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

[TooOld4This]

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.

The trick is to get as many out the door as quickly as possible, without the reader being able to tell you mass mailed.

Screeners might not read cover letters, but they generally get forwarded to interviewers and decision makers. Just because someone asked about something in your cover letter doesn't mean they didn't or won't read it. I have commented negatively on cover letters in evaluations. To be fair, I will only bring it up if the issue/error is consistent with other factors in my evaluation (I won't say, great candidate but there was a typo in the CL).

Obvious mail merges can also have you start off on the wrong foot with an interviewer. It makes it a lot harder to sell "why us" when it is clear it is one of hundreds like it.

You don't need to slave away at cover letters, but you should be careful that they don't have errors and don't make it clear that you used mail merge or cut and paste.

[Danger Zone]

That's true, finding a good balance is important. But I've seen far more students make the mistake of too little too late rather than get dinged because of an obvious mail merge.

In all fairness, I was dinged because of an obvious mail merge after not only a screener, but a callback with the firm. I had accidentally put the wrong region I want to work in, and was explicitly told after my callback that they thought it showed I wanted to work elsewhere.

[TooOld4This]

That's true, finding a good balance is important. But I've seen far more students make the mistake of too little too late rather than get dinged because of an obvious mail merge.

In all fairness, I was dinged because of an obvious mail merge after not only a screener, but a callback with the firm. I had accidentally put the wrong region I want to work in, and was explicitly told after my callback that they thought it showed I wanted to work elsewhere.

Sorry you got dinged that way. Unfortunately, this is the type of thing I was referring to. You don't need to have anything pithy in the letter (though if you do, all the better), but if you list the wrong firm, wrong job, etc. it usually isn't going to go well.

There are some very clever ways to use mail merge. And you can have different levels of customization. Spend some time on places you really care about and then can have a couple of generic letters for different types of positions that you send out in bulk. I do recommend taking an extra hour and killing a tree to print and read everything before you hit send.

We have all had that "oops" moment and sometimes you won't get caught or called out on it. But don't set the bar so low that you end up screwing yourself down the line. Put in an extra hour or two. You don't need to put in an extra week or two.

[dresden doll]

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.

[dead head]

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.

Nobody goes to law school just to get a 1L summer job, and those grades that don't matter/aren't available for 1L summer matter a whole lot for 2L summer and beyond.

I was at a talk given by Viet Dinh and Paul Clement about their careers and appellate litigation. Viet Dinh said working in a small firm like the boutique he runs is for people who are risk takers and entrepreneurial, dismissively adding that if that wasn't your psychological makeup you should "just go to Cravath" (where all the other losers apparently hang out). When the student moderator had the temerity to ask about more realistic career paths since no one in the room was likely to land a SCOTUS clerkship, the audience actually booed him. Which is to say that this panel was even worse than 1L profs (who all graduated top of HYS and mostly SCOTUS clerked) telling the class not to worry about grades.

[A. Nony Mouse]

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.

Nobody goes to law school just to get a 1L summer job, and those grades that don't matter/aren't available for 1L summer matter a whole lot for 2L summer and beyond.

I was at a talk given by Viet Dinh and Paul Clement about their careers and appellate litigation. Viet Dinh said working in a small firm like the boutique he runs is for people who are risk takers and entrepreneurial, dismissively adding that if that wasn't your psychological makeup you should "just go to Cravath" (where all the other losers apparently hang out). When the student moderator had the temerity to ask about more realistic career paths since no one in the room was likely to land a SCOTUS clerkship, the audience actually booed him. Which is to say that this panel was even worse than 1L profs (who all graduated top of HYS and mostly SCOTUS clerked) telling the class not to worry about grades.

Ugh, I HATE stuff like that. We had a local SC justice come talk to one of my classes who, when asked what career advice s/he'd give us, answered, to be open to unexpected opportunities, like when the governor called them up to offer them the state solicitor general position. Not a SCOTUS clerkship, but still not a great example for people dying to get any job. (The principle of the advice is fine, of course, and the justice is very nice. I just hated that example.)

[worldtraveler]

I asked that because I've seen 1Ls FREAKING OUT about applying for summer jobs before, no matter how many times I tell them that finding just any job for 1L summer is probably the easiest career move of law school.