Are you ready for some.....retirement?

MomofWildChild
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 13:34:34 +0000

Well, I’m a lawyer, which is a profession rated among the highest in dissatisfaction with one’s job. I made a wise choice right out of law school to go in-house (not work for a law firm) and I’'ve spent my entire career working for a number of different corporations- many industry leaders- usually as the Asst. GC. Except for 2 stints as General Counsel of smaller, bad companies, all my companies were ethical, interesting and well-known. I learned so much. One of my bosses described our role as in-house counsel (not mega-legal departments) as being the “country doctors of the legal profession.” You have to know enough about everything to know when to bring in the specialists. I have been on many manufacturing floors, helped start a prominent trade association, learned how to install garage doors and truck doors, visited chicken hatcheries, been to business meetings at a deer camp as well as dealing with government agencies and employees at every level. The variety of my work has been incredible. The stuff that most lawyers hate to do, I hire outside counsel all over the country to do!

Even now, in my final job (and best), when I get up in the morning I never know what awaits me in my job. I think that is a key thing to keeping it interesting. Another key thing is I love my co-workers. Our legal department is small and wonderful and our boss is the best ever! We go to lunch, we laugh, we help each other. We moved into a beautiful new corporate office 2 years ago which isn’t over the top (that isn’t the nature of our company), but has everything we need, including trees all around and a fitness center. Our management goes beyond what you would imagine to do what is right for our customers. We deal with both serious and hilarious issues every day. It is not easy in many cases. I have to make decisions that can cost people their jobs or not let the business do something they really want to do. I deal with some jerks outside of the company.

I get to go to conferences with other lawyers at really fun, beautiful places and meet great people. I have many lawyer friends dating all the way back to the beginning of my career. I smile when I pull into the parking lot in the morning. I get to talk sports, commiserate over family issues and laugh with intelligent, fun people.

There are days I wish I didn’t have to get up and go. I wish I didn’t have to do my running at 6 am. I wish I had more vacation. The nature of my job is such that I can’t put it down- not on vacation or in the evenings. It’s not a burden. I can do what I need to do and still have my non-work life.

I’m sharing this just as an example of what might make someone not want to walk away. I’ve had jobs that weren’t like this. I’ve had scary, jerky bosses (not many) and been at a couple of dysfunctional companies. But this one is truly one of the best companies in our country and I’m very, very lucky.