Partner preventing you from free market opportunities - how to handle? Forum

[Anonymous User]

If you worked for a certain partner (high level in the firm, very senior) that may be blackballing you from other employment opportunities (not because you suck, but because he/she wants you to stay), how would you deal with that (i.e. they tell the outside firm partners you are junior, make lots of mistakes, are not worth it, etc)? Would you continue to stay in the firm or be willing to just jump ship even without another opportunity lined up?

Also, what if coincidentally with each outside interview, your boss's demeanor/tone noticeably changes (he/she somehow finds out; think very senior person, well-known in the legal community/practice area), and he/she started giving you lower-level work assignments (pull you off of leading transactions into more subordinate role)? Also, when you offered to leave the firm, he/she refuses and tells you that you should stay put and the good assignments are in the works (perhaps this person wants you to stay because you have a very unique skill set/background in the market that helps attract certain big ticket clients). Also, you have never received any negative reviews, and to the contrary, actually receive clean-up work or assignments for winning back clients.

Moreover, you have no way of proving any of this is happening, and you cannot really bring it up with anyone (not even other partners who have invited you onto their projects). You just notice that very positive interview results/outside opportunities just tend to disappear, while your boss's demeanor/tone noticeably change for the worse (he/she stops calling you into his/her office for direct oversight/and has you report to other associates, etc), the quality of your work assignments changes, and the way the boss talks about you to other associates changes (where the other associates still highly praise you/say your work product is among the best)--at the same time, your boss does not want you to leave (keeps you on the big projects, but in a subordinate role).

I know there may be more than one interpretation of the situation, and it is possible this is just my own paranoia/interpretation of the circumstances -- but for discussion purposes, let's pretend it's not paranoia (assume its true). Thanks!

I am prepared to jump ship without anything lined up -- my boss has a lot of power and I feel because of my unique skill set/background, he/she will not let me go easily unless I just really push hard -- but then there may not be an opportunity unless its an area/market where his/her power/network does not reach. Basically, I want the situation where my boss doesn't know/care or take offense (or retaliate) if I'm interviewing with firms for better opportunities (i.e. they would just be like, that's what people do, look for better opportunities - I did that, etc). If this sounds crazy, imagine normal partner vs. very senior partner (big rainmaker) with a well-known power complex, willing to bend facts to get results (yells/makes associates and secretaries cry/quit -- hasn't happened to me -- possibly my personality).

[Anonymous User]

I went through with this with my old boss, who was a very high up and prominent figure in my practice area.

Easiest way to get around this is to simply not inform your boss that you are looking for other opportunities. When you do apply to other jobs, make sure you put in your application that you are applying in confidence. HR will take that as an indication that you don't want your current employer to know that you are looking. This will minimize the input your current boss has on the process.

Do you have any mentors/recommenders you can use instead of your current boss? That will help a lot too.

Also, if your boss behaves this way, odds are others in the community will know already and your boss won't have as much credibility (this was a significant factor in my case.)

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the advice!