Anti-Wall Street Jobs

Not every college grad wants to become an i-banker. There are plenty who want a meaningful career that will still pay the rent

by Tatyana Gershkovich

• View Slide Show

Dylan O'Shea's most lucrative job has been working as a gas station attendant, but last summer he got a better offer. JPMorgan Chase (JMP) recruited O'Shea, then going into his senior year at Maryland's Loyola College, to work in its sales and trading division. Dylan, who graduated last month, attributes his success to his mother. She struggled financially throughout his childhood but always made his getting a good education a priority: first by working three jobs to pay for a private elementary school, and later by sending him to live with his uncle in a New Jersey suburb where he could attend a top-ranked public high school.

O'Shea was shocked by the money JPMorgan Chase was offering: $45,000 base salary and a $5,000 signing bonus. "This is more money than we've ever had," he remembers thinking when he accepted the job. The offer couldn't have come at a more opportune moment: College loans were stacking up, and he looked forward to helping his mother and grandmother financially.

But a few months later he rescinded his acceptance. As president of the student body—and a good student to boot—O'Shea attracted attention from several potential employers. The education nonprofit Teach for America (TFA) recruited him to work as an inner-city teacher in Baltimore after he had accepted the offer from JP­Morgan Chase. So last fall, he was forced to choose between a lucrative job in finance and an opportunity to give others an education, something his mother taught him to value.

Swayed by Personal Attention

Ultimately, O'Shea chose teaching. His extracurricular work tutoring had made Dylan passionate about the issue of inequality in education. He said he was also swayed by the personal attention he received from TFA. Throughout the recruiting process, and after he agreed to take a job with the nonprofit, Dylan received phone calls, postcards, and dinner invitations. He said JPMorgan didn't follow up with him after he initially accepted a job offer. He was also impressed by TFA's compensation and benefits package that he said would give him a quality of life comparable to his peers who planned to work in finance in the Baltimore area. The average starting teacher's salary in Maryland is $36,442, according to the National Education Assn.

"TFA has a partnership with Johns Hopkins University, where I will be able to get a master's degree in education for a fraction of the cost," O'Shea says. "So it seemed like an even better deal financially. When else am I going to have this opportunity while I'm young and single?"

Contrary to what many people might think, not every college graduate wants to become an i-banker. Grads are seizing on their independence and taking financial risks to explore careers in philanthropy, the arts, new media, and other industries—many of which offer lower salaries than Wall Street or a consultancy such as McKinsey. Like O'Shea, many are driven by passion. For others, it's Plan B: something to fall back on after finding that well-paid finance jobs are becoming increasingly elusive.

According to the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE), starting salaries for computer science majors rose 14.7%, while psychology majors saw a rise of 10.7%, and agricultural business majors saw an 11.2% increase. By contrast, there was a 0.3% increase in the starting salaries of business administration majors, and accounting salaries saw an increase of eight dollars, from $47,421 last year to $47,429 this year.

Looking Wider Afield

A tighter hiring market often makes students more flexible about their career plans, according to Marylin Mackes, executive director of the NACE. "They might consider other industries or locations. They'll work in Chicago as opposed to New York," Mackes says. Teach for America has seen a 36% increase in applications over last year, according to TFA.