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I’m in the process of lateraling. I know most people say to use a referral you know before cold applying. I’ve had 0 interviews from referrals from friend/classmate referrals and I’m currently 3/3 for cold applications. These are all relatively comparable firms.

Moving forward, should I just cold apply? Am I so junior (second year) that firms would rather have me apply “for free” essentially instead of having to pay an associate a finder’s fee?

I have a few firms I’m looking to apply to this weekend and am deciding how to proceed.

I don’t see how you could go wrong with a referral. I mean they only pay the associates like 10k or something depending on the firm maybe 20 max. Not like recruiters who get way more.

Whatever you do, if it doesn’t result in a bite, you’re going to find yourself wondering what if you had done the other thing