Exhausted

Hit the ground running, as usual, this morning. My interview was this afternoon, and I had a number of things that I had to get done beforehand.

The interview was with 7 different attorneys plus the office manager and lasted 3 hours. I think it went well, but I am a terrible judge. But I managed not to say anything inappropriate--as I am prone to do in interviews.

The firm I interviewed with seems to be the polar opposite of my current firm. Developing relationships with your coworkers is encouraged (fraternization is largely discouraged at current firm--in fact I have been specifically instructed not to speak to certain attorneys.) They say that their billing target is accurate and few go over, although there is a bonus structure in place for those who exceed their target hours. They have a well defined partnership track and marketing people to help young associates develop their rainmaking skills. And it looks like I could eventually spread out from the particularized practice group that I would be going into. Everyone I interviewed with was very nice, and I was impressed that they involved even junior associates in the hiring process.

But having to be in "go" mode for 3 hours is exhausting, and I was worn out before I even made it back to the office to complete my day.

I had a couple of projects to finish and then I needed to prep for 2 depos tomorrow once I got back to the office. But, of course, little things kept popping up. And Partner called at 5:55 to tell me that we MUST send discovery out first thing in the morning. It wouldn't take more than an hour, but it was 6 and I still hadn't started prepping for my depos tomorrow.

Then Partner asked why I wasn't attending a certain event tonight. My response: "Yeah, like I have time for that!." I'm pretty sure I pissed him off. I think it came out snarkier than I intended. Or maybe is was subconscious snark.

I gathered what I needed to prepare for my depos, and finally left the office at 7:30, home by 8:00.

Had dinner and spent about 5 minutes with my kids and then had to start sending out thank you emails to the 8 people with whom I met today. It is tough to come up with 8 unique "thanks for meeting with me" emails.

It's now after 9:30--still haven't prepped for my depos tomorrow. Arrgghhhh!

I am getting really, really tired of working all the time. I am trying to set boundaries, but I can't pull back and meet my deadlines and obligations to my clients. I really hope this interview went well.