Dear Diary:
I talked to a business contact of mine who is an executive at a financial institution and has become more of a friend. When discussing with her the state of lawyer lay-offs, the economy in general, and funemployment, she looked me in the eyes and said, “The greatest achievement I have accomplished this year is just keeping my job.”
This woman went to an Ivy undergrad and an Ivy business school and is an executive at a very prestigious financial institution so her statement really struck home.
It was also refreshingly candid.
The executives know that the underlings being laid off aren’t being laid off just because they are terrible at their jobs because if that’s the case, then why are the executives also worried about their job security? (unless of course, they are bad at their jobs but I doubt this is the case.) Some partners confided in me that they were afraid of what the economy might bring, are scaling back their own personal expenses (no more lavish vacations–though don’t get me wrong, many of them are still taking them, but just not as lavish) and are being more cautious with firm politics.
If it comes down to pure merit-based lay offs, then why are competent, diligent, and over-performing (at least before the market crashed because no one is really ‘over-performming’ right now) executives and partners afraid about their job security and more careful with company politics?
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Yep, a refreshing break from the incredibly self-engrossed and self-impressed talk of senior partners/management (at a party last Saturday I spoke to a woman who told me her job as a corporate psychologist was "empowering CEOs" – as if they need her help!). To be frank, I'm sickened by some of the talk you hear – especially from recruitment people – of people who have been laid off as being, essentially, losers who deserved it. I guess these people have never had to face unemployment, and I'm hoping they'll have an opportunity to have a bit of an attitude re-adjustment in that regard in the next year or so. No doubt after that a lot of them will simply go back to their previous attitudes, but one can always hope.
Even worse is the fate of students (like myself) coming on to the job market at this time, there's simply no way I'm going to be able to find work in law at the moment, no matter how good my CV is. The few people I know who have found work have almost all done so through their parent's connections – so much for meritocracy!
Yep, a refreshing break from the incredibly self-engrossed and self-impressed talk of senior partners/management (at a party last Saturday I spoke to a woman who told me her job as a corporate psychologist was "empowering CEOs" – as if they need her help!). To be frank, I'm sickened by some of the talk you hear – especially from recruitment people – of people who have been laid off as being, essentially, losers who deserved it. I guess these people have never had to face unemployment, and I'm hoping they'll have an opportunity to have a bit of an attitude re-adjustment in that regard in the next year or so. No doubt after that a lot of them will simply go back to their previous attitudes, but one can always hope.
Even worse is the fate of students (like myself) coming on to the job market at this time, there's simply no way I'm going to be able to find work in law at the moment, no matter how good my CV is. The few people I know who have found work have almost all done so through their parent's connections – so much for meritocracy!