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[unemployable]

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[xRON MEXiCOx]

You still have plenty of time. Many employers don't hire people if they aren't immediately available.

[McAvoy]

You still have plenty of time. Many employers don't hire people if they aren't immediately available.

[fra]

What kind of engineering are you studying?

[patogordo]

What kind of engineering are you studying?

inb4 systems

[sideroxylon]

(1) Do you actually want to be a lawyer? If no, don't go to law school.

(2) If you do want to be a lawyer, and do end up going to law school, maybe you should do some severe interview coaching. Maybe you should do that now and skip the law school thing.

[unemployable]

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[xRON MEXiCOx]

(1) Do you actually want to be a lawyer? If no, don't go to law school.

(2) If you do want to be a lawyer, and do end up going to law school, maybe you should do some severe interview coaching. Maybe you should do that now and skip the law school thing.

It's early October. I don't think it's panic time quite yet.

[unemployable]

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[Desert Fox]

If you can't get a job now, you won't be able to after law school.

[unemployable]

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[ManoftheHour]

You still have plenty of time. Many employers don't hire people if they aren't immediately available.

[ManoftheHour]

Anecdotal, but I know of four engineers from my graduating class that took time to find jobs.

One took over a year to find a job that paid $12 an hour. That was 3 years ago. He now makes $80,000. Got promoted several times at the same company. -Electrical

Another friend took a customer service job for two years and then ended up finding a really good "dream" engineering job (as he described it). I don't know how much he makes because I'm not as close to him and I don't ask because it's rude, but he seems to bedoing really well. -Not sure (told you we weren't close)

Third friend took two years to find a job too. -BME

Last one took a year and, as he described, over 100 apps. Makes $60,000. -BME

[tier3]

A friend of mine wanted a small law firm job, he went to interviews for six months but never got a call back. I asked him what he was doing. He was doing most of the stuff that most lawyers do; give text book answers to all the questions, yada yada, very dull and very boring. He answered questions about his education, experience, etcetera very cut and dry. He told me the interview process was very tense and there was a serious tone as much interviews are. I told him next time he gets an interview to scan the office quickly when entering upon the interview, without making it obvious. I told him to look for something that will catch the attention of the hiring lawyer and interest him. If there is a football team logo, a picture, a trophy something that the hiring lawyer could relate to.

My friend told me he had an interview, it was about a month after we had spoken. He told he went in and scanned the office. He saw a photo on the desk with a picture of him and what appeared to be his son holding a bass (fish). My friend did all the same things gave text book answers to all the questions, yada yada, very dull and very boring. He answered all the questions about his education, experience, etcetera very cut and dry. The hiring attorney even seemed bored with him. He said the hiring attorney probably seen a few applicants and we were probably all the same. The hiring attorney said to him "I see you do volunteer work" when looking at his resume. Still the hiring attorney was very bored he asked my friend "Do you do anything else? He said "I also go fresh water fishing in my free time." He said the hiring attorney's eyes lit up. The hiring attorney said "You do?" The hiring attorney then seemed like his best buddy. The hiring attorney said he goes bass fishing all the time. Showed him the picture on his desk, bragged about the fish his son caught etcetera. He followed my advice. If you make a connection with the hiring attorney your in. Scan the office and make a connection.

[McAvoy]

gregjames post

[A. Nony Mouse]

tier3, don't give advice on things you don't know anything about.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

OP getting a JD because you can't get a job now is honestly a really bad option.

[pancakes3]

OP, what's your LSAT/GPA?

[prezidentv8]

OP getting a JD because you can't get a job now is honestly a really bad option.

Yeah you're really entering a world of pain bro.

Chill out on the law school thing, go work some random job and chill and try to figure it out as you go. If you have a good reason for going to law school after that, then research >> crush LSAT >> research more >> if it still seems like a good idea>proceed.

[unemployable]

OP getting a JD because you can't get a job now is honestly a really bad option.

Yeah you're really entering a world of pain bro.

