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In a nutshell and I will answer more questions if needed.

To set the stage: I have one SA locked down, and I'm actively looking for a SA for the other half. During Fall I sent out around 120 mass mails which gave me my first offer but other than that, rejection/silent (even after follow up emails). T1 / 20% / LR.

There is a job fair coming up in a city that is not in my schools market. Same state, but another large market in the state. I would rather prefer to stay in my market city because I like the city better, don't want the hassle of trying to find temporary living, etc...

At the job fair, there will be a firm that I'm confident I could get the job. I exceed the grade cut off, by a long shot, but why I think I would have a good shot is because the person running the interview process is extremely close to my family. I'm talking about him being blood, his dad is my godfather, he is my dad's best friend, etc.. close. We used to email a lot in undergrad also.

I guess my dilemma is that I don't want to bid, interview and get the job, and then miss out on any chance to lock down something in my main market. I know nothing is guaranteed, especially after having a horrendous OCI, but if any job was close to a sure thing before an interview, I believe this is it. Bidding ends this week.

I'm not really hopefully about getting a mass mail job at this point because my 1:120 ratio sucks. BUT, at my school we are having a small/midsized career fair this Spring, and then there will be a out-of-town job fair in a city close to my market that I have a ton of family in and would not mind spending six weeks, and/or possibly career there. Also, symplicity has been promising so far this semester.

If this was another firm I would take the interview, and just wait as long as I could to accept the offer. But given that this is a close family friend, I don't feel great about doing that.

I would appreciate to hear any advice on what you guys would do in my position.

Tl;dr- not sure if I want to put all my eggs in one basket for a job in market don't care for w/ a firm that does work I don't care for when there may be other options later in the year. But I don't want to miss out on a job at the same time.

Why do you want to split in the first place?

patogordo wrote:Why do you want to split in the first place?

ANON-


Splitting is the norm in my state. The firm I have an offer from is offering for one half. I want another firm to double my chances to get a full time offer at the end of the summer.

Anonymous User wrote:

patogordo wrote:Why do you want to split in the first place?

ANON-Splitting is the norm in my state. The firm I have an offer from is offering for one half. I want another firm to double my chances to get a full time offer at the end of the summer.

So you're in Texas? Since UT is not T14 anymore, are they considered T1 generally, or are you at SMU, Baylor, or UofH? I guess the important question is would you like to work at the firm where you have the connection? Do they generally offer their SAs? Is that firm's practice of interest to you? Is the pay comparable? If the pay is good, that offsets some of the trouble you'd go through to get the housing, etc.

I wouldn't count on any BigLaw hirings now, as they are already filling up their 1L SA classes, and if you're targeting small/midsized, those aren't going to pay as much or have a high of probability as leading to a full-time employment post-grad, and the whole point of splitting is to have a back-up option if the first-half gig falls through. If I were in your situation, I'd go with the surest thing, and that would be your family connection firm as a backup for the 2nd half.

downinDtown wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

patogordo wrote:Why do you want to split in the first place?

ANON-Splitting is the norm in my state. The firm I have an offer from is offering for one half. I want another firm to double my chances to get a full time offer at the end of the summer.

So you're in Texas? Since UT is not T14 anymore, are they considered T1 generally, or are you at SMU, Baylor, or UofH? I guess the important question is would you like to work at the firm where you have the connection? Do they generally offer their SAs? Is that firm's practice of interest to you? Is the pay comparable? If the pay is good, that offsets some of the trouble you'd go through to get the housing, etc.

I wouldn't count on any BigLaw hirings now, as they are already filling up their 1L SA classes, and if you're targeting small/midsized, those aren't going to pay as much or have a high of probability as leading to a full-time employment post-grad, and the whole point of splitting is to have a back-up option if the first-half gig falls through. If I were in your situation, I'd go with the surest thing, and that would be your family connection firm as a backup for the 2nd half.

I may or may not be at one of the four schools you listed, ha.

I would really like to work at the firm that I already have something with. This other firm, I'm meh on. I have no clue on salary, or if they hire SA, however, looking at the firm's website they have quite a lot of young associates so I guess they hire from their SA pool. They don't necessarily do what I want to do, but I'm at the point where beggars cannot be choosers. However, if my first option does not pull through at the end of summer, then it would really nice to have option 2, assuming that works out.


I guess I have two competing fears - (1) taking the gig and then missing out on an opportunity at the other out of town job fair (in a city I would not mind) or my schools small/midsize career fair and (2) not getting a second half gig.


I guess option two is worse which suggest I should take the interview. I'm leaning towards option one though.