Funniest thing you've heard about the job searching process? Forum

[brotherdarkness]

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[Danger Zone]

Yeah the WSJ article just said that, of those who got biglaw SAs, offer rates were up. What fucking use is that to the vast majority of law students who don't get biglaw? And they acted as though that single stat was proof positive that the industry was improving. Who paid them off? Fucking law school.

[ATR]

I used Resume Launchpad to mass mail last year and got my SA as a result. My CSO hadn't heard of it. In 2012. Not as funny as it's sad, I guess.

[hiima3L]

I used Resume Launchpad to mass mail last year and got my SA as a result. My CSO hadn't heard of it. In 2012. Not as funny as it's sad, I guess.

I have a feeling some CSOs won't promote it because it makes them even more useless. Damn Resume Launchpad for making CSOs' heavy burden of making lists of potential employers irrelevant.

[kykiske]

Has anyone ever heard of students being able to write official evaluations--similar to professor evaluations--of their CSO counselors?

[Anonymous User]

I used Resume Launchpad to mass mail last year and got my SA as a result. My CSO hadn't heard of it. In 2012. Not as funny as it's sad, I guess.

I have a feeling some CSOs won't promote it because it makes them even more useless. Damn Resume Launchpad for making CSOs' heavy burden of making lists of potential employers irrelevant.

I looked at Resume Launchpad, but found it had a significant amount of outdated information for Austin (firms that have been out of business for 4+ years; firms that merged several years ago; etc.) and included a number of firms whose only presence in Austin was one or two attorneys. It was useful as yet another list of midsize firms against which to check the list I'd been building otherwise, but given the outdated information I decided against using it to actually send apps out in case they were going to the wrong person or someone no longer there.

[hiima3L]

I used Resume Launchpad to mass mail last year and got my SA as a result. My CSO hadn't heard of it. In 2012. Not as funny as it's sad, I guess.

I have a feeling some CSOs won't promote it because it makes them even more useless. Damn Resume Launchpad for making CSOs' heavy burden of making lists of potential employers irrelevant.

I looked at Resume Launchpad, but found it had a significant amount of outdated information for Austin (firms that have been out of business for 4+ years; firms that merged several years ago; etc.) and included a number of firms whose only presence in Austin was one or two attorneys. It was useful as yet another list of midsize firms against which to check the list I'd been building otherwise, but given the outdated information I decided against using it to actually send apps out in case they were going to the wrong person or someone no longer there.

That's a good point. I haven't looked at RL much, but after a quick search of SF, it does have a noticeable amount of outdated info.

[BlueLotus]

I used Resume Launchpad to mass mail last year and got my SA as a result. My CSO hadn't heard of it. In 2012. Not as funny as it's sad, I guess.

My CSO discourages "mass mailing" altogether.

I mean, I guess that's good advice for public interest cover letters, which have to be carefully tailored to show "demonstrated commitment" to each organization/agency's mission), but TLS experience seems to suggest that it's a good strategy for firms.

[guano]

I used Resume Launchpad to mass mail last year and got my SA as a result. My CSO hadn't heard of it. In 2012. Not as funny as it's sad, I guess.

My CSO discourages "mass mailing" altogether.

I mean, I guess that's good advice for public interest cover letters, which have to be carefully tailored to show "demonstrated commitment" to each organization/agency's mission), but TLS experience seems to suggest that it's a good strategy for firms.

The real trick to massmailing is to make it look like every email is tailored to the recipient

[Danger Zone]

The real trick is to get hundreds of them out the door as fast as possible.

[Anonymous User]

Not job search related, but its appropriate here.

At my T2 during 1L year, a professor told our class that the top 25% of our class is better than the bottom 25% of Stanford.
Note that only top 15% at my school typically get jobs through OCI.

[androstan]

Not job search related, but its appropriate here.

At my T2 during 1L year, a professor told our class that the top 25% of our class is better than the bottom 25% of Stanford.
Note that only top 15% at my school typically get jobs through OCI.

Look to your left. Look to your right. Look behind you. One of you will be fortunate enough to out compete the other three in the ls rat race and thus will be perceived as marginally better than the worst students at Stanford. For the other three of you there is little hope.

So buck up, flock.

[kykiske]

I was out at a bar this past weekend and unfortunately ran in to a group of 3Ls and a separate group of 1Ls.

The group of 1Ls had among them 3 very attractive girls. Two guys from 3L group approached the girls under the guise of "career advice." And I think within 2 seconds of meeting them, both of them dropped the biglaw firm they summered at, and talked about how much money they made.

These guys, to be frank, lack any game. They're super awkward, and not very handsome. Maybe dropping the firm name is their way of picking up law school students.

Though for this situation, the 1L girls were not very interested. They both wanted to pursue careers in public interest, so any talk of law firms bored them.

