Graduated Law School and Still No Job Offer Forum

[simplelawstudent]

Hello Everyone,

I was hoping for some advice. I've graduated bottom half of my class from a T2 school. My school was in the Chicago area and I hope to stay here. I've been reaching out to my network and applying on job boards for associate positions. Still no job offers.

I know how hard it is to get a job applying on indeed, symplicity, etc. Will it be easier once my Bar results are released? I'm getting anxious that I won't be able to find a job and I'll have a big gap on my resume while I'm searching. Any ideas on what I should do next? My plan is to start mass mailing and attending more Bar Association events.

[2013]

Keep reading out to alumni. Ask them to have coffee. They will know why you’re reaching out to them. Not sure if there are many small/midsize firms in Chicago, but I’d aim there first.

[lavarman84]

Yeah, it'll be easier once you pass the bar. But you might as well keep applying.

[sparty99]

Keep reading out to alumni. Ask them to have coffee. They will know why you’re reaching out to them. Not sure if there are many small/midsize firms in Chicago, but I’d aim there first.

No one will hire u until u pass the bar so just network and stuff. Do doc review now 4 income. City of chi hires law clerks for like 15.00 an hour. I foeget if you have to be licensed. But they often dont even interview for those jobs.

[andythefir]

Chicago might be the hardest market to get a job. Tons of law schools in the city, every major law school has students who want to go there, the Midwest as a region is desperately over saturated-and everyone from the Midwest feels comfortable in Chicago. I worked in rural New Mexico, and the majority of the attorneys there were from Chicago because it was just impossible to find work in Chicago. If you’re unwilling to move, it’s going to be savage. If you’re willing to move, you could get an offer today if you’ve passed a bar exam.

[Anonymous User]

Chicago might be the hardest market to get a job. Tons of law schools in the city, every major law school has students who want to go there, the Midwest as a region is desperately over saturated-and everyone from the Midwest feels comfortable in Chicago. I worked in rural New Mexico, and the majority of the attorneys there were from Chicago because it was just impossible to find work in Chicago. If you’re unwilling to move, it’s going to be savage. If you’re willing to move, you could get an offer today if you’ve passed a bar exam.

I disagree with the post above. I went to a regional school in the east coast and didn’t have any problems getting offers when I considered lateraling to Chicago.

I think it’s harder to get a job in Chicago than, say, New York. But I think if OP hustles, it won’t be that difficult.

[Wubbles]

Because lateralling is clearly the same as getting an entry level job from below median at a T2...

[acr]

Chicago might be the hardest market to get a job. Tons of law schools in the city, every major law school has students who want to go there, the Midwest as a region is desperately over saturated-and everyone from the Midwest feels comfortable in Chicago. I worked in rural New Mexico, and the majority of the attorneys there were from Chicago because it was just impossible to find work in Chicago. If you’re unwilling to move, it’s going to be savage. If you’re willing to move, you could get an offer today if you’ve passed a bar exam.

I disagree with the post above. I went to a regional school in the east coast and didn’t have any problems getting offers when I considered lateraling to Chicago.

I think it’s harder to get a job in Chicago than, say, New York. But I think if OP hustles, it won’t be that difficult.

This is bad advice and nonsense from the anon above. Anon, you lateraled into Chicago. OP is looking for their first job out of law school. That's a completely different situation: more opportunities open up once someone has a few years of experience.

OP, Andythefir is spot on here. Expanding your search geographically would be the best way for you to land a job offer quickly. You don't have to move to rural New Mexico, but you might consider more markets around the country. I understand that moving isn't always possible and there might be genuinely good reasons for you to stay in Chicago, but you're stacking the odds against yourself.

I would encourage you to spend some time reflecting on whether you truly need to be in Chicago, or whether you could handle moving somewhere for a year or two, picking up some substantive legal experience, then reassessing your options in Chicago later on down the road. As Andythefir mentioned, Chicago is a very saturated market with graduates from far too many schools in the city and around the Midwest competing for jobs.

