DePaul 2L Summer Job Forum

[ITEGodknows]

Hey all,

So, obviously, I don't have a job yet for the summer and I'm starting to freak out. What exactly should I be doing? I'm willing to work for nothing (or, euphemistically, "volunteer") but I'd like to set myself up for permanent employment after I graduate. Top 10% + LR if that helps.

Any advice would be great.

[moandersen]

Hey all,

So, obviously, I don't have a job yet for the summer and I'm starting to freak out. What exactly should I be doing? I'm willing to work for nothing (or, euphemistically, "volunteer") but I'd like to set myself up for permanent employment after I graduate. Top 10% + LR if that helps.

Any advice would be great.

First, sorry to hear about your position. Second, I'm glad I didnt take Loyola up on their 100k scholarship offer, because students there are probably in a similar situation. But still, your credentials are outstanding. So that leads me to think either you were not aggressive in the fall/winter applying to firms, or your interview skills may need some polishing up.

Before people start posting how saturated the Chicago market is and all the other mandatory TLS lines, I think that that its not the name of the school that is holding you back, but one of the two things (or both?) I listed above.

However, without knowing what you have already done to find a job and what type of job you want after graduating, its hard to say what you need to do.

[vamedic03]

Hey all,

So, obviously, I don't have a job yet for the summer and I'm starting to freak out. What exactly should I be doing? I'm willing to work for nothing (or, euphemistically, "volunteer") but I'd like to set myself up for permanent employment after I graduate. Top 10% + LR if that helps.

Any advice would be great.

First, sorry to hear about your position. Second, I'm glad I didnt take Loyola up on their 100k scholarship offer, because students there are probably in a similar situation. But still, your credentials are outstanding. So that leads me to think either you were not aggressive in the fall/winter applying to firms, or your interview skills may need some polishing up.

Before people start posting how saturated the Chicago market is and all the other mandatory TLS lines, I think that that its not the name of the school that is holding you back, but one of the two things (or both?) I listed above.

However, without knowing what you have already done to find a job and what type of job you want after graduating, its hard to say what you need to do.

I don't think your assessment is really fair. It would be one thing if OP was Top 10% + LR at a T14, but the market is especially tough for the more regional firms.

[XxSpyKEx]

Hey all,

So, obviously, I don't have a job yet for the summer and I'm starting to freak out. What exactly should I be doing? I'm willing to work for nothing (or, euphemistically, "volunteer") but I'd like to set myself up for permanent employment after I graduate. Top 10% + LR if that helps.

Any advice would be great.

First, sorry to hear about your position. Second, I'm glad I didnt take Loyola up on their 100k scholarship offer, because students there are probably in a similar situation. But still, your credentials are outstanding. So that leads me to think either you were not aggressive in the fall/winter applying to firms, or your interview skills may need some polishing up.

Before people start posting how saturated the Chicago market is and all the other mandatory TLS lines, I think that that its not the name of the school that is holding you back, but one of the two things (or both?) I listed above.

However, without knowing what you have already done to find a job and what type of job you want after graduating, its hard to say what you need to do.

I don't think your assessment is really fair. It would be one thing if OP was Top 10% + LR at a T14, but the market is especially tough for the more regional firms.

+1. The Chicago job market is a brutal one. I’m probably going to tally up the NALP numbers for this summer and post it up here on this forum at some point here. But last summer, there were around 250 SA positions open total (at all NALP firms in Chicago, including a number of IP firms). Based on a quick overview of the numbers this year, I don’t things improved substantially, except at a couple top firms (such as Kirkland and one other firm), which will almost categorically exclude Depaul law students ITE. I don’t believe the rest of the Chicago legal market hiring is much better than the NALP firms hiring is (which btw is down from 800+ SA positions just 3 summers ago). Just to put things into perspective, there has to be around 250 law students at NU alone, and there are what 6 law schools located in Chicago (?) and a shitload of other schools that are all fighting for Chicago (UIUC, ND, WUSTL, Iowa, and the rest of the t14 comes to mind).

[moandersen]

I don't think your assessment is really fair. It would be one thing if OP was Top 10% + LR at a T14, but the market is especially tough for the more regional firms.

I just have a hard time believing that top 10% at depaul would strike out completely - but maybe Im just naive to the situation. Without the OP providing any info into their search process, I think the mandatory 'ITE' answers are a little presumptive. If they said they were only looking for big and mid law, then yes, I wouldnt be surprised at their results. But if they were hustling the small firms as well and still nothing - then I would think there might be a flaw in the applicant.

All in all, Im just bummed for the OP.

[YourCaptain]

I don't think your assessment is really fair. It would be one thing if OP was Top 10% + LR at a T14, but the market is especially tough for the more regional firms.

I just have a hard time believing that top 10% at depaul would strike out completely - but maybe Im just naive to the situation. Without the OP providing any info into their search process, I think the mandatory 'ITE' answers are a little presumptive. If they said they were only looking for big and mid law, then yes, I wouldnt be surprised at their results. But if they were hustling the small firms as well and still nothing - then I would think there might be a flaw in the applicant.

All in all, Im just bummed for the OP.

I'm sorry to say this but DePaul has a poor rank and has one of the most down-trodden markets in the country for its home (and nearly exclusive) market.

I would not assume that 10% is 'safe' by any means.

OP. where did you go to college/grow up? You need to network the hell out of those kind of ties in this situation.

[XxSpyKEx]

maybe Im just naive to the situation.

Yes

[ITEGodknows]

To answer the questions above:

I hadn't started to do a whole lot of job searching until the beginning of spring semester. I did OCI during the fall, which predictably turned up precisely nothing. I've been applying to everything posted on the career services site, but this has also led to nothing. I also sent out resumes to a number of firms in the area. I feel like at this point my only option is busting out the phone book and calling every attorney who practices in a zip code that starts with "6."

As for networking, I grew up in the Chicagoland area but I'm only 23, so my connections are, shall we say, sparse.