How Evan Moody, Miami University Class of 2026, Navigated the Job Search and Found a Calling
Business psychologist Sheena Iyengar observed, “Too many choices can overwhelm us and cause us to not choose at all.”
Evan Moody could relate… his mind was overwhelmed with alternatives.
A senior at Miami University (Ohio) double majoring in Finance and Entrepreneurship with a Spanish minor, Evan’s educational journey had equipped him with knowledge and experience. Multiple internships with prestigious companies had positioned him to better know and explore his chief career interests of corporate finance and financial advising. But despite job offers and an impending career in a financial world, Evan knew he wanted to do more than merely help himself or others generate truckloads of cash. Making money was one thing.
Making a difference? That was something else altogether.
Drowning in What Ifs
On Miami’s campus, Evan was already serving as a leader for the Council of Social Entrepreneurship. The organization’s goal was to equip students to utilize their business acumen for the specific purpose of helping people. Such experiences and a growing faith were both pulling him toward something unique—he just didn’t know what.
Meanwhile, graduation loomed over him and as he surveyed the myriad of divergent paths before him, the pressure was mounting. “The job search was awful,” Evan remembered. “I felt it would be inauthentic to just abandon the feeling that I wanted to help people, simply because I had graduated and it was time to make money.” While most desire to know all the choices that are possible, Evan was drowning in the knowledge of all that could be. .
He needed a life raft, but he never dreamed it would come in the form of one of the last college courses he would take. Evan wanted to take the L.I.F.E class since his sophomore year, but his schedule never aligned. These previous delays ultimately proved to be expedient.
“We started the semester off by exploring what it means to be called to something,” Evan recalls. The professors led Evan and his fellow students to think about complex topics that many professionals avoid until they reach a rung of crisis miles up a teetering ladder of success—that is, when the fall to the ground is long and devastating. Burnout. Relational discord. Health issues. Instead of following the traditional path of plunging headlong into promotions and profits, Evan was encouraged to think about what mattered in his life right now at the outset of his career. Together, they explored the concepts of finding rest and purpose within an integrative work life.
The class changed not only his perspective, but also his future.
Looking for the Inner Response
The path forward began with looking backwards. “The first eight weeks involved a lot of translating past experiences into actionable insights.” Evan began investigating what is easily overlooked in the pace and volume of modern life and education, namely that people are more than just what they learn from academics or training. We enter the workforce carrying a unique set of experiences, impressions, and inner wiring—yet many enter their most pivotal season unaware of these most pivotal things. To find a career path that is both worthwhile and valuable to one’s community, we must know more than how to do a job.
We must know ourselves.
As Evan discovered, knowing more about yourself is easier said than done. It is all too easy to live mostly unaware of how you show up and relate to the world. . We are just too close to see ourselves.. This is why it takes intentionality and patience to examine the nuanced nature of one’s own inner environment. Even though it is inseparably familiar, discovering it is still a key to growth and lasting change.
Evan discovered and named in earnest what he had always only felt in passing: he would never be fulfilled only using his talents in the finance industry. He also needed to use his heart. His unique internal make-up was wired for something different—and he no longer needed to resist these tensions. He needed to listen and lean into them.
“One of the readings from the class talked about what happens when we encounter what we were ‘made to do,’” Evan said. “A job may look attractive on paper, but does it generate some kind of inner response?” Evan insisted such an inner reaction is about more than feelings. For him, it was more of a spiritual response—somewhere deeper than mere intellect or emotion.
Such an inner response came when Evan encountered a unique financial advising company that aligned with the very thing he was feeling on the inside.
Finding Alignment
Knowing more about his own internal motivations gave Evan the confidence and security to turn down multiple offers at various financial advising firms. “There’s a stereotype in the finance world about everyone being money hungry and not really caring about the people they’re supposed to serve,” Evan said. “Unfortunately, I did encounter those attitudes from some companies where I interviewed, but now I knew that I was looking for something different and specific.” Then, a financial advisor friend from his hometown of Mansfield, Ohio sent him an online listing for a company looking to fill a position. It didn’t take many clicks on their website for Evan to know this could be the one.
Instead of making their own history and investment products the focal point, this company focused on telling their clients’ stories. One story in particular caught Evan’s attention. “I saw an obituary for a person with whom they had done business. The story was about their whole family and how this particular person was wonderful and would be dearly missed by everyone who knew and loved them.” That was it. They didn’t try to sell anything about themselves or their company. They just expressed their care and concern.
Evan applied, entering the interview process with his inner eyes wide open. “I was never worried that the company would think I wasn’t a fit. Since I knew who they were and I knew who I wanted to be, I knew I could be authentic and they would understand.” Just as he thought, the interviews went well and Evan was offered the job, the very one he didn’t know he wanted back before the semester had begun. He starts in June 2026.
“I’ve been able to unite my finance, social entrepreneurship, and faith background in a really unique and beautiful way,”
“I don’t think I would have had the courage to do that had I not been surrounded by the L.I.F.E program where the professors created space for people to integrate business, faith, and practical ways to truly help others.”
“The lessons we learned were enormously impactful for me.”
