1l job search numbers Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have a list of about 30 places that I have applied to/going to apply to... Is this too many my theory was to cast as wide a net as possible but should I scale it down or is this is common practice?

[ndirish2010]

Unless you have great grades or are at HYSCCN, you will probably apply to more than this, I would think.

[Anonymous User]

Ok that's what I was thinking those 30 are just the ones I found on symplicity I'm also going to do general searches and find more

[SilverE2]

This is not a wide net. I applied to over 500 before finding an SA.

[Anonymous User]

I've sent out 500+ applications so far. Cast a wider net...

[Anonymous User]

I've sent out 500+ applications so far. Cast a wider net...

WOW looks like I have A LOT of work still left to do... Did you both just apply to every single firm that hires 1ls and a crap load of judges or what 500 seems astounding

[mr.hands]

I've sent out 500+ applications so far. Cast a wider net...

How did you do this? This is crazy. Are you just applying to a bunch of major markets? What did your cover letters look like? Was this by email or snail mail?

Holy hell

[stillwater]

never stop spammin' (until you got that offer).

[Anonymous User]

lol 300-500 has got to be limited to certain individuals.

is there seriously not a significant amount of people who only sent out 30-50?

[bk1]

lol 300-500 has got to be limited to certain individuals.

is there seriously not a significant amount of people who only sent out 30-50?

There probably is a large amount of people who only sent out 30-50. That being said, it's not that hard to keep sending crap until you get a job. Sending an email takes all of a couple minutes at most.

[Anonymous User]

I sent out 2 applications last year and got 2 offers. Unpaid, but with nonprofits in fields I plan to pursue.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I think it depends a little on whether you're talking only about firms, or about all possible 1L summer gigs, and also where you are/are looking. I got an internship with a judge from sending out maybe 10 applications, and an offer from the only PI/government gig I applied for. I especially don't think you need to send letters to 500 judges if you want a judicial internship. (Of course, there are only 2 law schools local to the city where I worked; maybe this is different for NYC or DC or the like.) Firm jobs are so much scarcer for 1Ls that sending out tons of applications makes more sense, especially if you're targeting a range of markets (there aren't even 100 firms >25 attorneys in my local city! but if you're considering all of NYC/LA/DC/Chicago that's a different story).

Shorter version: if you want a paid gig, 300-500 apps may be necessary. Unpaid, the world is your oyster.

[Anonymous User]

I applied to roughly 50 jobs 1L year. I wanted govt/prosecution and ended up getting one, unpaid of course.

[Anonymous User]

I've decided to follow the lead and spa, every office that is said to hire 1ls... For those of you that have done this did y'all apply to each individual offices or just the main one or the one in the market u wanted to work in?

[Anonymous User]

I've sent out 500+ applications so far. Cast a wider net...

How did you do this? This is crazy. Are you just applying to a bunch of major markets? What did your cover letters look like? Was this by email or snail mail?

Holy hell

Combination of snail mail and email, but mostly snail mail.

It took a long time to get the firm cover letters done, but the judges were mostly form. Basically applied to around 100 1L SAs and 400 judges.

People I know who had 1L SAs sent out a similar number of letters to firms, so I just followed what I knew. Same with judicial. Although I have heard of more for judicial, but I'm not going to go that high because I still have a bunch of applications for other things I'm working on.

Edit: And for the record I'm in DC and have the strongest ties here, so I don't really have secondary markets. However I essentially applied everywhere along the east coast and some on the west coast (multiple offices for firms).

[Anonymous User]

I've pushed out 20 diversity sa apps, about 15 gov apps and about 10 regular sa apps gonna gun super hard and try and get about 50 or more sa apps before the weekend then start spamming the hell out of judges

[MichaelZoner]

While I never sent out 500 applications, I sent out over 100 applications and had to stop because the interviews were getting in my way. Tailoring my resume to every job was the most beneficial advice I ever acted on. I used a desktop package called JobTabs that is specifically designed to tailor resumes. I used it to accommodate ever shade of every firm's shade of expertise. By doing that I was able to be relevant and that made all the difference in the world.

While 500+ job applications is certainly a testament to a sound work ethic, I don't believe that 500 generic job applications will amount to a hill of beans. Even if you could garner the attention of some lawyer/judge with a generic, "one size fits all" resume, I doubt one would ever make it through the screening interview. Before every interview, I always went through a phone interview. Every single phone interview wanted to discuss the details of what I was bringing to the table reference my shade of expertise in their area of specialization. I did better on some interviews than I did no others, but I got a great job in the end and that was elating. Don't get me wrong; I worked my tail off tailoring my resume. Eventually, it go to be very easy to the point where I had so many resumes, I could always find one that was practically dead-on for what the firm was looking for. Again, relevance is everything!

Sincerely,

Michael Zoner

[Anonymous User]

I'm at about 50 which seems to be around average out of people i have talked to, when you ignore the people that are from huge cities and thus have way more firms they can feasibly apply to.

[Anonymous User]

How I,port at are ties for 1l summer since most firms don't give offers to 1ls?