Mass Mailings & Finding Non-NLJ Firms - Resume Launchpad
Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 12:07 am
Per request, here is a quick tutorial on http://www.resumelaunchpad.com. I used it when I did my mass mailings, it's easy to use and far, far, far better than Martindale or Lexis or any of those sites. NALP is better for NALP firms, but we all know that a lot of firms don't participate in NALP, and finding them can be a pain in the ass, particularly on the Martindale site. I haven't seen searching that bad since I used Internet America on dial-up in 1998.
So, anyway, on to business:
First off, I am not affiliated in any way, shape, or form with the site. I stumbled across it in doing my mailings, and it was incredibly helpful. If it doesn't work perfectly for you, sorry, I can't do anything about it.
What is Resume Launchpad, you may ask? It's 2 things: a law firm locator, and a sort of resume mail-merger, specifically targeted towards lawyers. Fair warning, I only used the search function, which is free of charge. The second function, the mail merger, I did not do, as I had my own way of doing things. But, for about $0.25 an email, it will customize a cover letter and mail it to the right person at a firm. You upload a form cover letter, select the firms, and it does it's Internet mojo and mails off everything to the correct person with a personalized cover letter.
I do not trust those type of things, and thus I did not use it, so I cannot tell you if it works or not. Call me old-fashioned, but I wasn't willing to trust something as important as a job email to this type of thing. However, I'm sure one of you fine people will end up doing so, and can report back on how it works. They have pricing estimates on their site, and according to them applying to the large law firms in metro New York (Long Island, Newark, and NYC) will run you about $35, and the D.C. area (D.C., Alexandria, Bethesda) will run about $30. If it works, not too shabby for the pricing.
So, if you're not using it for sending resumes, then what the hell good is it? NALP only lists NALP firms (imagine that). If you have been rejected from all the NALP firms, that often leaves you with mass mailing midsize and small firms. Unfortunately, there is no centralized directory like NALP for those places. This is where Resume Launchpad comes in. You can use it to search within a radius of a given zip code, and it returns all, or at least most, of the law firms there. You can sort by size, which they class as large firms and small/mid firms. You can also search for alumni in the same manner. From there, you can start building a list.
First off, log in...it uses your Google account, and you'll get this screen --
We'll go with "large firms" first. You'll get a screen prompting you to save the campaign name (assuming you will be using it to send resumes and cover letters) --
I'm going to go with Dallas, since I live near there ---
But, I'm not moving to Houston or San Antonio. I'm only interested in Dallas, Fort Worth, and the surrounding area --
You'll notice the firm list to the right got a lot more manageable, and a lot more on point with where I would rather be. Also, notice the majority of these are NALP firms, but there are a few that are not; you'll also notice it missed some NALP firms...big shocker, it's not perfect --
So, being a 2L at SMU, I know that McGlinchey Stafford did not come to our OCI, so I might want to email them and see what's shaking. So I click on their name, and up pops an information box; notice it gives the website, who to contact, and salary info, as well as what the firm does and a link to recent cases --
I don't know how accurate that salary info is. From the research I've done, I believe it to be fairly reliable, but take it with a grain of salt. I'm just going to assume, if you are using this, you want to email as many firms as possible. So, note all the check marks, and then click "save and continue" --
And it will take you here --
I did not use this, so this is as far as I go with that part. Hopefully, someone braver than I will pick up the slack.
But, I'm assuming at this point that you have exhausted all the larger firms and are now frustratingly trying to sift through all the smaller ones to see who might be interested in you. Here is where this site really shines. Let's go back to the beginning, but this time, instead of choosing "Larger Firms", we are going to choose "Small & Medium Firms" (note the search options I've circled) --
So let's say I am very interested in only looking at criminal firms within 10 miles of where I live --
That's all the firms their database has as working in criminal law near me. But, a 2-person firm isn't likely to hire anyone for the summer (maybe, maybe not--you should check anyway), so I only want to target larger firms --
2 firms seems a lot more workable than 40, but it's always nice to have the option of emailing 40 places. If you want even more firms, you can always leave your search parameters more open, like not specifying a practice area. Now, here's where it gets less useful. A lot of the smaller firms don't have designated HR people, so there is no one to email. Thus, you'll just get an error message and it won't give you any more information. But, for a free service, I would say at that point it has given you a ton of info in a much more easy to use manner than Martindale or the other search sites. I found it incredibly useful when I was looking, and I hope it benefits some of you.