If you absolutely must stay in Chicago, then follow along with the advice that's already been given in this thread: attend networking events, reach out for coffees, email firms and follow up regularly, etc. Look at opportunities in firms in the suburbs (Naperville, Schaumburg, etc). Track job postings and apply immediately when they're posted. Make sure that your resume and cover letter are top notch, and tailor your previous legal experience to the practice group/job description you're applying for. Passing the Bar will help.

My personal advice: make it a priority to get a reference for whatever position you're applying for. A day spent tactfully working on getting one person to push your resume to the top of the pile is worth more than 20 random Symplicity applications that might get glanced at and discarded. Get comfortable with putting yourself into awkward situations by cold-emailing attorneys and asking for their time to meet or have a phone call. Treat the job search like you have nothing to lose.

[JHP]

It's not ideal, but if you aren't able to find some sort of paying legal-related job, I would suggest you try to do at least volunteer legal services. I do think it is important to make sure you have something legal-related (or business-related at least, at a stretch (assuming you're looking for corporate work)) on your resume for this gap in time while you search for something more lasting.

[Anonymous User]

Chicago might be the hardest market to get a job. Tons of law schools in the city, every major law school has students who want to go there, the Midwest as a region is desperately over saturated-and everyone from the Midwest feels comfortable in Chicago. I worked in rural New Mexico, and the majority of the attorneys there were from Chicago because it was just impossible to find work in Chicago. If you’re unwilling to move, it’s going to be savage. If you’re willing to move, you could get an offer today if you’ve passed a bar exam.

I disagree with the post above. I went to a regional school in the east coast and didn’t have any problems getting offers when I considered lateraling to Chicago.

I think it’s harder to get a job in Chicago than, say, New York. But I think if OP hustles, it won’t be that difficult.

This is bad advice and nonsense from the anon above. Anon, you lateraled into Chicago. OP is looking for their first job out of law school. That's a completely different situation: more opportunities open up once someone has a few years of experience.

OP, Andythefir is spot on here. Expanding your search geographically would be the best way for you to land a job offer quickly. You don't have to move to rural New Mexico, but you might consider more markets around the country. I understand that moving isn't always possible and there might be genuinely good reasons for you to stay in Chicago, but you're stacking the odds against yourself.

I would encourage you to spend some time reflecting on whether you truly need to be in Chicago, or whether you could handle moving somewhere for a year or two, picking up some substantive legal experience, then reassessing your options in Chicago later on down the road. As Andythefir mentioned, Chicago is a very saturated market with graduates from far too many schools in the city and around the Midwest competing for jobs.

If you absolutely must stay in Chicago, then follow along with the advice that's already been given in this thread: attend networking events, reach out for coffees, email firms and follow up regularly, etc. Look at opportunities in firms in the suburbs (Naperville, Schaumburg, etc). Track job postings and apply immediately when they're posted. Make sure that your resume and cover letter are top notch, and tailor your previous legal experience to the practice group/job description you're applying for. Passing the Bar will help.

My personal advice: make it a priority to get a reference for whatever position you're applying for. A day spent tactfully working on getting one person to push your resume to the top of the pile is worth more than 20 random Symplicity applications that might get glanced at and discarded. Get comfortable with putting yourself into awkward situations by cold-emailing attorneys and asking for their time to meet or have a phone call. Treat the job search like you have nothing to lose.

I stand by what I said. The quoted OP said that Chicago is the hardest market to get a job (period). I don’t work in Chicago, by the way.

Yes, it’s easier to get a job when you lateral. But when I applied, I had 6 months of experience at a midsize firm on the east coast and had graduated around median at a regional school. Maybe I should’ve added that for context. It wasn’t as if I was a seasoned attorney with years of experience under by belt and great credentials.

[simplelawstudent]

Thank you for the advice guys!

[The Lsat Airbender]

Chicago might be the hardest market to get a job.

