Being A “Suit” Isn’t So Bad After All

Story by Andrew Ayrouth (’12)

I’ve always dreaded the idea of becoming a “suit” and working the typical eight-to-five, five-day-a-week job that requires you to wear a mundane suit every day. Ever since I was young, my friends and I would dream about our future as professional athletes or rock stars. However, reality set in when we realized that we weren’t 6′ 8” and couldn’t actually move like Mick Jagger.

Knowing that I had to support myself with some type of job through college, I tried to find one that I would actually enjoy doing, something that could possibly turn into a career with the help of my CSUF Mihaylo marketing degree. Throughout college, I had worked with Pacific Sunwear clothing, Foodbeast.com and eventually Premier Commercial Bank – the one opportunity that showed some long-term career potential.

My junior year, I had landed a part-time job with Premier Commercial Bank through Mihaylo’s annual “Professor For a Day” program. Titan alumnus, Steve Pihl (’87), who is now the Chief Credit Officer at Premier Commercial Bank, offered me a starting position as a junior credit analyst. Facing my childhood fears of becoming a real life “suit,” I took the job in hopes of learning and bolstering my experience in the business world. Working twenty hours a week and going to school full time was very demanding, but the steady doses of school and work propelled me to strive to do my best.

After a year of working at Premier Commercial Bank, and nearing my graduation in May, Pihl offered me a full-time position in their lending team as a credit analyst. The constant grind of working and school had changed my perception of working a corporate job. Now, along with being tired and hungry, there’s a sense of fulfillment in finishing a long eight-to-ten hour day; I have a sense of accomplishment that I am no longer considered a kid, but rather a working professional.