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No real work experience and terminated from one...

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 12:23 am
by thatsnotmyname
I'm not in law school yet, though I'll be applying in the coming cycle. I've only had two jobs, both before I entered college. They were both typical high school student summer job type gigs. I was terminated from the second one for a no-show. I was just wondering how this work record would affect employment prospects for a law career. Actually, I'm even more interested in how this would affect law school applications.

Do you guys think my applications will suffer if my last work experience was 4 years ago and I have to put down "terminated" as the reason for leaving?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Re: No real work experience and terminated from one...

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 12:26 am
by ogman05
Don't put down that work experience. The job doesn't matter. You said yourself it was meaningless precollege work.

Re: No real work experience and terminated from one...

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 12:33 am
by thatsnotmyname
ogman05 wrote:Don't put down that work experience. The job doesn't matter. You said yourself it was meaningless precollege work.
Yes, I'm assuming this is easier to do when applying to a firm because you just leave it off the resume. However, I imagine even on those applications it asks if you have ever been terminated from a job...

But on some law school applications it specifically asks you to list your four most recent jobs and reason for leaving. I feel like I must disclose the job and termination on those applications, right? So when applying to those schools do you think it is something that would hurt my application a lot?

Re: No real work experience and terminated from one...

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 12:36 am
by lawemzee
LSAC requires you to submit your work experience, which is then automatically inserted into all of your online applications. You can delete it, but then a portion of your application will be left blank. Furthermore, every school I applied to (about 10) required a resume. I'm not exactly sure what will be on there without any work experience.

I wouldn't worry about the termination, however. Unlike applications for work, LSAC doesn't require an explanation for leaving (from what I remember) and neither did any of my individual school apps. Besides, it was a long time ago.

Re: No real work experience and terminated from one...

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 12:43 am
by Mickey Quicknumbers
I had: 2 years part time at chick fila 2006-2008, as my work experience, my cycle went about what I expected. So I can't imagine no work experience will hurt you much. You'll just be more of a set of numbers to them.

Re: No real work experience and terminated from one...

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 1:12 am
by dood
...

Re: No real work experience and terminated from one...

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 1:17 am
by Mickey Quicknumbers
dood wrote:
adh07d wrote:I had: 2 years part time at chick fila 2006-2008, as my work experience, my cycle went about what I expected. So I can't imagine no work experience will hurt you much. You'll just be more of a set of numbers to them.
I love chick fila
thanks to apathetic managers, I once had a contest with my friend on break: most calories wins. I lost but I still took down just over 3000. So, me too.

Re: No real work experience and terminated from one...

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 11:09 am
by blue5385
I don't think this will hurt you if you do put it down, but whether or not you are even required to disclose it to schools depends on the wording of the school's app. My school only asked me to "list up to four jobs" and not my entire employment history, so I left off old/irrelevant work experience. Schools will not care; if anyone would, it would be the Bar (but this seems so far in your past that it might not even make a difference to them).