Class of 2011 here. I was laid off several months ago and I'm pretty desperate at this point. I luckily managed to snag an offer from a small firm after a pretty harrowing job search. It pays $5k less than what I previously made, but I don't really have any options at this point. Plus, the paycut isn't really a dealbreaker to me anyways. However, the firm doesn't pay lockstep, so I don't think it'd be out of line for me to try and negotiate a higher offer.
My normal inclination is to negotiate, but I managed to get a job offer rescinded earlier in my search when I politely tried to negotiate. Everyone I asked (recruiters, other attorneys, colleagues) agrees that I did nothing wrong and that the incident was an anomaly, but that experience has kinda scared me off from risking my current offer.
Thoughts?
