Out of the Village

I've already finalized and signed my letter of resignation from the Firm, but I haven't handed it yet to my Department Head. I feel uneasy, to say the least, for having to make this decision to leave. After all, this is my first job, and I have begun to take a liking to the long hours, stressful situations and different [this is an understatement] personalities in the Firm. The Firm has been good to me, although at times, it feels as though the Firm "elders" inculcate this notion among their associates that there are no good opportunities beyond that of the Firm's. If you've watched M. Night Shyamalan's The Village [and this is how a Firm batchmate of mine described it], and worked for a Firm, you'll probably know what I'm talking about. Given this, as we associates grow older in the Firm, the foregoing notion takes hold of us ever so tightly that we find no more reason to leave.

But, as one senior associate of mine [someone I really hold in high regard] advised--although there may be a million reasons to stay in the Firm, it's always difficult to find an argument to counter a better offer. An offer that may shatter the belief that there is nothing beyond the comfort of the village we call the Firm.

Better offer, indeed. And I don't mean only in terms of the kind of dough I'll be receiving. In fact, I won't be receiving much in my new government job [we're talking basic salary only]. A friend of mine always said that taking a job in government always involves a pay cut. Right. But I think the reduction in salary is easily outweighed by the experience and connections that I will be getting from the job. I have a strong feeling [a feeling shared by many of my friends, at least those in the know] that I will be in my element. More importantly, my new job will definitely help in honing my negotiation [read: influence peddling] skills. As an orgmate of mine told me, a lot of people would kill for my job offer.

So why haven't I submitted my resignation letter yet? Maybe because of the fear that I may not be making the right career move. After all, I will be up for promotion next year to senior associate. But then again, as another colleague [who also recently resigned from the Firm] said, one will never know if he or she has made the right choice until after the fact. And so, I guess, the choice of whether to jump or not is left to me. In this case, I'm jumping. It's a far better choice than not feeling the rush of the jump. Who knows, maybe in the process of jumping, I may find out that I could actually fly.