Transition to International Development Job Forum

(On Campus Interviews, Summer Associate positions, Firm Reviews, Tips, ...)
Forum rules
Anonymous Posting

Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.

Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned.
Anonymous User
Posts: 432523
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Transition to International Development Job

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Oct 06, 2020 2:08 pm

Current V10 mid-level associate in capital markets/corpgov in NY. Long-term goal is to work in international development, in governmental/quasi-governmental organizations like the World Bank and USAID. I am, however, not quite ready to transition into those roles now or in the near future, as 1) I see them as the end of the line in terms of career change, as in I would not expect to (be able to) transition back to firm/private sector once I make the change, 2) I am not ready to give up the biglaw/in-house salary as my goal is to be financially independent as soon as possible and 3) I am afraid of being stuck in government bureaucracy for 20+ years without viable exit options. Has anyone considered a similar move and decided to stick it out in biglaw until 5-6th year and/or considered in-house options that may be relevant to international development work down the line?

AllAboutTheBasis

New
Posts: 37
Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2019 9:02 am

Re: Transition to International Development Job

Post by AllAboutTheBasis » Tue Oct 06, 2020 4:07 pm

I won't be able to answer your question directly, but have you also looked at some development banks like OPIC? From what I understand, they put together deals in developing countries (i.e. malls in Afghanistan). It seems like interesting work and would be a little more transferable if you wanted to go back into the private sector (uncertain though). The pay would almost definitely be better than USAID or another government agency on the GS scale. Again, I could be wrong on both points but it might be something you'd be interested in.

Anonymous User
Posts: 432523
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Transition to International Development Job

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Oct 06, 2020 8:03 pm

Thanks! Yes, I have an ongoing alert for jobs at usajobs for relevant entities along with alerts for WB, IMF, UN, etc. If I am ultimately targeting WB, I am wondering if it makes sense to lateral/go in-house at places focusing on energy/infrastructure/agriculture, etc. because doing vanilla CM transactions/disclosure review over and over doesn't feel like it is preparing me if this is my end-goal.

Post Reply Post Anonymous Reply  

Return to “Legal Employment”