Creative vs. Corporate
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“It’s not the industry you work in that’s important, it’s the office environment.” This is the advice I am constantly given as I try to decide between a creative or a corporate career path.
Having tasted a variety of companies in a variety of industries (thanks to being multitalented/confused/indifferent), I don’t believe what I'm told. Offices are not autonomous units. There are trends across industries.
From my experience, there’s more of a sociable culture in corporate work environments, proving my initial formula of Maths + Finance = Boredom + Geeks (+ Money), to be completely superficial. Bar the last product. My time at both an investment bank and a consulting firm were lively, and I did steal some quote-worthy lines. Admittedly, some of the jokes were reserved for the macro in-crowd, but it’s fun to laugh at people as well as with them. Meanwhile, my creative colleagues in a fashion house, a design agency, and a marketing agency chose to channel their personalities into their work and clothes rather than their speech. Fair enough.
Dress-code is also firmly attached to industry. In large global firms, the 'smart and presentable' attire translates as: WARNING. Suffocate your 'fun side' into your keyring, and stuff it into your briefcase. Consequently, mornings were easier, and days were uncomfortable. The paradoxical casual uniform of creative companies taught me how to distinguish between East London cool (vintage hoodie one size too big) and pure inertia (dirty hoodie three times too big). Despite the fact everyone exploited the rules, it left scope for variety, and allowed you to go straight out after work without having to carry a massive bag or self-consciously change in the disabled toilets.
Next stop: hours. Despite people’s complaints of having 'a 9 to 5', I’ve found this is actually a God-send. At corporate firms, I’ve at least always left way before the clock has hit a double digit, whereas under a creative roof, working until midnight means staying until 2.30 am. With no coffee machine.
Lunchtimes are harder to categorise. During an investment bank internship, lunchtimes were punctual, social networking affairs. On several occasions I was able to wave across All Bar One at one of my uni-mates, doing exactly the same thing with a different Canary Wharf firm. When working in consulting along the Strand, I’d have lunch alone, speedily feeding the tills of Covent Garden due to the lack of people to entertain or restrain me. Both these corporate lunchtimes could always be an hour, though. The strangest lunches were, of course, the fashion lunches. There would be a cooking rota, which meant having to frantically cook four different dishes (carb-free, oil-free, gluten-free, just generally free) for more than 30 people in a surrealist bric-a-brac kitchen. When I once asked an excruciatingly ditzy PA for help using a can opener (irony detected), she started yelping because she got bean water in her eye. Worse than glass, apparently.
Industry determines the work environment, and the work environment equally affects the industry. Indeed, I did base my preconceptions on stereotypes, but maybe there’s truth in them. While the choice between free Diet Coke or street cred won’t determine my decision between finance and fashion, mathematics and media, or consulting and creating, I know it will affect my overall stance when I look on my career retrospectively - as it has done prospectively.
From my experience, there’s more of a sociable culture in corporate work environments, proving my initial formula of Maths + Finance = Boredom + Geeks (+ Money), to be completely superficial. Bar the last product. My time at both an investment bank and a consulting firm were lively, and I did steal some quote-worthy lines. Admittedly, some of the jokes were reserved for the macro in-crowd, but it’s fun to laugh at people as well as with them. Meanwhile, my creative colleagues in a fashion house, a design agency, and a marketing agency chose to channel their personalities into their work and clothes rather than their speech. Fair enough.
Dress-code is also firmly attached to industry. In large global firms, the 'smart and presentable' attire translates as: WARNING. Suffocate your 'fun side' into your keyring, and stuff it into your briefcase. Consequently, mornings were easier, and days were uncomfortable. The paradoxical casual uniform of creative companies taught me how to distinguish between East London cool (vintage hoodie one size too big) and pure inertia (dirty hoodie three times too big). Despite the fact everyone exploited the rules, it left scope for variety, and allowed you to go straight out after work without having to carry a massive bag or self-consciously change in the disabled toilets.
Next stop: hours. Despite people’s complaints of having 'a 9 to 5', I’ve found this is actually a God-send. At corporate firms, I’ve at least always left way before the clock has hit a double digit, whereas under a creative roof, working until midnight means staying until 2.30 am. With no coffee machine.
Lunchtimes are harder to categorise. During an investment bank internship, lunchtimes were punctual, social networking affairs. On several occasions I was able to wave across All Bar One at one of my uni-mates, doing exactly the same thing with a different Canary Wharf firm. When working in consulting along the Strand, I’d have lunch alone, speedily feeding the tills of Covent Garden due to the lack of people to entertain or restrain me. Both these corporate lunchtimes could always be an hour, though. The strangest lunches were, of course, the fashion lunches. There would be a cooking rota, which meant having to frantically cook four different dishes (carb-free, oil-free, gluten-free, just generally free) for more than 30 people in a surrealist bric-a-brac kitchen. When I once asked an excruciatingly ditzy PA for help using a can opener (irony detected), she started yelping because she got bean water in her eye. Worse than glass, apparently.
Industry determines the work environment, and the work environment equally affects the industry. Indeed, I did base my preconceptions on stereotypes, but maybe there’s truth in them. While the choice between free Diet Coke or street cred won’t determine my decision between finance and fashion, mathematics and media, or consulting and creating, I know it will affect my overall stance when I look on my career retrospectively - as it has done prospectively.
Here Is The Writer : Ing Chua-Lee
Ing was born and bred in London, and is absolutely in love with the city. She lived in Singapore as an expat for two years, interned in the City, then graduated from the University of York where she studied English Literature and History of Art. Excited by anything beautiful, hilarious and expensive, she is now enjoying being back and spending her time and money swanning around like nothing's changed.
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