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I'm in a pickle: Descent living v.s. Rémumé building!

I've accepted an unpaid internship at the U.S. DOL but have no funding. Great gig, but I'll be broke as a joke. Plus, it's not in NYC.

I also just got offered a paid position in NYC prosecuting (≈$800/wk).

I'll have to pay rent with the DOL job, but not that NYC job. The DOL might look nice on the res, but I'll be scraping by on credit cards. Making money as a summer NYC prosecutor would be fun, rent-free, and I'd also get to be with my fiancé, who lives in NYC.

Both jobs have opportunity to hire after LS, but DOL is much more of a gamble on two counts - getting the offer and placement. The NYC thing hires more often and is only in DT Manhattan, where the fiancé lives.

Advice please!

do you not like making some money, living rent free, and living with your fiance?

i mean.. if the DOL at least gave you one of those three i would consider it a more difficult decision. but this one seems easy to me. maybe i'm missing something?

Obviously the paid position is the ez choice, except for the part, “you accepted.” I know a number of people who “accepted” a judicial internship and afterwards received a paid SA. Advice was always not to back out of a promise to a judge, but not sure how that works with the DOL. Probably not good, but perhaps you could get away with it without causing yourself too much harm. . . probably.

OP Here:

I think this comes down to long-term v.s. short term.

I don't want to do criminal work (at least I don't think, since I fucking HATED that class). Labor seems cool but I haven't taken a class on it. I just know working for the federal government is a good thing, and having labor experience is very versatile in terms of private sector marketability. Every firm has a labor practice and labor experience is an in, even if I don't make that my sole practice area. None of that matters right now, though. Making money and living with the ol'lady sound nice. I'm just not sure I want to get funneled into being a city prosecutor.

Maybe what I do in law shouldn't matter that much. It's all just a job in the end. This all could be LS making me think about my career too much. But, at least from where I sit, this seems like a dilema.

this department of labor thing is unpaid. for the government. you are volunteering for the government. which, need I remind you, collects taxes. I see no problem with backing out from an unpaid, volunteer position (even if they say it is an internship don't kid yourself - you are volunteering). If they send you a "this was so unprofessional" email just respond back "I cannot survive without pay." You would be living off credit cards. I would take the paid position and not look back.

PS: ignore everything your career office has to say about this. Career offices are shit.

also, is this DOL "internship" really worth $11,000? Think about it, you lose $800/week for say 10 weeks + $2,000 for rent + $1,000 extra expenses from not living with the SO (eating out, utilities, etc).

$11,000 is a very expensive internship/volunteer opportunity.

OP Here: @ gwuorbust

Indeed, that is the question. I'll have to think about it. You're point is pretty much the way I see the short-term analysis. The long term concern is that spending 2L summer as a prosecutor in Manhattan might label me as a city prosecutor. While that is a respectable job with decent pay, I am not sure about committing to that so early. I know one job experience won't necessarily preclude others, but I'll probably have some explaining to do (i.e. going into non-prosecution will look like a "change of course," even though it isn't - just me getting by). Many people going there - the NYC prosecution job, that is - know that is what they want to do; all I've talked to at least, but I'm sure there are counterexamples. Weighing the long-term against the short-term is tricky, but I'm going to sit on it at least until this next test is over.

Also, "troof" on the career office comment!

I would advocate that you see if there are any local organizations in NY that do labor rights(or maybe even some other organization) that you could volunteer at. Maybe 7-10 hours a week. That way you could develop a wider base of knowledge while also getting paid at the prosecutor job.

OP Here:

Oooohhh! That's problem solving, not just issue spotting - I like it!

I am going to talk this over with the o'lady and see what happens. Thanks!