Rising 3L Job Search
Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2019 3:16 pm
Xxx
I would just advise that you be careful in giving out too many details of this friend of yours as you don't want to accidentally out her (I won't quote for that reason). Additionally I would suggest you advise her of this website and the many threads/forums that exist to assist in 3L's finding jobs, since she is not the first to go through this situation. If she is serious about finding a job I believe she can do this herself to get all the information she can to best prepare for the next year.
That being said, as far as the basic advice, she should have bid as much as possible through whatever 3L OCI her T14 school offers. While relatively rare to get an offer, it's an easy place to start and there have definitely been stories of people snagging firms through that. Beyond that, target emails to firms that seem like they might be hiring, find alumni who she can call for advice in their field and establish some contacts, and keep her eye on the symplicity board of her school to see about any potential jobs. 3L hiring is not as structured as 2L and there will likely be jobs popping up starting in the fall and then starting up again around March/April. Furthermore, though some people may disagree, she should be taking at least 1-3 easy classes each of the next two semesters to get her grades up. She should not be going for the advanced structured-finance class that'll get her a B because she thinks an employer will be impressed. I credit some of my success to getting my GPA up and the firm didn't really end up caring that some of the classes were more non-traditional. Finally, as an added point, the big firms might be out of range at this point. The smaller firms will be more open to hiring off of a traditional timeline and she should be looking to specialize and target midsize/smaller firms (although if a big firm is hiring a 3L in November obviously it doesn't hurt to apply).
I went through 3L hiring and it worked out, as it did for many. It's hard, especially at a T14 where many of the class already have jobs lined up, but just remember that it doesn't define who you are and with hard work + a little bit of luck it works out in the end. Be diligent and don't get too down.
Feel free to have her/you PM me if you want details about my experience specifically, any other questions, etc.