The Vale of Tears (3L Job Hunting) (No advice for 0/1/2Ls) Forum

[Pretzel_Logic]

Yup, still in the Vale. This is getting pretty old.

Thank God (srsly) I have the opportunity to volunteer and I'm actually getting cool stuff to do (lawyer stuff!) or I probably would be having a complete and total nervous breakdown.

[Bikeflip]

Me too. Having some movement on the JD preferred side of things. I know some landman people, and their companies have openings.

[3Lennui]

I am not new to the vale. I go to a T-14 and was no-offered. I feel like I have messed up each and every interview I have gotten. I have started to reach out and network. It feels really good to be proactive. I don't know why I hadn't tried this before, I recommend it even if just for a morale boost.

[rad lulz]

,

[Anonymous User]

I'm losing hope. My fellowship is at an end, and I still can't get a job. I was just rejected for essentially a staff atty position that I am more than qualified for since have actual experience in the practice area. I came away from the interview worried that I may have oversold my exp or that they had already made a decision (one of the atty didn't show, and one of the other suggested alternative careers in the field). I have yet to get anything through recruiters or staffing agencies to even get contract or doc review work, and the place I am volunteering at I hate going to and is a joke. The only other thing I have on my plate is a city agency interview, where they told me upfront they were advertising for someone with more exp and higher pay grade, and someone w/ an engineering background. Networking has been useless, and I just get repeatedly told that I am essentially untouchable by biglaw and most law firms b/c never worked in one before. I'm beginning to reevaluate my decision not to consider suicide. My building just had a gas leak, and I was kinda hoping it would explode like the one in Harlem did just to be done with all this.

[lbg0125]

I'm losing hope. My fellowship is at an end, and I still can't get a job. I was just rejected for essentially a staff atty position that I am more than qualified for since have actual experience in the practice area. I came away from the interview worried that I may have oversold my exp or that they had already made a decision (one of the atty didn't show, and one of the other suggested alternative careers in the field). I have yet to get anything through recruiters or staffing agencies to even get contract or doc review work, and the place I am volunteering at I hate going to and is a joke. The only other thing I have on my plate is a city agency interview, where they told me upfront they were advertising for someone with more exp and higher pay grade, and someone w/ an engineering background. Networking has been useless, and I just get repeatedly told that I am essentially untouchable by biglaw and most law firms b/c never worked in one before. I'm beginning to reevaluate my decision not to consider suicide. My building just had a gas leak, and I was kinda hoping it would explode like the one in Harlem did just to be done with all this.

So many of us on this board have felt this way, including having suicidal thoughts. You're not alone, and it is. not. worth. it. Please get help - therapy and/or meds. It will help you see more clearly that you are worth so much more than any job or career.

[rad lulz]

I'm losing hope. My fellowship is at an end, and I still can't get a job. I was just rejected for essentially a staff atty position that I am more than qualified for since have actual experience in the practice area. I came away from the interview worried that I may have oversold my exp or that they had already made a decision (one of the atty didn't show, and one of the other suggested alternative careers in the field). I have yet to get anything through recruiters or staffing agencies to even get contract or doc review work, and the place I am volunteering at I hate going to and is a joke. The only other thing I have on my plate is a city agency interview, where they told me upfront they were advertising for someone with more exp and higher pay grade, and someone w/ an engineering background. Networking has been useless, and I just get repeatedly told that I am essentially untouchable by biglaw and most law firms b/c never worked in one before. I'm beginning to reevaluate my decision not to consider suicide. My building just had a gas leak, and I was kinda hoping it would explode like the one in Harlem did just to be done with all this.

So many of us on this board have felt this way, including having suicidal thoughts. You're not alone, and it is. not. worth. it. Please get help - therapy and/or meds. It will help you see more clearly that you are worth so much more than any job or career.

THIS

[newyorker88]

I'm losing hope. My fellowship is at an end, and I still can't get a job. I was just rejected for essentially a staff atty position that I am more than qualified for since have actual experience in the practice area. I came away from the interview worried that I may have oversold my exp or that they had already made a decision (one of the atty didn't show, and one of the other suggested alternative careers in the field). I have yet to get anything through recruiters or staffing agencies to even get contract or doc review work, and the place I am volunteering at I hate going to and is a joke. The only other thing I have on my plate is a city agency interview, where they told me upfront they were advertising for someone with more exp and higher pay grade, and someone w/ an engineering background. Networking has been useless, and I just get repeatedly told that I am essentially untouchable by biglaw and most law firms b/c never worked in one before. I'm beginning to reevaluate my decision not to consider suicide. My building just had a gas leak, and I was kinda hoping it would explode like the one in Harlem did just to be done with all this.

