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I am way, way, way behind in my job search. I don't know if I will be able to get anything worth doing. What would happen to my 2nd and 3rd year job chances if I didn't do anything law-related for this summer?

kazootey wrote:I am way, way, way behind in my job search. I don't know if I will be able to get anything worth doing. What would happen to my 2nd and 3rd year job chances if I didn't do anything law-related for this summer?

ud die.

kazootey wrote:I am way, way, way behind in my job search. I don't know if I will be able to get anything worth doing. What would happen to my 2nd and 3rd year job chances if I didn't do anything law-related for this summer?

They would be hurt. It would look like you're not dedicated to the profession.

I applied for a job with the County Attorney last Friday, but so far this week I have heard nothing. Should I call them and ask what is up or just wait it out?

kazootey wrote:I applied for a job with the County Attorney last Friday, but so far this week I have heard nothing. Should I call them and ask what is up or just wait it out?

Everything I have read from people currently in law school says you should be spamming your ass off trying to find a job. If you applied to just one or only a handful, you are doing it wrong.

bk187 wrote:

kazootey wrote:I applied for a job with the County Attorney last Friday, but so far this week I have heard nothing. Should I call them and ask what is up or just wait it out?

Everything I have read from people currently in law school says you should be spamming your ass off trying to find a job. If you applied to just one or only a handful, you are doing it wrong.

I was applying to a few here and there...then I started applying to everything I got my hands on...didnt hear anything for a while but finally got two interviews. I think if you apply to 100 places the chances of hearing back from 3 or so go up. 1L internship apps seem like they fall into a big black hole

kazootey wrote:I applied for a job with the County Attorney last Friday, but so far this week I have heard nothing. Should I call them and ask what is up or just wait it out?

You only applied for one job? It sounds as if you don't know how to apply for jobs. Apply for anything you find that remotely interests you, and even things that don't interest you but sound tolerable. Seriously, try harder.

kazootey wrote:I applied for a job with the County Attorney last Friday, but so far this week I have heard nothing. Should I call them and ask what is up or just wait it out?

Wait it out. I think usually 1 months is standard to wait before contacting them to see what's up with your application (unless you have a competing offer on the table and need an answer immediately, but that doesn't sound like your position), otherwise you'll just annoy them.

I think mass mailer time. What about spring OCI on your campus? No 1L positions available?

1) summer research; positions not usually made available til later in the semester (as a last resort kinda thing), or approach profs on your own
2) only heard of one person who didn't work at all last summer, and still secured multiple V15 offers.

kazootey wrote:I applied for a job with the County Attorney last Friday, but so far this week I have heard nothing. Should I call them and ask what is up or just wait it out?

Applying for just one summer job is prolly good enough. You'll likely get it. It's not like any other 1Ls have applied for summer jobs yet.

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I have been told time and time again by deans and professors that it is not a big deal if you don't have a legal job your 1L summer especially in this economy. Will it be a disadvantage when compared to those who DID have a 1L summer job: probably. Still seems to not be the end of the world. That said, you probably should try harder.

It reflects both poor work ethic and laziness, and I would ding you in the first 30 seconds of the interview.

bk187 wrote:

kazootey wrote:I applied for a job with the County Attorney last Friday, but so far this week I have heard nothing. Should I call them and ask what is up or just wait it out?

Everything I have read from people currently in law school says you should be spamming your ass off trying to find a job. If you applied to just one or only a handful, you are doing it wrong.

Silence 0L, you should apply only to a few employers to which you are perfectly suited, research the FUCK out of them, and land a job without expending a bunch of needless effort.

Veyron wrote:

bk187 wrote:

kazootey wrote:I applied for a job with the County Attorney last Friday, but so far this week I have heard nothing. Should I call them and ask what is up or just wait it out?

Everything I have read from people currently in law school says you should be spamming your ass off trying to find a job. If you applied to just one or only a handful, you are doing it wrong.

Silence 0L, you should apply only to a few employers to which you are perfectly suited, research the FUCK out of them, and land a job without expending a bunch of needless effort.

I knew you law students were trying to fool me into making a mistake in law school!

Veyron wrote:Silence 0L, you should apply only to a few employers to which you are perfectly suited, research the FUCK out of them, and land a job without expending a bunch of needless effort.

This is not very good advice. Even 1L jobs are competitive, especially if you're not at a top school. I think OP needs to dedicate some serious time to getting a job. Applying to only one place is pretty lazy. Not having a 1L job is a red flag to employers, and it could be detrimental in the long term.

Veyron wrote:

bk187 wrote:

kazootey wrote:I applied for a job with the County Attorney last Friday, but so far this week I have heard nothing. Should I call them and ask what is up or just wait it out?

Everything I have read from people currently in law school says you should be spamming your ass off trying to find a job. If you applied to just one or only a handful, you are doing it wrong.

Silence 0L, you should apply only to a few employers to which you are perfectly suited, research the FUCK out of them, and land a job without expending a bunch of needless effort.

lol I really enjoy Veyron's posts.

romothesavior wrote:

Veyron wrote:Silence 0L, you should apply only to a few employers to which you are perfectly suited, research the FUCK out of them, and land a job without expending a bunch of needless effort.

