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I keep reading that I should be mass mailing firms right now in markets I am interested...what should you say to firms in those markets that you could easily visit? That you're applying? or that you'd like to request an informational interview? Thanks.

if the firm is not attending your OCI and its a bit far from school but easy enough you can say that you will be in the area some time even when you actually wouldnt absent of an interview.. then state that youll be in the area doing x thing and will be available to meet with someone or you can ask to meet with x person an alumni or whatever for coffee etc

Anonymous User wrote:if the firm is not attending your OCI and its a bit far from school but easy enough you can say that you will be in the area some time even when you actually wouldnt absent of an interview.. then state that youll be in the area doing x thing and will be available to meet with someone or you can ask to meet with x person an alumni or whatever for coffee etc

Thanks for the reply. So a little more specifics bc your answer is confusing me a little: I go to school in DC, I'm back home for the summer (far from DC) and there are two markets that I have ties to and I will be visiting both for career fairs before returning to DC. Also thinking about swinging by the NY career fair on the way back to DC before my school's OCIs. So I am planning on mass mailing all three of these markets now (DC will be after my OCI) and say I will be in town during this time for a career fair. But at this point should I say that I am applying and attach a resume and cover letter? Or should I say that I just want a coffee meeting (infor interview) and not attach any resume or cover letter? Or maybe both somehow? sorry i'm confused, thanks to anyone that can help me figure out what the hell im missing

DUBcity wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:if the firm is not attending your OCI and its a bit far from school but easy enough you can say that you will be in the area some time even when you actually wouldnt absent of an interview.. then state that youll be in the area doing x thing and will be available to meet with someone or you can ask to meet with x person an alumni or whatever for coffee etc

Thanks for the reply. So a little more specifics bc your answer is confusing me a little: I go to school in DC, I'm back home for the summer (far from DC) and there are two markets that I have ties to and I will be visiting both for career fairs before returning to DC. Also thinking about swinging by the NY career fair on the way back to DC before my school's OCIs. So I am planning on mass mailing all three of these markets now (DC will be after my OCI) and say I will be in town during this time for a career fair. But at this point should I say that I am applying and attach a resume and cover letter? Or should I say that I just want a coffee meeting (infor interview) and not attach any resume or cover letter? Or maybe both somehow? sorry i'm confused, thanks to anyone that can help me figure out what the hell im missing

If you want to apply for a job, just put in the last paragraph of your cover letter dates you'll be in town and that you would welcome an opportunity to discuss the possibility of working there with someone. This would be sent to the recruiting coordinator probably. If you want to do an informational interview, hit up a specific attorney and ask them to coffee.

Email HR and say you're interested in a SA position, because that's what you're interested in. Email a specific lawyer and asking for an informational interview during OCI season is just stupid, unless you don't actually want a SA there and don't want to interview for an SA. They're looking to hire. You're looking for a job. You don't have to pretend, as you do in an informational interview, that you don't want a job from them.

I wouldn't wait until after OCI to start your DC massmail, either, unless you want to start getting screeners (if that) only after everyone else is doing their callbacks.

Emailing alumni at firms and asking to talk can net you actual interviews. Do it. Attach your resume though ("for their convenience ")

dead head wrote:Email HR and say you're interested in a SA position, because that's what you're interested in. Email a specific lawyer and asking for an informational interview during OCI season is just stupid, unless you don't actually want a SA there and don't want to interview for an SA. They're looking to hire. You're looking for a job. You don't have to pretend, as you do in an informational interview, that you don't want a job from them.

I wouldn't wait until after OCI to start your DC massmail, either, unless you want to start getting screeners (if that) only after everyone else is doing their callbacks.

I assume dead head was drunk when he gave this bad advice. It's always good to get info interviews. To give a better screener/CB with the firm; to be able to speak more intelligently about practice; to speak more intelligently about your target market.

thanks for all the replies. does anyone have any personal experience with Resume Launchpad? I've been messing around with it today and it looks pretty awesome, but want to see what the results were like with ppl that used it before

DELG wrote: I assume dead head was drunk when he gave this bad advice. It's always good to get info interviews. To give a better screener/CB with the firm; to be able to speak more intelligently about practice; to speak more intelligently about your target market.

Sure, informational interviews are good, but the question was about mass mailing. When people say you should be mass mailing, it's not mass mailing to set up informational interviews. Informational interviews should be ideally be targeted on the basis of some common connection (law school or UG alumni, etc), and not with shotgun mass mails. And it's better to do them when neither you nor the law firm are in OCI mode.

My impression from the question is that OP was going to be asking for informational interviews in lieu of asking for SA interviews, and I think this is a terrible idea. There's no need to be shy about expressing interest in an SA position in a mass mail, because firms are looking to fill their SA classes, even though it's inappropriate to do so in an informational interview.

OP: You should do both, but perhaps wait a bit before mass mailing FOR AN SA position. You should, however, look to set up informational interviews with firms you are interested in and will be interviewing with at OCI. Ideally, you should have done this yesterday.

dead head wrote:

DELG wrote: I assume dead head was drunk when he gave this bad advice. It's always good to get info interviews. To give a better screener/CB with the firm; to be able to speak more intelligently about practice; to speak more intelligently about your target market.