Sorry you're not feeling too good. Maybe you can spend some time with some non-law school friends. I find hanging out with people who don't talk about the law non-stop can be relaxing and take your mind off things and if you still have health insurance you might want to try seeing a counselor. They may have some good advice on dealing with the stress.

[spleenworship]

I'm losing hope. My fellowship is at an end, and I still can't get a job. I was just rejected for essentially a staff atty position that I am more than qualified for since have actual experience in the practice area. I came away from the interview worried that I may have oversold my exp or that they had already made a decision (one of the atty didn't show, and one of the other suggested alternative careers in the field). I have yet to get anything through recruiters or staffing agencies to even get contract or doc review work, and the place I am volunteering at I hate going to and is a joke. The only other thing I have on my plate is a city agency interview, where they told me upfront they were advertising for someone with more exp and higher pay grade, and someone w/ an engineering background. Networking has been useless, and I just get repeatedly told that I am essentially untouchable by biglaw and most law firms b/c never worked in one before. I'm beginning to reevaluate my decision not to consider suicide. My building just had a gas leak, and I was kinda hoping it would explode like the one in Harlem did just to be done with all this.

So many of us on this board have felt this way, including having suicidal thoughts. You're not alone, and it is. not. worth. it. Please get help - therapy and/or meds. It will help you see more clearly that you are worth so much more than any job or career.

THIS

[rad lulz]

I'm losing hope. My fellowship is at an end, and I still can't get a job. I was just rejected for essentially a staff atty position that I am more than qualified for since have actual experience in the practice area. I came away from the interview worried that I may have oversold my exp or that they had already made a decision (one of the atty didn't show, and one of the other suggested alternative careers in the field). I have yet to get anything through recruiters or staffing agencies to even get contract or doc review work, and the place I am volunteering at I hate going to and is a joke. The only other thing I have on my plate is a city agency interview, where they told me upfront they were advertising for someone with more exp and higher pay grade, and someone w/ an engineering background. Networking has been useless, and I just get repeatedly told that I am essentially untouchable by biglaw and most law firms b/c never worked in one before. I'm beginning to reevaluate my decision not to consider suicide. My building just had a gas leak, and I was kinda hoping it would explode like the one in Harlem did just to be done with all this.

Sorry you're not feeling too good. Maybe you can spend some time with some non-law school friends. I find hanging out with people who don't talk about the law non-stop can be relaxing and take your mind off things and if you still have health insurance you might want to try seeing a counselor. They may have some good advice on dealing with the stress.

Agree wrt not hanging out w law people

[Nomo]

I'm losing hope. My fellowship is at an end, and I still can't get a job. I was just rejected for essentially a staff atty position that I am more than qualified for since have actual experience in the practice area. I came away from the interview worried that I may have oversold my exp or that they had already made a decision (one of the atty didn't show, and one of the other suggested alternative careers in the field). I have yet to get anything through recruiters or staffing agencies to even get contract or doc review work, and the place I am volunteering at I hate going to and is a joke. The only other thing I have on my plate is a city agency interview, where they told me upfront they were advertising for someone with more exp and higher pay grade, and someone w/ an engineering background. Networking has been useless, and I just get repeatedly told that I am essentially untouchable by biglaw and most law firms b/c never worked in one before. I'm beginning to reevaluate my decision not to consider suicide. My building just had a gas leak, and I was kinda hoping it would explode like the one in Harlem did just to be done with all this.

Try your best to enjoy some simple things. Go for a walk, read a book, play an instrument, whatever. We let work define us far too often in this country. Its unhealthy when there is work; and its worse when the job market tanks. Its tough. I really feel for you.

[Bikeflip]

Everything the past few replies have stated x100. Anon,life sucks in the interim, but you're gonna get through it.

[Anonymous User]

I would like to hear about how many of the frequent posters here are 3L's, and how many are 4L's (aka have been on school fellowship/unemployed since last may)

I am a 3L, but I have some leads and am in second rounds of interviewing at a few places. I frequently feel like crap because I came wicked close to a couple SSC clerkships and a govt honors position, but neither panned out. Now, I frequently question my self worth and find myself frequently looking at the sky doing some sort of i-will-get-a-sick-job mantra.

But I am just wondering if there are some in this thread who are in worse positions, or are we all pretty similar?

[Anonymous User]

I would like to hear about how many of the frequent posters here are 3L's, and how many are 4L's (aka have been on school fellowship/unemployed since last may)

I am a 3L, but I have some leads and am in second rounds of interviewing at a few places. I frequently feel like crap because I came wicked close to a couple SSC clerkships and a govt honors position, but neither panned out. Now, I frequently question my self worth and find myself frequently looking at the sky doing some sort of i-will-get-a-sick-job mantra.

But I am just wondering if there are some in this thread who are in worse positions, or are we all pretty similar?