This is not very good advice. Even 1L jobs are competitive, especially if you're not at a top school. I think OP needs to dedicate some serious time to getting a job. Applying to only one place is pretty lazy. Not having a 1L job is a red flag to employers, and it could be detrimental in the long term.

I can only tell you what worked for me. Paying job doing incredibly interesting work. Applied to 4 employers outside of OCI. My grades were nothing special. The number 1 mistake that people make in job searches is not focusing. I only applied to like 7 law schools as well.

Veyron wrote:

romothesavior wrote:

Veyron wrote:Silence 0L, you should apply only to a few employers to which you are perfectly suited, research the FUCK out of them, and land a job without expending a bunch of needless effort.

This is not very good advice. Even 1L jobs are competitive, especially if you're not at a top school. I think OP needs to dedicate some serious time to getting a job. Applying to only one place is pretty lazy. Not having a 1L job is a red flag to employers, and it could be detrimental in the long term.

I can only tell you what worked for me. Paying job doing incredibly interesting work. Applied to 4 employers outside of OCI. My grades were nothing special.

Yeah, I definitely think you can have some luck only applying to a few. I could have probably applied to just one and gotten a job, but good grades/good school make that easier (I'm sure going to Penn helped a lot). I am one of those types of people who likes to have lots of options and lots of backup plans, so I've applied to a lot of places.

romothesavior wrote:

Veyron wrote:

romothesavior wrote:

Veyron wrote:Silence 0L, you should apply only to a few employers to which you are perfectly suited, research the FUCK out of them, and land a job without expending a bunch of needless effort.

This is not very good advice. Even 1L jobs are competitive, especially if you're not at a top school. I think OP needs to dedicate some serious time to getting a job. Applying to only one place is pretty lazy. Not having a 1L job is a red flag to employers, and it could be detrimental in the long term.

I can only tell you what worked for me. Paying job doing incredibly interesting work. Applied to 4 employers outside of OCI. My grades were nothing special.

Yeah, I definitely think you can have some luck only applying to a few. I could have probably applied to just one and gotten a job, but good grades/good school make that easier. I am one of those types of people who likes to have lots of options and lots of backup plans, so I've applied to a lot of places.

For me, it was that I had a dream job for 1L summer, knew I was the perfect applicant for that job and made it happen. Your strategy might be fine if someone doesn't care where they end up. In this case, it was an employer that I would be happy to work for FT at some point in the future.

Veyron wrote:For me, it was that I had a dream job for 1L summer, knew I was the perfect applicant for that job and made it happen. Your strategy might be fine if someone doesn't care where they end up. In this case, it was an employer that I would be happy to work for FT at some point in the future.

I get what you're saying, but you have to realize this is not the experience for a typical law student.

If you can't find a paying legal job, you should do an externship with an agency, judge, solo-practitioner...whoever. Generally speaking, you will be able to find something in the legal field if you are willing to work for free (although that doesn't mean the advice above about starting to look harder doesn't apply).

If you absolutely need an income, and you can't get financial aid by doing an externship, you should find a paying non-legal job. You could help this by using some of your free time to volunteer a few hours with legal aid or doing something law related.

Doing nothing is not an option. After going through the OCI process, I can tell you that every employer asked at least once about what I did the previous summer, and in many of the interviews, I used that experience to answer questions either directly or indirectly.

Good luck.

pleasetryagain wrote:I have been told time and time again by deans and professors that it is not a big deal if you don't have a legal job your 1L summer especially in this economy.

The typical law school professor is laughably disconnected from the realities of legal hiring.

romothesavior wrote:

Veyron wrote:For me, it was that I had a dream job for 1L summer, knew I was the perfect applicant for that job and made it happen. Your strategy might be fine if someone doesn't care where they end up. In this case, it was an employer that I would be happy to work for FT at some point in the future.

I get what you're saying, but you have to realize this is not the experience for a typical law student.

Why not?

Veyron wrote:

bk187 wrote:

kazootey wrote:I applied for a job with the County Attorney last Friday, but so far this week I have heard nothing. Should I call them and ask what is up or just wait it out?

Everything I have read from people currently in law school says you should be spamming your ass off trying to find a job. If you applied to just one or only a handful, you are doing it wrong.

Silence 0L, you should apply only to a few employers to which you are perfectly suited, research the FUCK out of them, and land a job without expending a bunch of needless effort.

Right, because employers can tell how much 'research' you've done.

It takes a lot of effort for most students and your anecdotal advice is worthless here.

They should be applying to everything; OP, when you get home, after you've studied for the day, spend 2 hours/day writing cover letters/preparing apps. It's a lot of time but you're very late in the game (don't let anyone else say otherwise) and you need to lock something down.

pleasetryagain wrote:I have been told time and time again by deans and professors that it is not a big deal if you don't have a legal job your 1L summer especially in this economy. Will it be a disadvantage when compared to those who DID have a 1L summer job: probably. Still seems to not be the end of the world. That said, you probably should try harder.

No. No, no, no, no, no.

Again, without exceptional circumstances, you need something 1L to show that you A. DID SOMETHING WITH YOUR TIME B. are at least at the level of your own classmates.

What will your excuse be? "I couldn't fine anything" - Too bad, the other 500+ applicants did. "I was working on my grades" - So was everyone else.

Maybe it won't be the end of the world, but would you take that risk?