Meet the Task

July 604
Peninsula State Bank & Uptown Plaza
Featuring Julia Jones.  Julia is 19 years old.  Alexis Jones, her mother, is 42.

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Julia was grateful the ocean breeze had a clear path to the Peninsula State Bank, or she feared she would soak through her beautiful new tailored suit before arriving for her pre-internship interview.   But as she rounded the corner to the plaza in front of the bank, she forgot about the heat.  It was hard to believe she was about to start on her banking career, for real.

The receptionist directed her to have a seat, and Julia watched the bankers rush in for their day at work.

Julia had been working towards this goal, to work in banking, since she was in early high school, and researching what it took to get into PSU's Global Business Program.  Today she was meeting with Ms. Ramaswami, the university liaison in Human Resources.  Ms. Ramaswami could veto the program coordinator if she didn't think Julia was a good fit for the bank, but the main goal of the day was to show Julia where she would be completing her pre-internship requirements.  Throughout her sophomore year, starting in September, she would need to complete a pass/fail practicum project in two out of the four main areas of the bank:  Corporate Finance, Investments, Branch Management/Consumer Credit, and Accounting.  

At 9:00 sharp, Ms. Ramaswami had Julia shown into her office.  She asked Julia why she thought she was suited to a career in banking.  Julia answered that she is a meticulous, but quick study, and is attracted to being able to use her talents to solidly build the business for the bank as well as the bank customers, corporate and private.  She also said she is keen for the financial training and prestigious experience the bank can offer. 

Next, she wanted to know what she had learned, or expected to learn, at PSU, to help her be successful as a banker.  Julia told her that the accelerated curriculum of the Global Business Economics major helped her prove her intelligence, diligence, and being effective under pressure, as well as being able to juggle a number of commitments and work well with others.

Ms. Ramaswami also wanted to know what were the key milestones in Peninsula State Bank's history.  Julia recited the basic bank history:  Now with the third largest bank holdings in Sim Nation, PSB was established in 468, by a group of businessmen who, due to their immigrant status, were not served by the existing banks.  The bank survived, and grew, through the depression of 506, even though 75% of the existing banks failed at that time. In the past 45 years, the bank has become a leader in global finance.

Julia felt that the interview was going well, although she didn't want to jump to conclusions.  Ms. Ramaswami at one point near the end, even appeared quite enthusiastic about Julia's potential.

Then Ms. Ramaswami said, "Well, let's introduce you to the teams.  As you know, early in the September, you will submit your preferences of the areas in which you wish to concentrate."

First, Ms. Ramaswami took her straight upstairs, to Ms. Bauer's office. 

She told her in the elevator,  "Ms. Bauer will probably not wish to meet you, but I want to show you where she is in case you work on the International Banking team."

Ms. Ramaswami wanted to introduce Julia to Ms. Griffin, Investments Manager, next, but her assistant, Goopy Gilscarbo, said they would need to come back later.  Julia remembered meeting Mr. Gilscarbo at her mom's apartment just after they moved in last summer, for a dinner party, but Mr. Gilscarbo gave no indication that he knew her.  Maybe because he had introduced himself there as an Executive in business, which was an obvious overstatement.  It would be interesting to see what happened next time she ran into him in the building.

Next, they headed down one level, through the food court and  across the bridge into the old part of the building, to meet the Corporate and Individual Accounts team, located behind the teller bank.  

 Julia had been in the main lobby before, but walking through as a potential intern, she felt goosebumps.

Corporate and individual accounts was not, however, very glamorous.  

Ms. Ramaswami introduced her to Dora Ottomas, the senior accountant, 

And then, Theodore Hollins, Manager, Corporate Accounts (Banking & Credit).  Accounting was one area Julia really hoped to be assigned, just for the experience, although her hopes were set more on overall bank management.

While they were in that area of the building, Ms. Ramaswami showed Julia the vault, located in the back of accounting,

And the basement, which houses the safe deposit boxes and a small carpark.

Next, Ms. Ramaswami showed her the Consumer Credit & Loan area, on the mezzanine of the lobby.  Mr. Harry Griffin, the manager, was not available for Julia to meet.  She was disappointed because, although she wasn't sharing this with Ms. Ramaswami, one of her goals was to eventually start a local credit union in Simdale Valley, and working in the branch management and consumer credit areas were high on her list.

On the same floor, Julia met Herb Goodie, the Bank Director and local branch manager.

She was not very impressed with his professionalism, although she certainly kept that to herself.

Ms. Ramaswami ended the tour in the investments pool, where Julia met Marylena Hamilton and Terrence Carpenter.  Honestly, investments, or stock broking, was probably lowest on her list of interests, but she knew she would need some experience in that area eventually.

 Julia had planned to meet her mom after the interview and tour, so she headed out, across the street, to the West End plaza to get some fresh air and make a phone call.

Her mom asked if she could meet at the Uptown Plaza, on the other side of the bank, in 20 minutes.  

"Sure, see you!" Julia said.  As Julia walked towards the cafe, she could see her mom coming from the direction of the PSU hospital.  Her mom was a personal injury attorney; she had probably been visiting a potential client in the ER.

It was really good to see her mom; Julia had the interview, and other things to catch her up on, like the fact that she now had her first-ever committed relationship with a guy.  Not to mention her mom's neighbor, Goopy, and his little white lie about his job.

 Of course, Julia's mom, who had Julia when she was pretty young, had a hard time not warning her again about the dangers of getting in a serious relationship before getting herself established.  Julia had heard it so many times, if her mom hadn't had her dad and mom to help raise Julia, she wouldn't have been able to get her degree and be a lawyer.  And Julia's dad was what her grandmother called, "Breath and Pants," or basically, of very little benefit to the family.

Other than her trepidation at the prospect of a boy rant, Julia had a great lunch with her mom, who restrained her desire to lecture, admirably.

After lunch, Julia got herself a coffee, enjoyed the beautiful day, and then headed home to the dorm.

Bank Employees and Officers:
Human Resources, Priya Ramaswami
Reception, Joe Carr
Barista, Elizabeth Ng
Tellers,  Camryn Blackwood, Alvin Futa

Chief Financial Officer & International Corporate Director, Alisha Bauer
Manager, Corporate Accounts (Banking & Credit), Theodore Hollins
Senior Accountant, Dora Ottomas
Manager, Investments, Mia Griffin
Administrative Assistant to Ms. Griffin,  Goopy Gilsbarbo
Account Manager for Investments, Marylena Hamilton, Terrence Carpenter
Manager, Consumer Credit & Loans, Harry Griffin
Branch Manager/Bank Director, Herb Goodie


Notes:
Please forgive the pic-spam of the bank and plazas; I am a little excited about how they turned out. :-)


Here's Mia Griffin, head of Investments, and Harry Griffin, Consumer Credit & Loans manager.  I suspect ACR was the culprit of him not reporting to work...rather he stood at Mia's desk for about 16 sim hours while I did the tour shots.  (I turned free will off and had Mia sit in her office.)  Harry and Mia are my daughter's sims and they are madly in love.  Perhaps it is interfering with their work, and Priya will have to make a hiring/firing decision?