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Hi all, I just got a job offer at PwC for a senior consultant position. The salary is 30% above my total comp right now, but I’m just worried about the amount of work I will have to put in compared to my amazing work life balance now. Does anyone have any experience moving from industry to consulting? I need some advice on what to do. I’m still early in my career (1.4yoe) so I feel like I shouldn’t care too much about wlb, but at the same time, I don’t want my mental health to suffer either.
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I love my wife - but even if she asked me to quit my job and potentially tank my professional career, I would thank her for her input and continue on with my employment. If you love your job and have no issue with the partner or environment, keep calm and carry on. Also, next time tell her it’s an opposing counsel.
Yeah OP that sounds like an objectively terrible set up, putting aside this incident. You should leave.
Do what is best for you while being sensitive to your wife. But at the end of the day 50% of marriages fail - so don’t leave a good job or career for someone who may not be around in five or ten years.
Sorry about that. Life is unpredictable.
For starters: don’t discuss work matters on speaker around people you don’t work with.
Lol
I think that’s up to the two of you. If she’s serious, I think you can talk to her about your realistic alternatives. I.e., if the comp is what you guys both want you to be making, are the hours really going to be lower, are people really going to speak to you differently at some comparable firm? (Probably not, but maybe? Probably depends how bad it is and what market you’re in.) I’m not sure if your wife is a lawyer but I do find that non lawyers tend to think that firms offer fungible experiences, so that you can just leave and go somewhere else and get the same opportunities and same pay. That’s very false. Explaining why that’s not the case might help.
Meaning better clients, better pay, same hours.
I would not quit my job in a million years because someone (anyone) told me to.
You can have a great career (and bite a bullet every now and then) or “stand your ground” and quit every time someone says something you don’t like. People will go on and on about the ideal healthy work environment but it will never exist as people romanticize it.
The other day I was back home and my mom heard a partner berate me over the speakerphone. She was pissed about how someone could speak like that to what she still believes 26 years down the line to be her “baby”. I basically told her to pound sand. It’s work and there’s money involved, I can understand it if my feelings are hurt every now and then.
IC1–agree
Sounds like you work for a Grade-A asshole. Life is too short for that. There are plenty of great firms, large, medium and small, that don’t have assholes like that. You need a better mentor. Not tougher skin.
Yup. I’m the same. Navigating away from a**holes as a career and lifestyle choice ✌🏼
OP from what you’ve said, you have multiple good reasons to potentially look elsewhere that extend beyond this one incident. But quitting immediately may not be practical for a lot of other reasons. A2’s advice above is solid- talk about your options with your wife and see if you can build a list of good alternative firms/positions and a realistic path to reach one. Or maybe a list of ways you can improve your position at your current firm long-term (e.g. work with different partners, etc.).
Thank you. I wouldn’t walk away immediately, but I am interviewing elsewhere for now.
my wife says the same thing every time she overhears my work calls....
...and i agree with her.
Quitting is the step of last resort. There are so many options in between, beginning with confronting the partner about his unprofessional conduct, talking to a trusted advisor at work, etc.
She doesn’t work for him. You do. Your call.
You shouldn’t quit just because your wife told you so but sometimes those who love us can provide a good perspective we can’t see in the trenches. The work environment you describe is abhorrent. I’ve worked at two V5 law firms and have never dealt with assholes like that—of course I’m very picky about who I work with and always try to find reasonable supervisors and avoid the sociopaths like the plague. If you don’t mind the abuse then fine to stick it out but the behavior you describe is pretty below average and there are better options if you look hard to find them.
What did you think? How did you feel? Did it bother you enough?
Note - Coaches also berate players and it often works even though positive feedback is always more effective. Is your wife acting like a mom who is mad at the coach that yelled at her son and now she wants him to quit the sport?
Your wife got a snippet and not the whole picture. Try giving her the whole picture and follow Partner 1’s advice in the future.
Maybe your wife is right and you are drinking the kool aid too much.
Sort of. Associates are taught to sacrifice a lot in the name of gaining experience and skills. Some give up compensation, some give up their free time, some give up sleep, some give up being treated like a human being.
Sometimes we forget that there are other industries where employees are not expected to pay such a hefty price for advancement.
You may decide that the cost/benefit is worth it after weighing everything. That said, firms have subtle ways of making you question your worth and skew the equation in the firm’s favor.
What specifically was it that he said, or how he said it, that made her want you to quit?
Unless it’s your wife’s name on the law degree, this is entirely your decision, particularly this early in your legal career.
All of that is worth you trading your self esteem and tour wife viewing you as a punk tho? Hmmm.