Reminder: Stop Reading Tea Leaves; Start Mass Mailing Forum

[Traynor Brah]

No. Would not advise attaching. The gist of it is make the info as quickly accessed as possible, doesn't make much sense to me to attach. ("Hi recruiter, please hire me. I know I could write why right here, and that you are getting literally a hundred of these a day and will take a passing glance at this, maybe, but instead please open attachment so I can say why you should hire me.")

I don't know. Take your cover letter's three meat paragraphs and whittle them down to have zero fluff and pomp. I am x from x writing to apply with x. I want to practice in x when I graduate. I think firm x is badass because x. My resume is attached; i am badass cause x. Call me k thanks.
-x

I mean do what you want of course. Just thought I'd put a few things on folks' radar.

[Anonymous User]

Is it OK to say I am interested in working for firms that are mid-sized in the cover letter? It's the truth, but I also don't want it to come across as pandering or code for "not willing to work a lot."

[Traynor Brah]

Sounds like a weird thing to say. (Not for tls but for real person world). Cover letter isn't the place to fuck aroundt wrt your interest in the firm. Just be chll, bro; if you are going to say something about your particular interest in the firm, be specific. Otherwise just don't say anything about your particular interest.

I had a lot of success with saying in screeners/cbs saying stuff like, "it's so tough from this side of things to differentiate firms, in your experience, what is unique or advantageous about practicing at x firm compared to its peers?" People empathize with that kind of shit; not so much with picking out arbitrary Internet forum distinctions, you know?

[BigZuck]

I think the cover letter should be short and sweet but I also think you should send it as an attachment, not in the body of your email.

I wouldn't tell a firm that you want to work there because it is midsize (or bigsize or smallsize)

[rungoodinc]

Thanks for your contribution Traynor. Using the advice from your post I sent out ten applications yesterday and actually got a tentative callback from one of the firms and a response from another. Definitely better than the rate I was at before.

I have one quick question: once you know that your email has been read and not responded to after a reasonable period of time, do you mention this at all when you contact the other person at the firm? That way, they will know that you didn't just come to them first and that you respect the chain of command for things like this. It seems like they would appreciate this courtesy but it also seems awkward to just say something to the effect of "I tried emailing someone else at your firm but they never responded."

Either way, thanks for your post, it definitely helped.

[Traynor Brah]

Thanks for your contribution Traynor. Using the advice from your post I sent out ten applications yesterday and actually got a tentative callback from one of the firms and a response from another. Definitely better than the rate I was at before.

I have one quick question: once you know that your email has been read and not responded to after a reasonable period of time, do you mention this at all when you contact the other person at the firm? That way, they will know that you didn't just come to them first and that you respect the chain of command for things like this. It seems like they would appreciate this courtesy but it also seems awkward to just say something to the effect of "I tried emailing someone else at your firm but they never responded."

Either way, thanks for your post, it definitely helped.

Glad I could be of some help!

I would not mention it. If you do, they know someone has already vetted you and decided against reaching out, so you're dead in the water. Assume that if you don't hear back or that if you haven't been opened in a week that your app went into a black hole; the person who originally glossed over you isn't going to remember your name, either, in all likelihood. Respecting the chain of command is all well and good but you did that enough IMO by starting with recruiting, and someone might read an email like that to mean you are complaining about their recruiting staff or are entitled to an interview, and that's not going to help anything.

[Manteca]

Skills and interests section: yay or nay? Thinking of axing it because my resume would be over one page otherwise.

[grand inquisitor]

Skills and interests section: yay or nay? Thinking of axing it because my resume would be over one page otherwise.

you should be able to trim some fat somewhere and still include a small version of this section while maintaining a one-pager. this section can be a big help in finding non-legal areas of discussion that might humanize you in an interview.

[Traynor Brah]

I thought it was beneficial. Always ended up serving as good filler in cbs. I basically said I like politics, sports and beer, so I had something to talk about with everyone; doesn't need to be anything crazy interesting to be effective.

Play around with line spacing and margins, you can fit it on one page without editing content no problem

[Anonymous User]

So it's:
Cover letter in body of email
Attachment with: Resume, Transcript(s), and maybe references?

New to this, any help appreciated.

[Traynor Brah]

Don't include references. Consider attaching a writing sample, especially if you are expressing a specific interest in litigation. Probably not necessary either, though, unless it's asked for.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks Traynor. Recommendation on attaching everything separately or should I compile a single PDF of all application materials for their convenience?

[Traynor Brah]

separately. good luck!

[BigZuck]

So it's:
Cover letter in body of email
Attachment with: Resume, Transcript(s), and maybe references?

New to this, any help appreciated.

No references

Cover letter, resume, transcript as three separate PDFs attached

Send to the recruiting person with a short sweet email- I am interested in a Summer Associate position, my resume, transcript, and a cover letter are attached, please let me know if you would like any other materials from me, thanks

IMO

[rungoodinc]

I've been attaching just resumes and gotten decent responses that. Unless the website specifies otherwise I think it's best to attach just the resume.

[Anonymous User]

May have missed this being discussed already but what is the best way to send a follow up to an unanswered mass mail? Wondering how long it should be, what it should say, should it be sent to same person, should I attach materials again and if I have updated resume with journal should I tell them about the updated resume in the email? Thank you in advance to anyone who has input/advice.

[Anonymous User]

Might have been answered somewhere else, but I'm in a mass mailing frenzy and don't have time to look. If a firm has an online application on their website, should we fill that out in addition to sending the typical mass mail?

[pancakes3]

Might have been answered somewhere else, but I'm in a mass mailing frenzy and don't have time to look. If a firm has an online application on their website, should we fill that out in addition to sending the typical mass mail?

They'll just reply to your massmail telling you to apply online.

[hoos89]

Might have been answered somewhere else, but I'm in a mass mailing frenzy and don't have time to look. If a firm has an online application on their website, should we fill that out in addition to sending the typical mass mail?

Still mass-mail them. If you get a response telling you to apply online then it's up to you whether to do it, but those are pretty time consuming and I don't think I ever got a positive response from applying online.

[Anonymous User]

Ugh, I need to get faster at this. I feel like I get bogged down in individualizing the cover letter too much.

[Anonymous User]

Is there any concern with the volume of mass mailing done over a certain amount of time? I've submitted 24 over two days, also waiting to hear back on several EIP firms. Does it make any sense to pace out to like 10 per day, just to ensure I don't lose track of them all?

Also, what about applications on the weekend?

[Anonymous User]

I did over 200 in one morning. Mail-Merge is your friend. I got them all queued up the night before and then sent them all in a matter of minutes the next morning. Just make sure you have some time to sit down and field the first wave of responses that will come in. Make sure you also have a decent spreadsheet to keep track of who has responded, when they responded and what they said.

[Anonymous User]

What's the best mail-merge to use? Did you use the NALP one? I'm sending them individually with my school's email program. I'm too much of a computer dunce for this mail-merge stuff.

[hoos89]

Is there any concern with the volume of mass mailing done over a certain amount of time? I've submitted 24 over two days, also waiting to hear back on several EIP firms. Does it make any sense to pace out to like 10 per day, just to ensure I don't lose track of them all?

Also, what about applications on the weekend?

Don't pace applications, and I would probably not send them out over the weekend.

[Traynor Brah]

Like I mentioned on the last page, if you use an email tracking program like yesware, you can blast with reckless abandon; it will track everything for you. You can sort those that did not reply or open a week later and follow up -- no way you should be doing this manually when you have free and easy alternatives