how to talk about needing structure/feedback

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swordrat32
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

Joined: 1 Mar 2017
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Posts: 241

24 Feb 2018, 9:36 pm

Hey all,

I'm a few years out of law school, and have so far been able to find and keep jobs but have been miserable when I'm given projects that are too broad or undefined, when I'm given a ton of different kinds of projects that I have to learn how to do all at once, or when I don't have a fair amount of feedback on how I'm doing and how I should do things. I also get very anxious about the negotiating/conflict/responding in the moment parts of being a lawyer. (it has occurred to me that I just shouldn't be one but that's another discussion) I have to look for a new job soon and am worried about ending up in another situation where there's only loose supervision or ending up in the kind of lawyer job where you have to do a lot of different kinds of interpersonal stuff all the time.

Ideally I would find a job with lots of research and writing, which is the part I actually like. But something that's a little more interactive might be OK if there were enough structure and mentoring.

I'm thinking more about this in the context of talking to people about potential jobs rather than during an interview itself. I want to be able to communicate a desire for structure and a more limited project scope without undercutting myself. I haven't been diagnosed with anything at this point.

Have you found a way to say this? Have you just been direct about it and it was OK? Any advice or commiseration appreciated!