????希望能進律師事務所工作的年輕人也不例外。面試中最關鍵的問題不再是“我什么時候能成為合伙人,？”,，而是“成為合伙人究竟意味著什么？”
????揚說,，有時候,，成為合伙人可能包括不利合約。一些事務所強迫律師簽署協(xié)議,，如果退出合伙人將受到懲罰,。比如，揚知道的某些事務所要求合伙人離開時必須繳回上一年所有的資本收益,。
????雖然如此,，“合伙人”一詞還是頗有分量。只要成為合伙人仍意味著薪酬上調,，它的重要性就不會消失,。即便合伙合約已經(jīng)變了，這一身份的重要意義并未改變,。揚打了個比方,，說它就像Polo衫上的標識。這是傳統(tǒng)體系的傳承,，是可以告訴父母的喜訊,，也可以在雞尾酒派對上讓人刮目相看。
????“我們這個社會注重形形色色的名號,，”康奈爾大學（Cornell）產(chǎn)業(yè)勞工關系學院（Industrial and Labor Relations School）的人力資本發(fā)展執(zhí)行主任邁克爾?賽瑞諾稱,。對于在學校和職場一路斬獲各種成就和榮譽的人們，爭取獲得一家頂級律師事務所的合伙人名號尤其重要,。
????但環(huán)境也很重要：成為合伙人不只是影響內心感受,，瑞斯金說：“它不僅僅關乎自尊，事實上它也是一種定位——影響到人們對一個人的專業(yè)認知,?！笨偟膩碚f，客戶傾向于與合伙人共事,，他們可不管背后實際的薪酬協(xié)議是怎樣規(guī)定的,。
????話雖如此，從業(yè)人員也在改變,。相比在事務所工作年限更長的雇員,，如今的年輕人在工作中追求的東西已經(jīng)變了。一般而言，事務所的新人對長期忠于一家公司并不那么感興趣,，他們更希望能建立一個能夠支撐自身價值體系的職業(yè),。這往往意味著更頻繁的跳槽，與律師事務所的傳統(tǒng)合伙人體制格格不入,；傳統(tǒng)合伙人體制往往要求員工在一家公司工作多年,，其中有些收入要到成為合伙人后才能兌現(xiàn)。
????另一方面,，當今很多年輕人進入律師事務所或金融公司時并沒有趕上好時候,，公司并沒有超量的股本和資金分給大家，這也使傳統(tǒng)的合伙人模式無以為繼,。
????賽瑞諾說：“我不認為還有什么是必然的,，或許傳統(tǒng)模式過去的確具有更多的確定性?！背晒Ξ斏虾匣锶说膯T工必須重新斟酌老一套的觀念,，隨時準備迎接就業(yè)市場的轉變。換言之,，大型律師事務所的新丁們需要重新界定這個傳統(tǒng)意義上的里程碑,。
????譯者：老榆木 |
|
|
????That includes young people looking for jobs at firms. No longer is the key question during an interview, "when will I make partner?" but instead, "what, exactly, does making partner mean?"
????In some cases, becoming partner can include a rather toxic contract, Young says. Some firms force lawyers to sign agreements that penalize them for leaving the partnership. Young knows of firms, for example, that require partners to agree to forfeit all of their capital contributions from the previous year should they decide to leave.
????Yet still, the term "partner" holds sway. And as long as a partnership also means a pay increase, its associated cachet will stick around. Even though the contracts have changed, the status hasn't. It's like the logo on a polo shirt, Young says. It's a holdover from the traditional system, and it's something to tell your parents, or use to impress people at a cocktail party.
????"We are a society that recognizes pedigree steps along the way," says Michael Serino, executive director of Human Capital Development at Cornell's Industrial and Labor Relations School. That's especially true for the kind of person competing to make partner at a top law firm, who has probably been raised on accolades they've received for various educational and professional achievements.
????But context is also important: being a partner doesn't only matter internally, Riskin says: "It's not just ego, it's really positioning -- it affects the way this individual will be perceived professionally." Clients, on the whole, prefer to work with partners, regardless of the compensation agreements behind the curtain.
????That being said, the workforce is changing. Younger people want different things from their jobs than employees who have been at firms longer. Generally, new hires at firms are less interested in loyalty to one company long-term, and more interested in building a career that supports their value system. That tends to mean more job-hopping, which is less conducive to a system that requires paying dues at one firm for years until making partner.
????On the flip side, many young people entering legal or financial firms are taking those jobs at a time when there simply isn't an excess of equity and funding to divvy up between people, which somewhat starves the old partnership model.
????"I don't think there are any givens anymore, and perhaps the old model had more givens," Serino says. "The people that navigate that successfully have to reconsider the assumptions and constantly be ready to anticipate how workplace market conditions are going to change." In other words, young people at big firms will need to redefine the old milestones. |
