Second Job During 1L Summer Forum

[romothesavior]

I’m obviously shooting for some sort of legal internship next summer, and I am fully aware that ITE that job will likely will not pay. With that said, I cannot imagine going years without a paying job of some sort, so I am curious about how I can manage a second job that pays. This is no problem for me, as I currently work a serving job in the evenings in addition to a full-time internship during the day. I love waiting tables and would love to keep doing it whenever possible; the money is good and the personal interactions are interesting.

However, I am worried that this may not be doable with a legal job. Because it seems like most legal jobs can be irregular and long hours, I have concerns that a second job may not be possible. If I am scheduled to work an evening job and my day job makes me stay until 6, my evening job won’t be too happy. Legal employment is obviously my top priority, even if that means being a lighter in the wallet next year, but I’d like to find a way to make this work out.

So I guess I have a few related questions:
-Do most 1L summer jobs have standard hours, or do they fluctuate?
-Is it common to work a second job during 1L summer?
-Would certain positions be better than others for the purposes of holding a second job (aka more predictable hours)?
-Anyone with experience doing this care to shed some light on this for me?

I am sure many people are thinking, “Relax and enjoy the rest of your summer” and “Focus on your grades and not employment,” but it is important for me to think about this because of my loan calculations. I have a 12-month lease and I will obviously have living expenses next summer, and I only want to take out what I need in loans. Ideally, I’d like to only take out loans to cover me thru May, so that will require me to make money next summer to support myself.

Thanks for the responses to my n00bish question.

[CG614]

Does your school offer a stipend for students with unpaid internships? I'd check into that too, seems to be all the rage these days.

[romothesavior]

Does your school offer a stipend for students with unpaid internships? I'd check into that too, seems to be all the rage these days.

Good point, I hadn't thought about that. Yes, I believe WUSTL does offer stipends for people doing unpaid work, so that should help cover some expenses.

With that said, I still want to hold a second job if possible. Strange, I know... but I really do love waiting tables, even if it is only 2-3 times a week. I really enjoy doing it and it is great supplemental income (and I have expensive tastes ).

[HAMBONE]

Does your school offer a stipend for students with unpaid internships? I'd check into that too, seems to be all the rage these days.

Good point, I hadn't thought about that. Yes, I believe WUSTL does offer stipends for people doing unpaid work, so that should help cover some expenses.

With that said, I still want to hold a second job if possible. Strange, I know... but I really do love waiting tables, even if it is only 2-3 times a week. I really enjoy doing it and it is great supplemental income (and I have expensive tastes ).

At WUSTL, you get the stipend for eligible PI gigs if you work 350 hrs (not 100% about this number) during the summer. A few of my friends working at places like Public Defender's office have a second part time job including waiting tables etc.

[romothesavior]

@ Hambone
What about non-PI jobs? If they are non-paying, do we get any sort of stipend?

@ Everyone else
I would like to work for a small/mid-sized firm. If I get such a job and am unpaid, will it be possible to work a few nights a week? Or should I expect to be in the office until 5-6 most nights?

[HAMBONE]

@ Hambone
What about non-PI jobs? If they are non-paying, do we get any sort of stipend?

@ Everyone else
I would like to work for a small/mid-sized firm. If I get such a job and am unpaid, will it be possible to work a few nights a week? Or should I expect to be in the office until 5-6 most nights?

I don't think so. You would have to check the eligibility with the CSO for non pi jobs. I know people who worked for judges were not eligible for the stipend

As for the second question, I work at a small firm (paid a small amount) right now and usually don't have much free time left during the week. I have weekends free but those get used up trying to do firm research and writing cover letters.

[WassAnch]

@ Hambone
What about non-PI jobs? If they are non-paying, do we get any sort of stipend?

@ Everyone else
I would like to work for a small/mid-sized firm. If I get such a job and am unpaid, will it be possible to work a few nights a week? Or should I expect to be in the office until 5-6 most nights?

It's probably not worth your time to get a second paying job if you are going to be receiving the stipend. I'm pretty sure that half of the money you make at a second job will be deducted from your stipend payments (at WUSTL). In other words, if you make $3,000 at a second job over the summer, $1,500 will be deducted from your stipend.

