How many occupiers on Wall Street will eventually find themselves working in the very offices they are protesting against? All signs point to…not many. For Tracy Postert though, it’s reality.
The occupiers on Wall Street proclaim that they represent the 99 percent of the nation that is struggling and frustrated with the leading corporations all over the globe. As stated on their website, “Occupy Wall Street is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations.” They are fed-up with leading corporations and would probably cringe at the thought of working for the businesses they are so strongly against. Many portray the occupiers as young radicals with no drive or desire to go out and try to find a job. Postert, however, decided to turn her protest sign in Zuccotti Park to a “Job Wanted” sign. Much to her surprise, she found one. And a good one at that.
A biochemist with a strong background and an impressive resume, Postert decided to show passers-by of the protest that she wasn’t just simply protesting, but that she was actively trying to find a job for herself and frustrated by her fruitless efforts. “Passers-by would say, ‘Get a job,’ and I didn’t have a really good response to that,” Postert stated in a CNN article. “I wanted to say, ‘Well, I’m trying to get a job,’ but you know you can’t really prove it. So I said, why don’t I make a sign (and prove) that I am actively looking for a job?” It only took her two days standing on Wall Street with her “Job Wanted” sign to grab the attention of a top executive working for a Wall Street financial firm.
The man who’s attention she caught was Wayne Kaufman, a market analyst at John Thomas Financial. “She was standing there. She had her sign, she had her résumé, and I just passed by her and I chatted with her just for a brief few seconds. And she was obviously an intelligent person,” Kaufman said in the article. They set up an interview and now Postert finds herself researching early stage biotech companies for the company. She plans to take a test to become a broker, making her part of the very 1 percent she was protesting against. Many of the occupiers regard her as a traitor, but her story is of someone who took their current situation and turned it into something that could be advantageous for her. Rather than simply protesting about not having a job and not being able to find one, Postert proactively worked to change her situation. And now she finds herself with a great job and likely a great paycheck. Though her achievements may not be something everyone can accomplish, she took what she had and tried to make the best of it. Her story proves that even though times are tough, there are ways to succeed. They just may not be as clear cut, obvious and easy as many would like.
SOURCE: CNN News, OccupyWallSt.org
IMAGE: CNN News
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