Yeah, agree that this is wack. Chicago is noticeably tougher than NY, and apparently this past year was worse than usual for UChicago/Northwestern 2Ls looking at biglaw, but it's still on the reasonable side. The hardest markets are lifestyle cities like Seattle and Miami, on the one hand, and culturally-insular places (I don't mean Atlanta or Denver, I mean Richmond or Boise) on the other. Honolulu gets extra credit for being both and that'd be my guess for toughest US legal job market.

A major market like Chicago is, by definition, on the easy end of the spectrum, whether your standard is "any job" or "market-paying biglaw". It's a huge, diverse city in a decent economic situation. That doesn't mean it's objectively easy, of course, and I wish OP the best of luck because they do have an uphill battle.

[JOThompson]

Agree that lateraling to Chicago is totally a different task than getting a first job there. As a general rule, people are much more mobile 3-5 years out of law school. My advice to people struggling to find jobs (especially Tier 2) is to expand the search geographically -- not just to small towns in the same state, but also across the region, and even into distant regions. If you want a job enough, you'll find one, it just might be in a smaller market, doing something less glamorous.

Is Seattle really that hard to break into? I've been in Seattle a few years now. I can't speak to the difficulty of breaking into biglaw here, but government agencies (ADAs, PDs) fill at least half of their classes with T14 grads with little to no connections to the area. It's highly prestige-driven from what I've noticed. Maybe 30% of the biglaw and midlaw people I've met didn't go to school here.

[andythefir]

Chicago might be the hardest market to get a job.

Yeah, agree that this is wack. Chicago is noticeably tougher than NY, and apparently this past year was worse than usual for UChicago/Northwestern 2Ls looking at biglaw, but it's still on the reasonable side. The hardest markets are lifestyle cities like Seattle and Miami, on the one hand, and culturally-insular places (I don't mean Atlanta or Denver, I mean Richmond or Boise) on the other. Honolulu gets extra credit for being both and that'd be my guess for toughest US legal job market.

A major market like Chicago is, by definition, on the easy end of the spectrum, whether your standard is "any job" or "market-paying biglaw". It's a huge, diverse city in a decent economic situation. That doesn't mean it's objectively easy, of course, and I wish OP the best of luck because they do have an uphill battle.

I don't mean for elite law schools trying to get summer associate positions. That's a completely different analysis, and I agree that turns on which firms take summers, how big the classes are, and so on. I mean for ok to bad law school grads trying to find work as a DA, PD, legal aid, etc. There are at least 4 law schools I can think of off the top of my head in the city of Chicago, 2 of them elite, ND and the 3 other law schools in Indiana right there, and the million law schools in Michigan, all of whom want to work in Chicago.

[The Lsat Airbender]

Chicago might be the hardest market to get a job.

Yeah, agree that this is wack. Chicago is noticeably tougher than NY, and apparently this past year was worse than usual for UChicago/Northwestern 2Ls looking at biglaw, but it's still on the reasonable side. The hardest markets are lifestyle cities like Seattle and Miami, on the one hand, and culturally-insular places (I don't mean Atlanta or Denver, I mean Richmond or Boise) on the other. Honolulu gets extra credit for being both and that'd be my guess for toughest US legal job market.

A major market like Chicago is, by definition, on the easy end of the spectrum, whether your standard is "any job" or "market-paying biglaw". It's a huge, diverse city in a decent economic situation. That doesn't mean it's objectively easy, of course, and I wish OP the best of luck because they do have an uphill battle.

I don't mean for elite law schools trying to get summer associate positions. That's a completely different analysis, and I agree that turns on which firms take summers, how big the classes are, and so on. I mean for ok to bad law school grads trying to find work as a DA, PD, legal aid, etc. There are at least 4 law schools I can think of off the top of my head in the city of Chicago, 2 of them elite, ND and the 3 other law schools in Indiana right there, and the million law schools in Michigan, all of whom want to work in Chicago.

The hardest market, though? Among tier 1-2 markets, DC and Boston have the same too-many-law-schools problem so it's hardly unique. And Chicago's lower cost of living means that taking CJA assignments or doing doc review to make ends meet is actually semi-viable.