So I had an interview at a law firm today. It went well, in that I got there early, came prepared, and delivered my answers without sounding rehearsed (and with a minimum of filler words). Go me! However…I could tell it wasn’t going to be the right fit. The first indication was that the job was advertised on Craigslist and the company was confidential. I applied anyway on the off chance it could be legit. But, I got my last job through CL so I braced myself for the worst. If a firm can’t afford to spend a couple hundred dollars to list on a dedicated jobs site for 30 days, they more than likely don’t want to pay a competitive salary.

In this case, the odds were not in my favor. It started with the job itself. I was told that they expected me to work cases with little to no oversight or guidance from them. I’m an independent worker but most law firms specialize in just two or three areas of law. They do everything- tax, estate planning, immigration, criminal defense, personal injury, products liability, contract, worker’s compensation, YOU NAME IT! That’s fine, I’m willing to learn…but the expectation is that I would be on my own and I was not to bother them with questions. Seriously? It took me a year to get down all the subtleties of the FLSA*, and that’s just one part of one branch of law. Hubs said, “Well then clearly they’re comfortable with you making mistakes and learning by trial and error. ” HA! If only that were true.

The second red flag was the schedule The principal attorney is one of those Gen-Xers with a Baby Boomer “back in my day” mentality. In his associate days, he worked until 1am and then got called back to the office at 6am and didn’t complain! (Mind you, his firm bio says that he worked in BigLaw and finished law school in 2001, so he was definitely getting six figures for his troubles). I was told that in addition to working past closing time during the week (fine), I’d be expected to work every weekend because that’s when they got most of their work done. Not fine. How am I in the office 60 hrs during the week and still need to work Saturday and Sunday, every single weekend? Either a) they’re pulling in a huge volume of cases and need at least two associates to even the load or b) that scattershot approach to getting clients means they’re burning too much time on research.

I’m just going to put it out there that a 60 hour workweek is about my limit. That’s already a huge time commitment. Let’s say I get up at 6:30. Take an hour to eat breakfast and get dressed, 30 minute commute (even though the average daily commute is almost an hour, I’ll be generous) to get to the office at 8am. I take a 30 minute lunch and leave at 8:30pm to get home at 9pm, eat dinner, and go to bed at midnight.  When do I have time to exercise, cook a healthy meal, or do anything fun, other than the weekend? It’s just not sustainable. Especially if you’re not going to pay me enough money to put aside how exhausted and stressed out I am.

On top of all this, we discussed salary. I included my bare minimum number ($60k) and they asked if I could go lower.  I had already figured out the job wasn’t for me but that cleared any doubt in my mind. I surely didn’t go to into debt to obtain an advanced degree and get paid less than a teacher. No disrespect at all to educators, but I know my worth. In Houston ISD, teachers start at $54k. You only need a Bachelor’s degree and you get weekends, all federal holidays, and 2 months off in the summer. $60k is a damn bargain if I’m working 10-12 hour days year round with no holidays except Thanksgiving  &  Christmas.

Anyway, I’m not discouraged. If I can get one interview I can get another. There is definitely something better out there for me–even it means that I have to hang my own shingle. If I have to take a pay cut, I’d rather do it comfortably from home where I can set my own hours. Because being cash poor and miserable is a double-L that I’m not signing up for.

*Fair Labor Standards Act, which establishes the minimum wage and the requirement that non-exempt workers be paid overtime.