emailing partners Forum

[Anonymous User]

I understand that you don't normally email partners of big firms. Yet I was advised to use this approach when the offices are small.

if you email the partners of big firms, do they generally respond in an overly positive manner, say, by setting up meetings with you if they see no prospect of hiring you in the near future?

or do they usually ignore your emails, or simply say, we are not hiring?

share your experiences.

[Myself]

.

[vamedic03]

I understand that you don't normally email partners of big firms. Yet I was advised to use this approach when the offices are small.

if you email the partners of big firms, do they generally respond in an overly positive manner, say, by setting up meetings with you if they see no prospect of hiring you in the near future?

or do they usually ignore your emails, or simply say, we are not hiring?

share your experiences.

I don't think you understand how networking works. You don't email someone and say, "hi, can I have a job?" Instead, you work at building contacts within the relavent field. Let's say you're interested in Antitrust in DC, and you happen to be in DC between now and OCI. You go to your career services alumni directory, lookup antitrust partners in DC, and you email them. You introduce yourself in the email, you tell them that you're interested in antitrust, and ask if they have time to meet with you to give you some career advice. Then you meet up with them for coffee. They'll tell you about how they got where they are today, what they have learned in developing their career, and give you some advice for your career. That's it. Now, down the road, if you interview at their firm, you can tell the interviewer about the positive interaction you had with this partner. And, hopefully, the partner might say some nice things about you.

A second point, big law partners are busy people, but they're still people. People tend to like to help students from their alma mater. Many feel it's a way for them to give back to their school. Regardless, they are taking the time to meet with you out of a desire to help you, not out of a desire to hire you.

[Anonymous User]

I've met with alum and they are mostly helpful.

what if the partners are not alum? when they are not alums, I email them with possible job opportunities in mind. are people automatically more cautious and less responsive in that case?

[Myself]

.

[lolwat]

I'm pretty sure they know by now that you're sort of fishing for a job. So it's entirely how you go about doing this that will make them either want to help or not...

Regardless, I usually get these responses from partners:

1) no response (very common from non-alum partners and partners I had zero connections to, very rare from alums or if someone they knew told me to contact them ("x suggested that I speak with you because . . . "))
2) they forwarded my resume to [insert proper hiring individual here], if I attached a resume in the sense of "I'm interested in talking to you because blah blah. I've attached a resume to give you a better idea of my background" (not common, but not terribly uncommon either)
3) they're willing to meet up for coffee/lunch/whatever, without any mention of hiring (very common from alums, either associates or partners, or if otherwise I had a connection to them). Usually willing to talk on phone if I wasn't going to be there in person.

I've gotten the responses below but they're pretty rare:

4) "I'm willing to meet with you to talk, but we're not hiring right now"
5) Some sort of "we're not hiring right now" without offering to meet

[nevdash]

Very surprised to hear that people email non-alum partners for job-related networking. Seems like the most TTT thing ever. I feel like it's difficult enough to get an alum to actually go to bat for you in any meaningful way (i.e. anything more than "I forwarded your resume to HR.")

[lolwat]

Very surprised to hear that people email non-alum partners for job-related networking. Seems like the most TTT thing ever. I feel like it's difficult enough to get an alum to actually go to bat for you in any meaningful way (i.e. anything more than "I forwarded your resume to HR.")

Sometimes you're just interested in talking to a partner that's basically doing the exact type of work you're looking to get into, and sometimes there just isn't an alum doing that work. It's not necessarily fishing for a job so much as wanting to just talk to them, get a sense of the practice area and how you can get into it... but I mean, your goal is to get a job in that area, right? Every contact with anyone up until you have an offer in hand probably has that idea in the back of your mind somewhere.

[Anonymous User]

what if it's not for networking and you got to the point: I want to know if you are hiring ....

how often do you get from non-alums:
"we are not hiring but let's talk"

"we may or may not hiring .... but let's meet anyway... I'll try my best to help"

[lolwat]

what if it's not for networking and you got to the point: I want to know if you are hiring ....

how often do you get from non-alums:
"we are not hiring but let's talk"

"we may or may not hiring .... but let's meet anyway... I'll try my best to help"

Assume you're doing this with hiring partners OR partners at small firms, where there isn't a recruiting coordinator listed?

I've had recruiting coordinators willing to talk/meet with me even if they aren't looking to hire at the immediate moment. I believe I've had at least one hiring partner just fwd my resume to recruiting coordinator for further contact (which is a good thing). I haven't had a non-alum hiring partner be willing to meet with me if they aren't hiring.

[Anonymous User]

Very surprised to hear that people email non-alum partners for job-related networking. Seems like the most TTT thing ever. I feel like it's difficult enough to get an alum to actually go to bat for you in any meaningful way (i.e. anything more than "I forwarded your resume to HR.")

Sometimes you're just interested in talking to a partner that's basically doing the exact type of work you're looking to get into, and sometimes there just isn't an alum doing that work. It's not necessarily fishing for a job so much as wanting to just talk to them, get a sense of the practice area and how you can get into it... but I mean, your goal is to get a job in that area, right? Every contact with anyone up until you have an offer in hand probably has that idea in the back of your mind somewhere.

i've emailed a few random people to whom i have no prior alum connection and they have responded very positively. just don't email them anything that smacks of 'i want a job give me one please'--more along the lines of i'm very interested in your practice area and would like the opportunity to speak with you about your career path. frame it as just asking for advice, and if they like you they'll remember you for a job if there is one.