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I need career/life advice please
Here's the deal (sorry it is probably going to be long)...
Most of you know I am an attorney and had been out of work for 2+ years. I also have my masters in tax law but I do not have any accounting undergrad or experience. I have a temp job now that I actually really like but since it temp there is no guaranteed work. Honestly if I could find a firm to hire me directly to do doc review I would be thrilled.
The delima I face is if I should go back for even more school and take the accounting classes. It has been a huge pain to try to even enroll and register (which actually insn't even final yet) and then I find out the stupid book is used for 1 class, is a new edition so there are no used ones and costs more than the actual tuition for the class. I have had so many things go wrong in trying to do this I wonder if they are all signs. I also know my heart isn't into it but I feel like if I don't do it I will never get a job but at the same time I don't think I want to be an accountant - the only real reason to do it is to open more job opportunities, but in the end I probably won't use it or when I do it will just be "duplicated" from the education I already have. I don't want to waste money and time (especially since I feel at times that I have already wasted some money on the education I have). It will also mean an entire day each week that I won't see DD for this semester and it could be several days later on.
I am so stuck and torn that I just want to have a pity party and curl up in a ball and do nothing.
Thoughts? Thanks
Re: I need career/life advice please
I probably wouldn't go back to school if I knew I wouldn't use it. It seems like a waste of time and money.
It sounds like you are forcing yourself to go back to school even though you don't want to and don't want to practice the type of law related to the additional degree. I suggest you listen to yourself and don't do it. Just because you get the additional education doesn't necessarily mean you will have a better chance at getting a permanent job.
And if you did get a job related to the degree you have already decided that you won't be happy doing it. I know having a job is important, but so is job satisfaction. If you have to be away from your DD for work, it will be miserable if it is something you don't enjoy. I'm not saying it needs to be your dream job, but if you are unhappy just thinking about it, it will be that much worse living it.
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I would really question whether the time and money would actually put you ahead in the long run.
Have you looked at going in-house elsewhere?
I would also look at non-legal specific jobs where you could advance into the legal dept at some point. i.e. right now, I am technically not IN the legal dept but I am an attorney and pretty much only do legal work in a different dept in my company. I have been asked to join the legal team but , I enjoy my current role and have not decided to make that move just yet (and I want to be more versed in the industry and my mentor is the former general counsel of my company and current CCO so I would hate to lose his connections, lol). My job was not even posted as a legal job but they wanted someone with a J.D. b/c they knew the benefits of having a legal eye do my job. Just something to think about (in case you haven't already). (There are lots of attorneys in my company that are not in the legal department.)
to play the other side of the coin...
registering for school is a pain in the ass, no matter what age you are or how many times you['ve been to school before. i think for a while, we get used to the bureaucracy and jumping through hoops, but then when you want to go back, it's sooooo frustrating because you've been operating in the "real world" and to go back to the "we make things difficult because we can" college world is a step back.
books are expensive and always have been, especially first editions. i'm pretty sure students have been griping about the cost of books and prof's requirements for new editions since the dawn of time... so while supremely annoying, it's nothing new.
if you know what you'd really like to do, but you need to take a little more school to get there, don't let bureaucracy and an expensive book hold you back. you're smart and capable! plan your path, follow it, and don't let little crap trip you up.
if you really don't want to do this, and are just looking for excuses to not do it, then those are perfect "signs" to send you in another direction.
it just sounds like you really know what you's like to do, and pursuit of the accounting thing is going to get you there.
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I don't know if I would pay more money right now for school. You have very powerful degrees. Even if you take a few accounting classes, I'm not sure if that will help you get a legal counsel job in the long run. I think they would be much more interested in practical accounting experience rather than accounting classes. It may be more meaningful if you tried to get a job in a Finance department and work your way from there.
As an alternative, have you ever tried signing up for any of the legal provider programs? Here is the link to Hyatt Legal. http://www.legalplans.com/attorneys.html The money isn't huge, but it will pay you something, and provide a steady client stream, along with more working experience. I can't recall when you got out of school, but one of the requirements is at least 7 years general practice experience. I think a large number of the people that sign up for these programs do it for a year so that they can set up their will and other basic family law issues. That is right up your alley.
On a side note, document review is a good income source on the short term, but that work will quickly dry up in the coming years. The e-discovery software has gotten very sophisticated, and much more economical in the past few years. As the cost declines, I think the document review work will diminish rapidly. Your instincts are right to start looking at your options right now.
Good luck, Bin! I hate that you have been facing this for so long. Please don't let it get your spirits down. You are a great attorney.
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