Feeling inadequate Forum

[64Fl]

Think bigger picture. You have an offer and that means some one is willing to pay you $190,000 per year as a starting salary. Most people in this country, let alone the world, would literally kill for that opportunity. I’m not saying it’s wrong to be a little dissappointed and this isn’t a soap-box “be more grateful” pitch either; rather, it’s to remember that by 95% of Americans’ standards you are already wildly successful.

You should also remember that most people would not borrow $300,000 at 7% capitalizing and compounding interest to avoid work for 3 years, then to take a job that pays low five-figures (after 401(k), taxes, rent, insurance, and loan payments).

Get into therapy.

El. Oh. El. +1 on this.

+2.

[Anonymous User]

senior/midlevel at a v10 here - a few things to keep in perspective:

1) once you begin work at the firm, you're not going to go "oh man, v25 on the other side, time to really buckle down." firms are firms - i have all kinds of firms across the table from me on every deal. i represent one side, they represent another, sometimes they're cravath, sometimes they're regional biglaw.

2) people get dinged for all kinds of random reasons. one of the top guys in my class (CCN) went on 25 CBs and got one offer at regional biglaw. he's now thriving and positioned for partnership and happy. you never know where life will take you. it's up to you to arrive at your v60 (so...which one of Willkie, Cahill, MWE, FF or CWT?) with a good attitude, be social, and demonstrate that you're someone others want to work with at 11 pm on a thursday evening.

[Anonymous User]

So you’re saying that in spite of lacking perhaps the most important attribute for success in the workforce generally speaking (ability to interact with people), you’re still going to end up with a 190k/year job in your chosen field with potential for upward mobility if you desire it?

I think you’re looking at your situation all wrong.

I’m not sure who started the rumor that a 98th percentile Lsat score and a high level of success at (for example) writing sociology papers or whatever in undergrad, alone, constitutes a sufficient condition for getting inundated with an abundance of elite job offers a couple year later. Either way, the rumor is inaccurate and should be disregarded.

At my v30 where I am a midlevel, we are in the midst of callbacks. Every candidate is either at the tippy top of their t25(ish) class or top quarter or third of their t14 or maybe middle of hys. As I understand it, these candidates all walk into the callback on an equal playing field, with respect to credentials.

Therefore, literally the only thing that separates one from another is personality. That is the one factor from which my firm decides who will receive offers. And honestly, I don’t think It would make sense to do it any other way.

This is malpractice. The social science on fit-based interviews is that they're bad at best, counterproductive at worst at actually finding good workers and terrible for diversity.

[notinbiglaw]

I'm socially pretty reclusive and I've been known to be abrasive at times but I have done extremely well in interviews. In short, I learned to fake it for 30 minutes by grinding through literally 100+ debate tournaments in college.

[biglaw_advice]

Biglaw midlevel on hiring committee chiming in.

We are in the middle of assembling next summer's class and (I'm not saying anything new here) it is such a crapshoot as to who gets an offer and who doesn't. So much of what goes into our decisions is random and based on timing - when did they interview, what mood was the interviewer in at the time of day, when we evaluate the candidate (end of meeting vs. beginning of meeting), and when we hold the meeting (who's on vacation, who misses a vote that would have swayed an offer decision, etc.). It's my first year doing this and it's confirmed to me how much randomness goes into this process.

I say all that so you channel your negative feelings into something productive - work with career services to do mock interviews (though it's probably too late to matter now), work on public speaking, learn how to keep conversations going.

You're at HYS and you have an offer to make (assuming) market. You likely have no discernible skills that any other industry would pay $190k for you to work at their company with no experience. Would you be happier if you were at a V44 instead of a V62? If so, take a break and realize how that's bullshit. And stop beating yourself up because this entire process is driven by so many factors outside of your control.

For any 1Ls/rising 2Ls out there looking for interview tips, I wrote a more detailed post here: https://biglawadvice.com/2019/06/27/5-t ... nterviews/