Occupy Wall Street Protester Snags Wall Street Job
Zuccotti Park in New York City has one less occupant after Tracey Postert landed a job this month with John Thomas Financial Brokerage.
Postert started off her protesting by carrying a sign reading "Reagan sucks," and "I'll vote after the revolution," and later changed her poster to "Ph.D. Biomedical Scientist seeking full time employment / Ask me for my resume." Postert also brought 800 copies of her resume with her while searching for work online.
She told ABCnews.com that when a passersby shouted at her to find work, she’d shout back “I’m trying.”
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As luck would have it, the sign was spotted by Wayne Kaufman, a chief market analyst of John Thomas Financial Brokerage. Although the brokerage firm traditionally hires individuals with backgrounds in finance or business for the position of junior analyst, Kaufman tells ABCnews.com that he thinks Postert would be a progressive addition.
“I thought, ‘Maybe this is a person who could help us understand these early-stage biotech companies that financial people just don’t always understand,’” he said.
He took her resume and called her back the next day for an interview. Soon after, Postert was offered a position as junior analyst, which she gratefully accepted. The position entails evaluating medical companies as potential investments.
In 2010, the company's CEO Anastasios Belesis had dedicated himself to the "Restore Wall Street" project, which sought to restore the reputation of Wall Street.
But Belesis doesn’t necessarily have the cleanliest of reputations himself.
He has been accused of sexual harassment several times, fraud, excessive trading and breach of contract. He was at one point a target of an insider trading scandal involving InterOil.
Prior to founding John Thomas Financial, Belesis was fired in 2005 from S.W. Bach for misrepresenting himself to a customer.
Postert says she keeps the sign that got her the position at home, but will bring it to work and keep it by her desk.
“It’s a classic sign now,” she said.
