Top Law Schools

I got a fall externship offer at a fed agency. It looks like it will be interesting work that looks good on the resume but not directly in an area of law I had any prior interest in. Also, it is going to be litigation based whereas my resume screams transactional and corporate (which is the story I was trying to develop). I got the offer a while back and was able to delay responding until early next week.

I also an interview request for an in house position (will probably be labor law) at a major corporation that will likely pay. Unfortunately it is scheduled long after my offer expires.

Should I just take the unpaid agency gig and cancel the interview? Should I try the interview anyway and see if I get an offer? Should I just decline the agency and continue my search? One bird in the hand is better than two in the bush though? Agh choices suck.

Note: Impossible to reschedule my in-house interview for earlier.

Take the unpaid gig and renege later if something better comes along. You may burn bridges with that particular office, but if you don't intend to work in there later it shouldn't matter much. They may even understand if you explain that a paying job came along. If this were a paid federal gig, the answer would be different, since you develop much more of a paper trail and could get blackballed from other fed jobs in the future, but for an unpaid internship it's probably fine.

Yes of course be ready to reneg. Your priority should be looking out for number 1, YOU and YOUR CAREER. Besides, Fed gov job is SERVICE not a real opportunity. Not only will you never get rich in a govt job, but you will not even have any contact with anyone who knows how

Danteshek wrote:Yes of course be ready to reneg. Your priority should be looking out for number 1, YOU and YOUR CAREER. Besides, Fed gov job is SERVICE not a real opportunity. Not only will you never get rich in a govt job, but you will not even have any contact with anyone who knows how

Because the only point of a job is to get rich, obviously.

(That said, OP, I agree that it makes sense to renege politely if you get the other job. Doesn't sound like you want to go into anything related to the fed agency so even if you burn a bridge it shouldn't really matter.)

OP here. Thanks for the vote of confidence. I've never reneged before so it feels like a big deal.