Still pissed about not having a job. I felt as if salt were being rubbed in the wounds at barbri today when I heard others speaking of their overpaid salaries at their big fancy firms, and who is taking what exotic trip where.
I am not taking any exotic trips anywhere. Why? Because I can't fucking afford it. Because going to law school and paying for child care with three kids leaves me pretty damn broke. And I don't have a big cushy salary to look forward to. I don't have any salary to look forward to. And even it I did, it would not be of the enormous 6-figure variety that some of my classmates will be earning. I'll be lucky to earn half the big-firm salary we were all led to believe was imminent when we entered law school.
I'll admit that most of the time I put on a good game face. I say that I would never want a big firm job--I want to see my children grow up, I don't want a billable hour requirement. And for the most part, that is true. But to earn 35-40% of what some of my classmates are earning is just stomach-turning. And to not have a job at all, well it leaves me with little incentive to study for the damn bar.
And that leads me to whine (again) about why I am not employable when I am willing to work for such a ridiculously low salary. I graduated from a good school. I had good grades. I have great experience. I have terrific references. On its face, my resume looks great. So why can't I even get a fucking interview? I could understand if my less-than-charming personality cost me jobs post-interview. But why is no one even willing to give me an interview?
Hell, at this point I don't even have that many resumes out. I scour the job boards at least once a week, but nearly everything wants a minimum of 3 years experience. Seems like every firm out there wants to leech of someone else's training, and none want to put the effort into training their own associates. The only places taking new grads are big firms (who made their hiring decisions a year ago) and DA's offices, who won't hire until November.
Yep, I'm whiny and bitchy, but I think I deserve it after dropping $100K and 3 years of my life to not have a job.
4 comments:
I'm in almost the same boat. I have a "keep in touch over the summer, we can't hire until bar results/new fiscal year" sort-of maybe offer. I cling to that but continue to look for work. And to be able to cover child care, gas, loans, clothes, lunch, etc of working I need to make more than the starting private firm salares in my area. Which is 10K less than I made BEFORE law school and taking on all this debt. Firms here start 100K less than my friends are making at the major Chicago firms.
Re bar trips. Arg. We couldn't afford it even if I had a really good job to begin when we got back.
Anon on this one
First off, you're scaring me. :(
Second off, you're right. I work at a large law firm and the reality is that if you don't summer for them, they won't hire you until you have three years of experience. :(
Third, have you considered going it on your own? Susan Carter-Liebel believes that students can do it and her blog has some great tips for becoming a solo.
http://susancartierliebel.typepad.com/about.html
I wish you the best of luck and hope that something wonderful comes your way. I can only imagine how frustrated you are right now, especially with the pressure of needing to provide for your children.
One more thing. I have a friend who went to a T4 school and came out making $58,000 (about what I make now - yikes!). Four years and one firm switch later and she's making $96k doing insurance defense for a small firm. Just saying - if you get your foot in somewhere, perhaps you can fly from there. :)
PT-Law-- I'm not intending to scare--but I am trying to portray a realistic picture. My case is not really unique--I know of several classmates in the same boat. I do not think that any of the law schools are being very honest about graduate employment and salaries, and I am angry because I feel like I was deceived into thinking there are more good opportunities than there really are.
I have considered going solo, but it is my emergency back-up plan. I honestly believe that I need more real-world experience before I try to go it alone. Also, a little bit of start-up capital would be good. We've pretty much drained all of our resources for me to go to school--part of the reason I am so angry about not having a job. We can get by, but don't have a cushion right now. And the loan debt will be unmanageable when repayment starts in November if I don't have a job.
Anon--
I think your situation is actually worse than mine--I have never brought in an income, so at least we didn't take a hit when I started school. To go through it all for a reduced salary would be infuriating.
I just try to take consolation in the fact that even if I have to start at a fairly low salary, my earning potential is much greater, and if I make the right moves, I can double or triple my salary within just a few years. Thanks to PT-law for that reminder.
Hope it works out for you. You can do it!! :)
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