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I have a dilemma I would like advice on from anyone who may have experience with such a situation.

I am 25 years old and graduated from undergrad in 2010. I am planning on applying to law school this fall and am currently registered for the October LSAT administration. I have very limited full- time work experience consisting at the moment of nearly a year as an assistant at a law firm. Additionally, I just started working at another firm late last month after a year of unemployment (I resigned from the first position due to family circumstances which have since been resolved)

My primary question centers on how firms may view my work experience at OCI. If I stay at my new position until next August like I currently plan to, will recruiters perceive me as unreliable or as someone who "job hops" because each of my two full-time jobs lasted just under a year? Will it be something I have to explain away at interviews?

I am also concerned about how my current firm would view me if I leave after less than a year. There was no explicit minimum time requirement for the position but I would like to do well and possibly have a professional recommendation in my pocket for down the line. I'm not sure this would be feasible if I stick with my current plan.

I have also considered deferring until next cycle, staying on the job for an additional year and beginning during the fall of 2014 but that would mean graduating at the age of 30-- which I am wary of.

The job does not pay extremely well- between 30-35K but it more than sufficiently meets my current needs.

Any thoughts from those who have been there?

Shameless bump.

take a year off and work. graduating law school at 30 is fine. Make sure you really want to do this before law school, and get a solid LOR and insight.

BentleyLittle wrote:I have a dilemma I would like advice on from anyone who may have experience with such a situation.

I am 25 years old and graduated from undergrad in 2010. I am planning on applying to law school this fall and am currently registered for the October LSAT administration. I have very limited full- time work experience consisting at the moment of nearly a year as an assistant at a law firm. Additionally, I just started working at another firm late last month after a year of unemployment (I resigned from the first position due to family circumstances which have since been resolved) .

My primary question centers on how firms may view my work experience at OCI. If I stay at my new position until next August like I currently plan to, will recruiters perceive me as unreliable or as someone who "job hops" because each of my two full-time jobs lasted just under a year? Will it be something I have to explain away at interviews?

I am also concerned about how my current firm would view if I leave after less than a year. There was no explicit minimum time requirement for the position but I would like to do well and possibly have a professional recommendation in my pocket for down the line. I'm not sure this would be feasible if I stick with my current plan.

I have also considered deferring until next cycle, staying on the job for an additional year and beginning during the fall of 2014 but that would mean graduating at the age of 30-- which I am wary of.

The job does not pay extremely well- between 30-35K but it more than sufficiently meets my current needs.

Any thoughts from those who have been there?

Tbh, I would stick it out with this firm a while and get a basis as to what you want to do. While there is no official data yet, OCI at even t14 schools is not going very swell... I would build up your W.E. and not risk walking into potentially a double-dip of layoffs.

Thank you for the replies thus far.

Anyone else with advice?

I think more work experience can only serve you well. I have median grades at Michigan and three years of solid work experience and have 7 callbacks. Friends of mine have very little work experience and 3.7s or 3.8s at Michigan and only have a few callbacks.

Thanks last straw!

One last bump for the work week crowd!

Far and away the most popular job pre-law school is working as a paralegal/law clerk/legal assistant. It might help you on the margins, but it is not going to get you interviews at places if you do not have the grades/school already. They probably won't care that you "job-hopped" since lots of people do that after college- again, it will mostly come down to grades/school.

Thanks timbs!