Career Guidance from our Friends

Every Thursday night, for 10 years, I spent 30 minutes laughing and commiserating with the relationship and job mishaps of my best friends: Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe. Back then, when I had a job, I watched for the entertainment-value, often wondering if Ross and Rachel will ever get married and get off the “we were on a break” merry-go-round. But today, as my Friends continue on in syndication, I watch with a closer eye to their challenges in the job market. Looking closer, I’ve found that at some point throughout the 10 year series, each character comes to a career crossroads. They were either fired or they just couldn’t do it anymore, and each had to come to terms with what am I going to do next?

Ross was put on sabbatical after a meltdown at the museum. Yes, the meltdown was over someone eating his post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwich, but what seemed like a tragedy for someone who lived for dinosaurs, losing his job at the Museum of Natural History, eventually opened doors to a fulfilling career as tenured professor at NYU.

We never really knew what Chandler’s job was, but we all knew he hated it. After falling asleep in a meeting and forced to move to Tulsa, he decided he just couldn’t do it anymore and quit. He spent several episodes trying to figure it out, while he lived off Monica’s salary as a chef and a rent-controlled apartment. Ultimately, he took an unpaid internship and was offered a job in advertising, something he discovered he was pretty good at.

Rachel thought marriage to a wealthy doctor was her ticket to happiness, but after a few floundering years waiting tables in a coffee house, she found the courage to pursue her passion for fashion. Quitting her job as a waitress on a whim of a bad day, forced her to focus on moving forward where she eventually landed at Bloomingdales and then Ralph Lauren as a Buyer. Like Phoebe said, this job was “the mother ship calling her home.” Rachel never looked back.

Monica and Joey followed their passion whatever it took. Monica worked at a 50’s theme diner with fake boobs to stay close to her passion for cooking. She would eventually meander through many New York restaurants, but by series end she was Head Chef. The job she had always wanted. Joey went on every audition in New York even when he knew he didn’t have the skills for the role. He even volunteered for a telethon in the hopes of being noticed on TV. This after, he discovered he was not the host. The point however, he kept at it because he believed in himself. By the series end, he too had been discovered and had made his way into the big leagues of acting by landing a gig in LA.

And Phoebe, although somewhat a free spirit, she was the classic entrepreneur and survivor. A coffee house singer and freelance masseuse, she took on whatever challenge came her way, and never let disappointment get her down. Even when she decided to be a surrogate for her brother’s baby, that turned out to be triplets, she strategized on new business ventures such as selling knives and opening a Saturn dealership. She was the constant optimist in a group of friends that rode the career ladder like a bucking bull.

It’s been five years since my Friends left, but I find that in today’s tough job market, we can still learn a lot from them. They all faced challenges whether in love or life, but at the series finale they all found their niche while trusting the process. Yes, it’s a process that will frustrate us, annoy us, and anger us, but just remember that when it gets to be too much, you’ll always have your Friends.