Sure, informational interviews are good, but the question was about mass mailing. When people say you should be mass mailing, it's not mass mailing to set up informational interviews. Informational interviews should be ideally be targeted on the basis of some common connection (law school or UG alumni, etc), and not with shotgun mass mails. And it's better to do them when neither you nor the law firm are in OCI mode.

My impression from the question is that OP was going to be asking for informational interviews in lieu of asking for SA interviews, and I think this is a terrible idea. There's no need to be shy about expressing interest in an SA position in a mass mail, because firms are looking to fill their SA classes, even though it's inappropriate to do so in an informational interview.

Sounds like we're in agreement.

filibuster wrote:OP: You should do both, but perhaps wait a bit before mass mailing FOR AN SA position. You should, however, look to set up informational interviews with firms you are interested in and will be interviewing with at OCI. Ideally, you should have done this yesterday.

Since I can only hit the 2 markets I'm near during summer between now and the beginning of august I am going to send out those mass mails in the next 36 hours (saying I'm interested in an SA, planning on being in the area for X amount of time, and would love to have an interview for a 2L SA before running back to DC for the school yr) and the same for NYC for the few days I'll be there when I'm on my way back to DC.

Since I am not going to be able to hit the 2 home markets or NY market for interviews during the school year, I am forced to send out these apps and can't wait a little bit to send them out. But, I can and will wait to mass mail DC - how long should I wait though? 7/21ish?

Also, for the 2 home markets and NYC, should I add in a line saying that even if you don't want to interview me that I would appreciate an informational interview with an alum or any attorney in the practice area I am interested in?

Thanks

DUBcity wrote:

filibuster wrote:OP: You should do both, but perhaps wait a bit before mass mailing FOR AN SA position. You should, however, look to set up informational interviews with firms you are interested in and will be interviewing with at OCI. Ideally, you should have done this yesterday.

Since I can only hit the 2 markets I'm near during summer between now and the beginning of august I am going to send out those mass mails in the next 36 hours (saying I'm interested in an SA, planning on being in the area for X amount of time, and would love to have an interview for a 2L SA before running back to DC for the school yr) and the same for NYC for the few days I'll be there when I'm on my way back to DC.

Since I am not going to be able to hit the 2 home markets or NY market for interviews during the school year, I am forced to send out these apps and can't wait a little bit to send them out. But, I can and will wait to mass mail DC - how long should I wait though? 7/21ish?

Also, for the 2 home markets and NYC, should I add in a line saying that even if you don't want to interview me that I would appreciate an informational interview with an alum or any attorney in the practice area I am interested in?

Thanks

Absolutely no to the bold. It sounds so weak and resigned. You want a job, not info, and if the former isn't going to happen then no point in wasting anyone's time. Also it sounds like you're confused about the info/interview distinction. If you legit want an info interview (what TLS calls networking), email the attorney of interest directly. If you're applying for an interview, then you would email recruiting.

wwwcol wrote:

DUBcity wrote:

filibuster wrote:OP: You should do both, but perhaps wait a bit before mass mailing FOR AN SA position. You should, however, look to set up informational interviews with firms you are interested in and will be interviewing with at OCI. Ideally, you should have done this yesterday.

Since I can only hit the 2 markets I'm near during summer between now and the beginning of august I am going to send out those mass mails in the next 36 hours (saying I'm interested in an SA, planning on being in the area for X amount of time, and would love to have an interview for a 2L SA before running back to DC for the school yr) and the same for NYC for the few days I'll be there when I'm on my way back to DC.

Since I am not going to be able to hit the 2 home markets or NY market for interviews during the school year, I am forced to send out these apps and can't wait a little bit to send them out. But, I can and will wait to mass mail DC - how long should I wait though? 7/21ish?

Also, for the 2 home markets and NYC, should I add in a line saying that even if you don't want to interview me that I would appreciate an informational interview with an alum or any attorney in the practice area I am interested in?

Thanks

Absolutely no to the bold. It sounds so weak and resigned. You want a job, not info, and if the former isn't going to happen then no point in wasting anyone's time. Also it sounds like you're confused about the info/interview distinction. If you legit want an info interview (what TLS calls networking), email the attorney of interest directly. If you're applying for an interview, then you would email recruiting.

Your right it does sound like that. Haha I was a little confused by that, thanks. I am planning on using Resume Launchpad so I think its set up for emailing to recruiting (but I'm going to take the top 50ish firms and individually send those out though w/o Resume Launchpad).

Ideally, you should be trying to contact alumni specifically. They are more likely to respond positively, and last year I even had one occasion where an alumnus partner at a firm just scheduled me an interview without even going through the formality of the informational interview.

As for Resume Launchpad: I should warn you that it is a couple of years out of date (last I checked). You may have some success with it, but a significant number of the e-mails will be sent to defunct e-mail addresses (at least 20%) or to the wrong person. I would suggest setting up a mail merge instead, especially given that you still have plenty of time to get your mass mail out. There is certainly something to be said for the quantity you can get out in a relatively short period of time with resume launchpad, but the hit rate is going to be significantly lower.