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I graduated in 2019 and recently moved to a second/third tier market (I just became licensed to practice in that state too). The move was originally for a job, but that fell through due to the pandemic, so I'm left applying to random job openings on LinkedIn, Indeed, USAJobs, etc, as well as some cold emails here and there. Overall, I've only landed a handful of Zoom interviews over the past 4 months, and none have been successful so far. I graduated just outside T14, median grades, good internship experience, but haven't worked since I graduated in 2019. I'm open to any type of law at this point, but I've been avoiding smaller firms around the state for now (some will occasionally reach out to me on Indeed, so I'll keep those firms, as well as Doc Review in the backpocket).

It's time to really switch up my strategy, so any advice on some of my initial thoughts would be greatly appreciated. First, should I consider a Legal Recruiter, and if so, which one? I don't have a ton of money, so is this even worth it? I have plenty of free time to research firms (as well as network), which cost me nothing, but I'd consider a legal recruiter if one would really make a difference.

Second, please help with my cold email strategy. Typically, I just email the HR person, and my cover letter is pretty generic. In other words, I'm always good about tailoring my internship experiences to the job description, but I might only add a sentence or two of unique info that pertains to the specific firm. Now, I'm wondering if I should put more effort into each cover letter, email the managing partner directly, and/or establish a contact at each firm beforehand.

Third, networking. I used to network all the time in law school, but I've been avoiding it during the pandemic. I can't seem to motivate myself on that front, especially considering the fact that I can't meet these attorneys face-to-face. Should this be my main focus at this point though? Is every cold-email + cover letter a waste ITE without an established network at the firm?

And any other advice is definitely appreciated too.

You’ve been jobless for over a year. You don’t have the luxury of not taking a small firm offer. Why haven’t you considered these positions?

As for legal recruiters, firms, not applicants, pay them. A firm isn’t going to pay for a first year, so I wouldn’t take that route.

2013 wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 02, 2020 10:48 pm

You’ve been jobless for over a year. You don’t have the luxury of not taking a small firm offer. Why haven’t you considered these positions?

As for legal recruiters, firms, not applicants, pay them. A firm isn’t going to pay for a first year, so I wouldn’t take that route.

OP here. The small firms haven't directly offered me anything, just some messages on Indeed saying that they were interested. Also, this didn't start happening until mid-July, which was shortly after I became licensed (and also the point in which there seemed to be more job openings in the market in general). If these firms were in the city, I'd have no problem taking them more seriously. But since they're outside the city, and I don't have reliable transportation at the moment, those places are an absolute worst case scenario (unless I luck out and find one that is 100% WFH).

I guess my thought process is just how much longer can I possibly go without substantive work. Under normal circumstances, I've definitely went too long without work, but the places I interviewed with recently didn't take issue with it because (1) I have good internship experience, (2) I was studying for the February bar, and (3) Covid has made it very difficult to find work anywhere since February. Of course, I haven't gotten a job offer from them either (one is still pending though), so maybe they used the lack of work experience against me.

Reach out to folks you know (even if they are not in a hiring position). Sometimes firms will ask associates internally to refer candidates to them and these jobs are not posted publicly. And yes you should take any job at this point to fill the resume gap and gain skills. I agree with prior post that recruiter is not the way to go for you since you don't have enough skills to make it worthwhile for a firm to pay a recruiter to get you.

Have you looked into school-funded fellowships? You are not in a good position to not do anything because you are now competing with 2020 grads. Take an advantage of your school's career office.