posted on Oct, 24 2014 @ 10:35 AM
It is my hope that even if this post doesn’t get flagged, people will still at least read it. EVER BEEN DOWN ON YOUR LUCK? Well great, then you will
know what I am going through! I have swallowed my pride and decided to put this out there to the great people of ATS. Regardless of education,
political stance, religious philosophy, etc., I find you all to be a great group of people and hope to one day get to meet a few of you. But enough on
the excellent people here...on to the purpose of this post.
I am an attorney and I am currently looking for a job. Oh, I have one right now and I am grateful to have one that puts food on the table when so many
people don't. However, the job is going to be coming to a conclusion soon, because I have discussed with my boss that this is not the line of work I
want to be doing for the rest of my life, that I hate my job, and that I don't have the free time to volunteer in the community like I would like to
do. I wanted to be an attorney to help people, and I feel like I am no longer doing so. He has given me a limited amount of time to find something
else that will be running out soon. He is already in the process of interviewing other people, and once he hires someone I am out the door. This is
not to say that my current employer is bad- it is not bad and I do like the people I am around. It is just making a business decision to move on.
I have been an attorney a little over 8 years, and have been at my current location for 6 1/2 years. I have been looking for a year now, applied to
literally hundreds of places all over the country, and have even done probably 15 interviews in the past year. However, no success. In my opinion, my
interview skills are not terrible, my resume is not terrible, my grades are not terrible (I was actually first in my class in my undergraduate major),
and I have a ton of litigation experience. I am also a fairly personable, and I have an excellent record as an attorney. I have no ill relationship
with my boss. Unfortunately, I graduated with a ton of student loan debt and in an economy with law schools that continues to churn out law graduates
without regard to the saturated market. Despite making what most would consider an adequate but not impressive salary, due to certain life
circumstances, I live paycheck to paycheck. I have a modest house, drive a modest vehicle, and hardly ever go on vacations.
You see, in my profession, unfortunately, it's all about who you know, and I don't know anyone. I am the first in my immediate family to graduate
college and the first to obtain a law degree. Yes, I have many acquaintances who probably know my name, but my resources for finding employment are
rather limited. In my experience, other attorneys are all about being friendly to you until it comes to finding a job, then they are nowhere to be
found. Attorneys who I have trusted in the past have let me down by showing favoritism in one form or another, which is quite frustrating.
Some of you may ask, why don't you just hang out your own shingle? To start, that is a risky venture and I have a family to support. It takes a while
for a solo practice to become profitable. If I go without a paycheck just one month, my kids miss a few meals. If I go without a paycheck for several
months...well I don't even want to think about that. Also, there is a ton of startup costs associated with that and I am already in a lot of debt. I
would likely have to hire help to get anything done and that costs money. Finally, running a law firm requires certain business knowledge that I
don't have.
The purpose of this post is not to look for sympathy (we all have our problems and mine are pale in comparison to others), but just to exhaust all my
avenues because I know that there are ATS'ers out there who may "have a friend who has a friend" that might have a potential opportunity. Or heck,
you might personally have an opportunity. You don't know if you never ask. I would prefer to be in some type of general counsel role, as opposed to
litigation, as I feel my skillset is better for a counsel role than a litigating attorney role. However, I am looking at anything with an open
mindset. My only strict requirement is that I live in the Southeast U.S., because all of my family is down here and I don't want my children to grow
up without knowing their grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc. I grew up that way, and would give anything to be able to go back and change that.
Regardless of how you personally feel about attorneys (there are good and bad ones) some of them actually try to do the right thing and are good
people, and I ask you to look beyond any prejudices you may have. So I am simply asking the ATS'ers who read this that if they can help in any way,
such help would be much appreciated. Even your support is appreciated as I go through this difficult time. Thanks for taking the time to read this!
Feel free to send me a private message if you wish.