[Encyclopedia Brown]

You are the first server I've met that likes serving enough to do it even when it may not be absolutely necessary. We're through the looking glass, people...

[romothesavior]

@ Hambone
What about non-PI jobs? If they are non-paying, do we get any sort of stipend?

@ Everyone else
I would like to work for a small/mid-sized firm. If I get such a job and am unpaid, will it be possible to work a few nights a week? Or should I expect to be in the office until 5-6 most nights?

It's probably not worth your time to get a second paying job if you are going to be receiving the stipend. I'm pretty sure that half of the money you make at a second job will be deducted from your stipend payments (at WUSTL). In other words, if you make $3,000 at a second job over the summer, $1,500 will be deducted from your stipend.

Ah yeah that wouldn't make sense then. I know beggars can't be choosers ITE, but it sounds like from a financial standpoint, my preferences would be 1) paying work, 2) something that I can qualify for the stipend with, and 3) RA and work a second job. Does that sound right?

My biggest concern would be working an unpaid gig without the stipend and not being able to work a second job to make money. I'd do it if I had to, but going 2 years without working for money sounds horrible.

[mrgth51453]

I'd be sincerely surprised if you couldn't get a job that qualifies for the stipend... don't know too many people that got paying jobs but vast majority of classmates at WUSTL did public interest/government jobs and got the 3k stipend... I don't think they were all top anything, many around the mean, etc. PI/Gov jobs are pretty available for stipend.

[kazu]

You are the first server I've met that likes serving enough to do it even when it may not be absolutely necessary. We're through the looking glass, people...

Hahaha +1. Through the looking glass indeed.

[bk1]

The lack of snark makes me feel like this is a Romo imposter.

[romothesavior]

The lack of snark makes me feel like this is a Romo imposter.

Haha this cracked me up.

This is seriously the first thread I've started for the purposes of asking a question in a while.

[ohnowtf]

I took 1 class, during the evening, which allowed to be borrow another ~4k for living expenses. I guess if you can get something paid, great...but unfortunately I had no other option (I didn't live as frugally as I thought I would during the academic year). At least my scholly covered most of the expenses for my class, and taking a summer course means I can afford to take only 12 credits in the fall (which opens my schedule up for more internship opportunities).

[A'nold]

If you network during the year, you should definitely have something paying at a small firm in the St. Louis area Romo. Start hitting the pavement early and hit up Dean Spivey often. The worst thing to do is to just wait until the Spring and send out a crapton of unsolicited emails. This produced horrific results for me but the one firm I had ever had any contact with before (even remotely) gave me an excellent job.

[arhmcpo]

My Summer program was 11 weeks full time for a non-profit. 9-5 Monday thru Friday. Qualified me for a stipend; stipend did not have any restrictions so I could have worked a paid gig.

If its work for anything besides a private law firm it should have regular hours. Government gigs and most other opportunities for 1st years are unpaid/ so your basically a volunteer which limits there ability to make you do shit like overtime/after hours work. In my experience, when you work for free the employer tends to be very understanding about missing time and keeping your hours reasonable.

[nontradintexas]

Good ideas here so far - I'll say that I took a class, which allowed a little over $4k extra cash. Also, if you can divide your loan proceeds up over 12 months instead of just 9, that helps. The stipend for PI work is good, too. It's worked for me as well.

Finally, regarding hours: I haven't talked to anyone in my class who is working crazy, biglaw associate hours. Almost everyone is working either in PI or as a judicial intern, and that's M-F 9-5, if that. Lots of people are working 30 hours a week or less. Most employers who hire interns are reasonable enough to understand that since they aren't paying you to be there, they don't have the right to monopolize a huge portion of your time.

[Lawl Shcool]

My friends who are doing unpaid work have had a lot of flexibility with their hours. Employers will understand if you have to work a second job to get by if they arn't paying you. I would try and work it out so that you stayed at work till 5-530 though. May be tough getting a server gig with shift that start after that, bartending?