Sunday, November 04, 2007

Darkness Falls

I hate to steal the title of some stupid slasher flick I've never seen, but there you go.

The fact that it's 5:30 and pitch black makes me so tired. Although I may just be tired because I've literally spent the entire day freaking out about my career. Some friends at BigLaw have given me the names of headhunters and recruiters who I emailed today and hopefully I'll be able to meet with at least one of them. I don't necessarily want to switch firms, and have no idea if a large firm would even hire me (or if I want to be there) even though I have the credentials and more hands on experience than the nitwits who've been sitting in windowless offices for a year. All I know is I need more money, and in order to bring bargaining power to the negotiating table with my current bosses, I need some options under my belt. I've been putting this whole thing off for a couple months now, out of fear, confusion, and uncertainty. My negotiation class in law school was a complete joke (and after this whole process I may write a letter to the school about what they should really teach in that damn class that will actually be useful for graduates). I'm up against master negotiators who do it every day for clients. And it's worse for women.

Sigh. I planned on sending an email today asking for a meeting for sometime this week. But now I think I should wait until I have some concrete information in my grasp. But then we'll be smack into the holidays. Is that a bad time to do this kind of thing? Or a better time?

The whole thing makes me want to crawl into my mother's arms and stay there until she makes it better.

4 comments:

Grace said...

Reason 349824507420968049609458 why I hate the holidays. All important decisions/strong stands need to be postponed until the merry making machine that is Christmas is over. Oh, Harmless. I'm sorry... but yeah. You should probably pour yourself a drink, and wait until mid January.

Anonymous said...

Try chocolate. And tea. And a bath, maybe? Then throw on a power suit that makes you feel wonderful and head out there to face the world. You can do it!

Anonymous said...

Check your email, Harmless!

Make Mine a Triple said...

I think maybe a lot of people are looking around this time, since many stick around just long enough to get their bonuses (i.e., through the end of the year) and then switch to their new firms. So not necessarily a bad time. January would be good too, though, b/c then you might be considered as a replacement for one of those end-of-year leavers.