit Lehman so soon. Entirely IMO, of course.

And congrats either way!

[Prexaspes]

Don't burn any bridges you haven't crossed yet. Work both jobs; you may find you like the IT job better. You'll go a lot farther on a job you enjoy than a place you just work at.

[M_Six]

The folks at Lehman understand you cannot survive on a part-time income. They won't have a problem with you having two jobs unless, as you said, there's conflict with competing companies. They may make you sign a non-disclosure agreement, though. I also don't think it will affect their decision to hire you full-time or not. It's your performance at Lehman that will count.

If you do work both jobs, NEVER, EVER, EVER cross-talk between companies. Keep them entirely separate, no gossiping.

Good luck.

[RedFury]

In my experience with 2 seperate jobs, one that paid good and another that I wanted to learn from, I found that it became difficult to juggle both because the schedule ended up conflicting at one point and I had to quit the fun job to keep the more full time job that I was learning from. If the hours won't interfer with each other, I say go for it. The more diverse you are skill wise, the better. I would look at the prestigeous job as a stepping stone into better things ( more prestigeous jobs ), and if you aren't totally into the idea of getting into the IT field and just learning it for the sake of learning it, I would put my value on Lehman.

[Knothead]

Originally posted by RedFury
The more diverse you are skill wise, the better.

This cannot be emphasized enough!

I have taken pains to impress this on my daughters, the fact that they can expect to experience entire career changes during their working lives. Maybe 2 or 3 different carrers! It's true!

The job I just got is entirely due to photo experience I picked up when I was doing something else entirely... good thing! I'm going to have to rely on it while I'm gearing up for the long-term goal! hey, a guy's gotta eat.

So to review:
EXPERIENCE---EXPERIENCE---EXPERIENCE!

[MrPurple]

Thanks alot guys, I have decided that I would like to start at Lehman and work there for one week (during my training), and then go for the other interview, but now that I think about it I believe that it would be better to set up at interview asap with the other company. It is only an interview and by the time I get an answer if they want me or not I had some work experiance at Lehman.

I was worried about one thing only which was, like I said before, would the people at Lehman mind, and see my as somewhat indecisive, and therefore not look to me as a candiadte for full time, but now thanks to you I see that they should understand that I need to be able to support my self and, it is hard to do so on one part time job. I guess when I talk to my boss I will tell him that I need the other job to suplement my eranings, but if an oportunity for full time arises I have no porblems quiting the other.

But first before worring what I should or should not do I should try to get the job

Thanks for all the good advice guys, once again you your wisdome and experiance have shown me the light.