Does work experience help job prospects after LS? Forum

[AlanShore]

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[bees]

From reading these boards I've gathered that it does help some for OCI interviews and I'm imagine other interviews as well. It's certainly no replacement for good grades, but work experience is never a bad thing to have when walking into any kind of interview.

[Aeroplane]

It can help in some random ways. For example, I happen to have been interviewed by two partners at different firms who also worked for my former employer as engineers before law school. It can be a pretty small world.

That being said, if your only real motivation is to "improve job prospects post-LS" then I think the improvement is way too small to warrant a year of your life. But in general, getting work experience is great and that having a year of FT work under your belt by the time you begin your first legal job will enable you to avoid typical mistakes that fresh-out-of-school people make in the workplace (not just legal workplaces but generally).

[AlanShore]

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[Titus]

I'd say take the job and save the money to lower the debt load. You can always retake the LSAT if you are worried about getting in and you might even wind up with a scholarship.

[AlanShore]

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[AlanShore]

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[NosferatuDracon]

Oh and the other thing I've noticed is that the 3Ls who commented that OCI ITE tended to favor those who had work experience often specified "banking", "consulting" which is very elite. ....

Are your refering to investment banking, and big firm consulting, i.e. McKinsey, Bain, Boston...or just consulting in general. I'm currently a consultant for a small international company in a very niche industry and have been wondering if this would in any way effect my employment prospects after graduating law school.

Obviously there's no clear answer to this, but I am curious as to what you've heard.

[AlanShore]

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[Anonymous User]

Apparently, if you've had two years of experience in the corporate world, doors will just open right up to you!

[AlanShore]

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[NosferatuDracon]

mostly I am referring to big firm consulting. Basically what I read on other threads is that work experience in a very tiring and demanding environment looks good at OCI. I'm not saying your consulting isnt as demanding! but mckinsey, bain, bcg have strong reputations.

id say smaller consulting is probably a little better but not a lot better than what my work experience would be. "pretty good not great" stuff like that.

it certainly wont hurt. i think the main thing that is making me consider working is that working in a professional environment shows some sort of maturity and proves you can conduct yourself properly and you have more "real world' experience. Maturity can also show itself in interviews and things like that but ITE, i'm sure every bit helps.

That's what I'm imagining as well, but I want to get into government work after law school. But I'd rather keep all doors open since nothing is definite at this point. Work experience would help possibly get excepted to NU as well(with at least 2 years work experience that is), but that's not really on my radar since I don't really want to go to school in Chicago, but may apply to hopefully use them to negotiate scholarship money where I do what to go(and of course hopefully get in)

[Anonymous User]

W/e is valuable. I feel as though I had more to talk about during interviews. In fact, an interviewer specifically told me that she prefers people who worked before law school b/c she notices that they tend to have more maturity. I think my w/e helped me land several job offers (some highly competitive) before my grades even came out. Ultimately, I think it will be good for you to get some real world perspective before law school... and also I would suggest perhaps retaking the LSAT while you're at it and seeing if you could get into a better school w/ that 1 extra year of preparation. In this economy, any leg up is useful.