I am a 4L serving a school fellowship. I have just recently found a job. Its not my ideal job but ITE I will gladly take it. I just tried to stay hopeful and kept applying.

[Anonymous User]

I would like to hear about how many of the frequent posters here are 3L's, and how many are 4L's (aka have been on school fellowship/unemployed since last may)

I am a 3L, but I have some leads and am in second rounds of interviewing at a few places. I frequently feel like crap because I came wicked close to a couple SSC clerkships and a govt honors position, but neither panned out. Now, I frequently question my self worth and find myself frequently looking at the sky doing some sort of i-will-get-a-sick-job mantra.

But I am just wondering if there are some in this thread who are in worse positions, or are we all pretty similar?

I am a 4L serving a school fellowship. I have just recently found a job. Its not my ideal job but ITE I will gladly take it. I just tried to stay hopeful and kept applying.

If you do not mind, could you describe your day to day mindset and activities, prior to your having found a job? How did you stay motivated? Did you ever get really down on yourself? If so, what helped to change this?

[Anonymous User]

Everything the past few replies have stated x100. Anon,life sucks in the interim, but you're gonna get through it.

I've posted on here before, and I prolly have more medical care than most if not everyone on this thread. It can only do so much when my future looks so bleak. I've completely disassociated from anyone I went to law school, so that's not as active an issue. I just was hoping that things would have turned around by now. The fellowships don't seem to be helping anyone, including me.

[Anonymous User]

I would like to hear about how many of the frequent posters here are 3L's, and how many are 4L's (aka have been on school fellowship/unemployed since last may)

I am a 3L, but I have some leads and am in second rounds of interviewing at a few places. I frequently feel like crap because I came wicked close to a couple SSC clerkships and a govt honors position, but neither panned out. Now, I frequently question my self worth and find myself frequently looking at the sky doing some sort of i-will-get-a-sick-job mantra.

But I am just wondering if there are some in this thread who are in worse positions, or are we all pretty similar?

I am a 4L serving a school fellowship. I have just recently found a job. Its not my ideal job but ITE I will gladly take it. I just tried to stay hopeful and kept applying.

If you do not mind, could you describe your day to day mindset and activities, prior to your having found a job? How did you stay motivated? Did you ever get really down on yourself? If so, what helped to change this?

Honestly, I just tried not to think about it. Hope was the worst part for me. Every time I applied somewhere, I got my hopes up and of course if I didn't get the position, it would hurt. I tried to pass the time by working hard at work and then doing things non-legal related at home. I had a routine where I would seek new job postings on a daily basis and then tried to forget about it.

Day to day, I just looked for new postings and quite literally tried to forget that I even applied to places. Then I tried to put my mind on work or sports usually. I lived on the mindset that in the end, things always work out. I believed I would look at at current situation and laugh. Like people have said... there are more things to life than work and I know its hard but try to have faith that eventually things will work out.

[Anonymous User]

I would like to hear about how many of the frequent posters here are 3L's, and how many are 4L's (aka have been on school fellowship/unemployed since last may)

I am a 3L, but I have some leads and am in second rounds of interviewing at a few places. I frequently feel like crap because I came wicked close to a couple SSC clerkships and a govt honors position, but neither panned out. Now, I frequently question my self worth and find myself frequently looking at the sky doing some sort of i-will-get-a-sick-job mantra.

But I am just wondering if there are some in this thread who are in worse positions, or are we all pretty similar?

I am a 4L serving a school fellowship. I have just recently found a job. Its not my ideal job but ITE I will gladly take it. I just tried to stay hopeful and kept applying.

If you do not mind, could you describe your day to day mindset and activities, prior to your having found a job? How did you stay motivated? Did you ever get really down on yourself? If so, what helped to change this?

Honestly, I just tried not to think about it. Hope was the worst part for me. Every time I applied somewhere, I got my hopes up and of course if I didn't get the position, it would hurt. I tried to pass the time by working hard at work and then doing things non-legal related at home. I had a routine where I would seek new job postings on a daily basis and then tried to forget about it.

Day to day, I just looked for new postings and quite literally tried to forget that I even applied to places. Then I tried to put my mind on work or sports usually. I lived on the mindset that in the end, things always work out. I believed I would look at at current situation and laugh. Like people have said... there are more things to life than work and I know its hard but try to have faith that eventually things will work out.

What did you originally want to do, and what happened with that? How does your original desired path differ from the job you got?

[Anonymous User]

What did you originally want to do, and what happened with that? How does your original desired path differ from the job you got?

I don't want to go too much into details but let's just say I got into the field I wanted, just not the type of work within that field. I would need to switch employers in order to do the type of work I want but like I said, in ITE, I can't be picky.

edit: Also its quite a commute.