[gogamecocks]

"keep trying, you'll find something"

[hiima3L]

"keep trying, you'll find something"

I don't know why OCS isn't just a sign that says that. It is all they can really do for the vast majority of students at the vast majority of schools. At my school, if you weren't in the top 10-15%, you weren't getting an OCI job, clerkship, or almost anything else through traditional job postings. The rest of us were essentially in the same boat. OCS was useless because, really, they can't do anything to help people get jobs. It's entirely up to you to get out there and convince someone to hire you.

[gogamecocks]

"keep trying, you'll find something"

I don't know why OCS isn't just a sign that says that. It is all they can really do for the vast majority of students at the vast majority of schools. At my school, if you weren't in the top 10-15%, you weren't getting an OCI job, clerkship, or almost anything else through traditional job postings. The rest of us were essentially in the same boat. OCS was useless because, really, they can't do anything to help people get jobs. It's entirely up to you to get out there and convince someone to hire you.

I honestly do not know why the Career Services Office hasn't just been replaced by a bulletin board.

[hiima3L]

"keep trying, you'll find something"

I don't know why OCS isn't just a sign that says that. It is all they can really do for the vast majority of students at the vast majority of schools. At my school, if you weren't in the top 10-15%, you weren't getting an OCI job, clerkship, or almost anything else through traditional job postings. The rest of us were essentially in the same boat. OCS was useless because, really, they can't do anything to help people get jobs. It's entirely up to you to get out there and convince someone to hire you.

I honestly do not know why the Career Services Office hasn't just been replaced by a bulletin board.

Their resume and CL editing skills are invaluable!

[BVest]

Their resume and CL editing skills are invaluable!

Indeed, like the time they told me to remove the most interesting thing on my resume because "it was too long ago." It's the first thing mentioned by any interviewer who knows any history about the area I'm from (which is about 2/3).

[Micdiddy]

Generally the people at my law school have a good head on their shoulders. But, I do remember a really early panel discussion like first couple weeks of law school. The panel was 2L and 3L's giving advice to 1L's and the question of grades came up. One of the panelist literally said things like "Do not worry about grades. Everyone will get a job." Literally all the 1L TLSers in the the room started looking around at each other like

[yomisterd]

Has any school done a study of OCS where one group took and used every piece of advice given by OCS, one group did everything on their own, and another group did a little of both? I feel like if I was a Dean, I would want to know if those salaries I am paying are actually leading to positive outcomes for my students.

[El Pollito]

Has any school done a study of OCS where one group took and used every piece of advice given by OCS, one group did everything on their own, and another group did a little of both? I feel like if I was a Dean, I would want to know if those salaries I am paying are actually leading to positive outcomes for my students.

Scrutinizing the salaries of worthless boomers is a slippery slope for deans.

[smallfirmassociate]

Has any school done a study of OCS where one group took and used every piece of advice given by OCS, one group did everything on their own, and another group did a little of both? I feel like if I was a Dean, I would want to know if those salaries I am paying are actually leading to positive outcomes for my students.

The salaries aren't paid to produce positive outcomes for students. The salaries are paid to maintain a recruiting tool.

[worldtraveler]

Generally the people at my law school have a good head on their shoulders. But, I do remember a really early panel discussion like first couple weeks of law school. The panel was 2L and 3L's giving advice to 1L's and the question of grades came up. One of the panelist literally said things like "Do not worry about grades. Everyone will get a job." Literally all the 1L TLSers in the the room started looking around at each other like

Were they referring to post grad jobs or 1L summer jobs? Because if it's a 1L summer job and you're at a decent school, that's not that outrageous to say. Otherwise...idiotic.

[PepperJack]

The real trick is to get hundreds of them out the door as fast as possible.

TCR. How often do you think your cover letters are getting read? It's like an online dating website. They have set types as measured by school and grades. Maybe a cover letter has more value if you're writing 1 individual lawyer. In all of my mass mailing interviews, I would get questions directly addressed on my cover letters, which indicates it's not even sent/read to the interviews.

[Anonymous User]

I was out at a bar this past weekend and unfortunately ran in to a group of 3Ls and a separate group of 1Ls.

The group of 1Ls had among them 3 very attractive girls. Two guys from 3L group approached the girls under the guise of "career advice." And I think within 2 seconds of meeting them, both of them dropped the biglaw firm they summered at, and talked about how much money they made.

These guys, to be frank, lack any game. They're super awkward, and not very handsome. Maybe dropping the firm name is their way of picking up law school students.

Though for this situation, the 1L girls were not very interested. They both wanted to pursue careers in public interest, so any talk of law firms bored them.

In all likelihood, they would be more likely to want a dude in big law but it seems like a boring thing to talk about. Conversation requires pertinent information coming from both directions. Hence, the term "con" - with.