[MUSIC PLAYING] CLAIRE H: So at the end of college, when I was sort of trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I had heard about Vanguard. I didn’t grow up around here– grew up in New England and so didn’t know much about Vanguard. But all I had heard was that it was an unbelievably great place to work.
But I had no idea what a mutual fund was. I had no clue. And so I thought to myself– I was a communications major, like you. And I said, hey, maybe I’ll work at Vanguard for a little while. I’ll get to understand what a mutual fund is and what to do with it. And worst-case scenario, whenever I go to my next job, I’ll know what to do with the 401(k) they give me.
KRISTEN G: I needed benefits. That was the long and short of it, because I was in a really bad car accident, which you guys know, when I was a senior in college. And I came to work with a stack of papers this big on my first day and gave them to the HR person– said, my mom says you need this if you’re going to cover me on insurance. And the woman said, we’re going to cover you no matter what.
So I kind of fell into the job, in the sense that my communication study advisor was doing consulting work for Vanguard. He phone interview prepped me. I then did the in-person interview, the three hours that we all went through. And the next day, they called me and offered it to me.
CLAIRE H: But yours was interesting because you came in already licensed, right? So you actually started in our class, but a little bit afterwards because we needed to get licensed and do training. And you came in with us after that.
PAUL G: Yeah.
CLAIRE H: And so that was a little bit different. And so I guess my question is, why did you decide to move?
PAUL G: I think for me, personally, I came from an environment that was all commission-based, right? Your day in, day out, you’re trying to make that sale. And that’s the differentiation, sometimes, in being able to pay the rent, being able to pay the mortgage.
It can be a very anxious environment, right? So coming here, being in an environment where it wasn’t about that– it was about putting people first. It was about picking up that phone and answering whatever question that they needed.
And then now, in most of our roles today, it’s a little bit different. But we still carry that with us. So it was stability.
And then environment– we came on to Vanguard during the last economic turndown, right? And–
SPEAKER: two, on the phones.
KRISTEN G: Day two.
SPEAKER: Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy.
PAUL G: Yeah. And that was difficult. And I think that I felt really good in comparison where I was, relative to some other firms I was aware of at the time. So I think those two things really drew me here and, for the most part, have kept me really engaged over the course of time.
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