If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer.
So, anyway, on to business:
First off, I am not affiliated in any way, shape, or form with the site. I stumbled across it in doing my mailings, and it was incredibly helpful. If it doesn't work perfectly for you, sorry, I can't do anything about it.
What is Resume Launchpad, you may ask? It's 2 things: a law firm locator, and a sort of resume mail-merger, specifically targeted towards lawyers. Fair warning, I only used the search function, which is free of charge. The second function, the mail merger, I did not do, as I had my own way of doing things. But, for about $0.25 an email, it will customize a cover letter and mail it to the right person at a firm. You upload a form cover letter, select the firms, and it does it's Internet mojo and mails off everything to the correct person with a personalized cover letter.
I do not trust those type of things, and thus I did not use it, so I cannot tell you if it works or not. Call me old-fashioned, but I wasn't willing to trust something as important as a job email to this type of thing. However, I'm sure one of you fine people will end up doing so, and can report back on how it works. They have pricing estimates on their site, and according to them applying to the large law firms in metro New York (Long Island, Newark, and NYC) will run you about $35, and the D.C. area (D.C., Alexandria, Bethesda) will run about $30. If it works, not too shabby for the pricing.
So, if you're not using it for sending resumes, then what the hell good is it? NALP only lists NALP firms (imagine that). If you have been rejected from all the NALP firms, that often leaves you with mass mailing midsize and small firms. Unfortunately, there is no centralized directory like NALP for those places. This is where Resume Launchpad comes in. You can use it to search within a radius of a given zip code, and it returns all, or at least most, of the law firms there. You can sort by size, which they class as large firms and small/mid firms. You can also search for alumni in the same manner. From there, you can start building a list.
First off, log in...it uses your Google account, and you'll get this screen --
We'll go with "large firms" first. You'll get a screen prompting you to save the campaign name (assuming you will be using it to send resumes and cover letters) --
I'm going to go with Dallas, since I live near there ---
But, I'm not moving to Houston or San Antonio. I'm only interested in Dallas, Fort Worth, and the surrounding area --
You'll notice the firm list to the right got a lot more manageable, and a lot more on point with where I would rather be. Also, notice the majority of these are NALP firms, but there are a few that are not; you'll also notice it missed some NALP firms...big shocker, it's not perfect --
So, being a 2L at SMU, I know that McGlinchey Stafford did not come to our OCI, so I might want to email them and see what's shaking. So I click on their name, and up pops an information box; notice it gives the website, who to contact, and salary info, as well as what the firm does and a link to recent cases --
I don't know how accurate that salary info is. From the research I've done, I believe it to be fairly reliable, but take it with a grain of salt. I'm just going to assume, if you are using this, you want to email as many firms as possible. So, note all the check marks, and then click "save and continue" --
And it will take you here --
I did not use this, so this is as far as I go with that part. Hopefully, someone braver than I will pick up the slack.
But, I'm assuming at this point that you have exhausted all the larger firms and are now frustratingly trying to sift through all the smaller ones to see who might be interested in you. Here is where this site really shines. Let's go back to the beginning, but this time, instead of choosing "Larger Firms", we are going to choose "Small & Medium Firms" (note the search options I've circled) --
So let's say I am very interested in only looking at criminal firms within 10 miles of where I live --
That's all the firms their database has as working in criminal law near me. But, a 2-person firm isn't likely to hire anyone for the summer (maybe, maybe not--you should check anyway), so I only want to target larger firms --
2 firms seems a lot more workable than 40, but it's always nice to have the option of emailing 40 places. If you want even more firms, you can always leave your search parameters more open, like not specifying a practice area. Now, here's where it gets less useful. A lot of the smaller firms don't have designated HR people, so there is no one to email. Thus, you'll just get an error message and it won't give you any more information. But, for a free service, I would say at that point it has given you a ton of info in a much more easy to use manner than Martindale or the other search sites. I found it incredibly useful when I was looking, and I hope it benefits some of you.
If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer.