[Anonymous User]

I haven't even thought about jobs in a long time. I've been applying to a few places, but I haven't had an interview since being no-offered. I'm having a hard time finding any employers in CA that are actually hiring entry levels.

[Anonymous User]

I haven't even thought about jobs in a long time. I've been applying to a few places, but I haven't had an interview since being no-offered. I'm having a hard time finding any employers in CA that are actually hiring entry levels.

This scares me, since my other back up plan w/ my fellowship ending besides suicide is to return home to CA and take the CA bar and hope that improves things.

[Anonymous User]

I haven't even thought about jobs in a long time. I've been applying to a few places, but I haven't had an interview since being no-offered. I'm having a hard time finding any employers in CA that are actually hiring entry levels.

This scares me, since my other back up plan w/ my fellowship ending besides suicide is to return home to CA and take the CA bar and hope that improves things.

I can tell you two things:

One, suicide isn't the answer.
Two, there are no jobs in CA.

My backup plan is to live in Costco.

[Anonymous User]

I'm really frustrated with doc review agencies. To give context, I've been living at home with parents with their support, but my mom has been unable to work for medical reasons, and my dad got diagnosed with cancer recently and our family income is about to dry up since he'll be unable to work soon. So I'm becoming no longer able to rely on their money and I have to get some sort of job very soon. So I turned to doc review. For the record, none of the three agencies I'm about to refer to have exclusivity agreements, so I was allowed to be on the list at all of them simultaneously.

Here's a timeline:

Late January:
- Agency A: I contact "Agency A" about doing doc review to get some cash. This is a cold e-mail.

Early February: Nothing.

Mid-February:
- Agency A: Agency A contacts me to set up an in-person interview with a recruiter. The interview happens and goes well, although they don't have any imminent projects.
- Agency C: I respond to a doc review job posting from "Agency C."

Late February:
- Agency A: Agency A offers me a two-month project, but it would require relocation to another city about a day's drive way. I immediately do some research to see if it would be feasible. Less than an hour after receiving the e-mail, I respond, but by then the project had been filled and they were no longer taking new applicants but would let me know if anything local popped up. To this date, I have not heard from Agency A since.
- Agency B: I respond to a doc review job posting from "Agency B." Recruiter at Agency B responds quickly and we set up an interview, which goes well. They have no jobs open at that date but expect to have multiple projects coming soon, including several at "Law Firm D." Soon, Agency B contacts me with a short-term project that will start in one business day. This is great news and I accept. However, just one hour later, a different person at Agency B informs me the project has been delayed a week to mid-March.

Early March:
- Agency B: Once again, just one business day before the project is scheduled to start, I am informed that the project has once again been delayed, this time without a set start date. But the e-mail claims that the project is a certainty, just delayed.

Mid-March:
- Agency C: Agency C finally responds to the e-mail I sent them a month earlier and an interview is set-up and occurs and goes well. Later that day, Agency C contacts me and tells me I will be on the list for an assignment starting early the following week.
- Status: Simultaneously, I am on the list for the twice-delayed project at Agency B, and for the project at Agency C. I have a confirmed seat on the Agency B project but the start date is indeterminate. The Agency C project has a confirmed start date but I am only "on the list" and not confirmed. These conflict and cause a lot of stress, but I want to take whatever will start soon.
- Agency B: The same agency with the delayed project contacts me asking me if I'm interested in another project that pays $3 less per hour than the delayed project, and is in a crummy location, one that I could commute to but not without difficulty. Since I am simultaneously waiting on a different Agency B project and an Agency C project, I tell Agency B I would rather wait for the delayed project due to these concerns (underlying this is my belief that Agency C's project will start on-time). Agency B says their other project is now delayed indefinitely and might not happen.

Two days later:
- Agency C: "Oh sorry, you didn't get on this project after all because they don't want new reviewers."

Now:
- I have no projects at all now because one project is on indefinite hold and might not happen, another one I didn't get on despite assurances that I would get on it, and a third I declined because I was given assurances that one of the other projects would occur.
Specifically, the only reason I turned down the iffy job at Agency B is because I assumed that at least one of the other two projects would pan out. And now I have no projects!

Fuck my life.

[dresden doll]

The fellowships don't seem to be helping anyone, including me.

I do know people who transitioned into real jobs from their fellowships. Best of luck to you. I know it's incredibly difficult to be in your position.

[Anonymous User]

Jobs in CA are extremely difficult to get at the moment. Its either they're looking for experienced attorneys, new attorneys with big law SA experience, or top grades (at least top 25%) from either top 14 or regional CA schools.

As for those that transitioned from fellowships to real jobs, I've seen them as well, but they are just as difficult. Difficult in the sense that you have to be there at the right time (if they're hiring) and you impressed the attorneys you've worked with.