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How do you indicate an interest in a secondary market that you have little or no experience in, or haven't even been to? I've sent a few cover letters out to random secondary markets so far, but I really didn't mention anything about location because I figured anything I said would reveal how little I actually knew about the area.

Edit: The problem is that the only markets I have ever lived in or near are Boston, New York, and DC, and almost all my friends and family are clustered around those areas. I have some family out in Arizona and California, but that is pretty much it.

green wrote:How do you indicate an interest in a secondary market that you have little or no experience in, or haven't even been to? I've sent a few cover letters out to random secondary markets so far, but I really didn't mention anything about location because I figured anything I said would reveal how little I actually knew about the area.

Edit: The problem is that the only markets I have ever lived in or near are Boston, New York, and DC, and almost all my friends and family are clustered around those areas. I have some family out in Arizona and California, but that is pretty much it.

Secondary market firms are basically looking for the following type of connections to the city you are applying to: http://www.millercanfield.com/mcimgs/su ... mmers.html

Honestly, if you don't have those type of connections to the smaller city you are applying to I think you have little to no chance of getting an offer from them.

In what secondary markets are you interested? Some will require that you have some geographical or personal hook else they will think you will run off with their training to a big market.

Generally, you should come up with a reason why you are drawn to a market and you should address that issue early in your cover. You may also want to profess some reason for wanting to practice in a medium-sized market, especially if you cannot address the geographical issue well.

Good luck.

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Just curious, what counts as a secondary market? Is it anything that isn't NYC, DC, or maybe LA, or is it a few major cities down the list from there?

green wrote:How do you indicate an interest in a secondary market that you have little or no experience in, or haven't even been to? I've sent a few cover letters out to random secondary markets so far, but I really didn't mention anything about location because I figured anything I said would reveal how little I actually knew about the area.

Edit: The problem is that the only markets I have ever lived in or near are Boston, New York, and DC, and almost all my friends and family are clustered around those areas. I have some family out in Arizona and California, but that is pretty much it.

You can use the Boston experience to equal New England, the NY one to get Jersey, and the DC one to get VA and MD.