Work hard, play hard

You worked hard to get that internship. Recruiters for Pentex and its long portfolio of companies are known to be especially choosy. Your interview involved bizarre questions about your views on climate change and energy policy, along with the names of your grandparents and whether your family was known to vacation at certain national parks. You managed to pass, but the real test started soon after. Two people in your intern class of 30 quit the first day, then another three by the end of the week, and by the end of the summer, there were only five of you left. After so many challenges, even you were starting to wonder if the long hours and impossibly high standards were worth it. That is, until you learned how high the pay band for senior managers was. After that, you did what you had to do to stand out, securing one of only two available positions.

All of that was years ago, and since then, you’ve been working hard to move up the ladder. Some days are harder than others, and you’re still struggling to make your student loan payments, but you’ve never stopped dreaming about that promotion. That is, until one day when you received an unusual meeting request. A quiet part of you hoped it was the notice of layoffs, but instead, you’ve  been registered to take part in a corporate seminar created for emerging leaders. Could this be the break you’ve been waiting for?