Chill out on the law school thing, go work some random job and chill and try to figure it out as you go. If you have a good reason for going to law school after that, then research >> crush LSAT >> research more >> if it still seems like a good idea>proceed.

I'm not trying to get a JD because I cant get a job. I think the title of my post is misleading.

I want to be a lawyer. I am applying to engineering jobs as a back up, in case I don't get a good scholarship/financial aid package, because I don't really want to pay sticker. If Im not happy with my scholarship offers this cycle, my plan is to find a job, retake the LSAT to bump it up a point or two, and reapply for more $.

The reason I posted was mainly to ask this: If I suck at job-getting now, is it likely that my low job-getting aptitude will leave me unemployed after law school (even if I went to Columbia or something and tried my hardest over the next few years to improve my job-getting skills)? Also, I wanted to know if not having killer social skills would be a major hurdle.

But again, people are insisting that it is quite early (which I suppose is true) so I'll wait till a couple months into 2015 to really start worrying.

[unemployable]

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[Ramius]

OP getting a JD because you can't get a job now is honestly a really bad option.

Yeah you're really entering a world of pain bro.

Chill out on the law school thing, go work some random job and chill and try to figure it out as you go. If you have a good reason for going to law school after that, then research >> crush LSAT >> research more >> if it still seems like a good idea>proceed.

I'm not trying to get a JD because I cant get a job. I think the title of my post is misleading.

I want to be a lawyer. I am applying to engineering jobs as a back up, in case I don't get a good scholarship/financial aid package, because I don't really want to pay sticker. If Im not happy with my scholarship offers this cycle, my plan is to find a job, retake the LSAT to bump it up a point or two, and reapply for more $.

The reason I posted was mainly to ask this: If I suck at job-getting now, is it likely that my low job-getting aptitude will leave me unemployed after law school (even if I went to Columbia or something and tried my hardest over the next few years to improve my job-getting skills)? Also, I wanted to know if not having killer social skills would be a major hurdle.

But again, people are insisting that it is quite early (which I suppose is true) so I'll wait till a couple months into 2015 to really start worrying.

Does your university have some sort of career services office? There must be some service available to you to work on interviewing, etc. to help you get a job in the event law school does not work out. Especially as a Summe, you should be pretty desirable as an entry level.

What have you been targeting? It could be that you're overshooting with goals in your engineering job, because let's be honest, you're only a B.S. You can't be picky in the job search, so you might want to consider broadening your search and seeing if anything comes up. Engineers generally are the most employable undergrads straight out of the gate, but you still have to take entry level jobs and work your way up.

Keep plugging and chugging, there is a lot of track left before your train is completely derailed.

[McAvoy]

How do you know you want to be lawyer over whatever your engineering degree is? TCR would be to try out any other obvious (gainful) career paths before going the law route, for a variety of reasons. You're going to get some nice offers w/ those stats, but it's still ideal to get a least a year or two off first. Law school will always be there; your current career opportunities pry won't be there if you tried to revert after LS.

I don't know how hiring works for fresh engineering grads, but for most other common UG fields, you're in kind of a dead spot right now for hiring timelines. It's really far too early for you to get down on yourself or think you're a bad interviewer

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

OP, what's your LSAT/GPA?

173/3.86

plus or minus a point on the LSAT. and within plus or minus .04 on the GPA.

With your numbers and an engineering background you will be able to go to a very good law school with less than $150k maybe even less than $100k in debt. However, keep in mind that a majority of people end up disliking law--many intensely so. I actually like law a lot, but I say this bc spending the time and $ to get the degree only makes sense if this is a good profession for you.

[pancakes3]

On one hand, it's only October of OP's senior year. There is so much time left for him to find a job. On the other hand, he crushed the LSAT (I'm assuming the 173 is a real score but the +/- condition makes me worried it's only a practice score) and has a good GPA and STEM degree which means IP Biglaw...

I think OP has better reasons to go into law than a lot of other people and it's not a bad decision by any means. Maybe not the best decision, but not a bad one...