Am I Screwed? Forum

[Okie25]

I graduated two years ago and literally have done nothing since then. No job/no internship. Did some traveling and sitting at home. I'm starting law school this fall at a T30. How screwed am in terms of getting a job. I've got stuff on my resume but it's all prior to graduating

[ILoveYou]

I don't think you're screwed. It didn't keep you from getting into a pretty decent law school, and if you're near the top of your class grade-wise, I think that would matter more when interviewing for legal jobs. If it comes up, can you sell some narrative about how you used the time to travel and "find yourself' before you dedicated yourself to the law or some other BS?

[Desert Fox]

You'd seem lazy and loserish.

[Johann]

youre gonna get questions about it so you might as well start coming up with an answer.

[Desert Fox]

Also, your resistance to work will just continue. There is a 75% chance you'll graudate jobless again.

[Okie25]

I've actually been trying to get a job as a runner at firms but haven't had any luck. Applied for a couple internships as well but no luck. I can talk about traveling and make up some BS but I'm not sure that would be enough.

[Johann]

in case my answer was ambiguous, you need to start crafting a pretty good lie. maybe you were traveling the world working on a farm in new zealand or something. or you were taking care of sick family members. or you were trying to make it as an aspiring DJ or poet/writer? i dont fucking know but something.

there was an older guy at my llm who dropped off the grid DJing in South America/following the grateful dead for like 5-10 years. not sure if he ended up with a good job but he struggled pretty hard with interviews. im assuming he got lots of questions about the same.

[MKC]

Yeah, doing dick for 2 full years seems like a pretty big red flag.

[rpupkin]

I graduated two years ago and literally have done nothing since then. No job/no internship. Did some traveling and sitting at home. I'm starting law school this fall at a T30. How screwed am in terms of getting a job. I've got stuff on my resume but it's all prior to graduating

Get a fucking job and defer law school for at least a year. No, you can't erase your two years of doing nothing, but working for a year or so before law school will help.

[Username123]

I graduated two years ago and literally have done nothing since then. No job/no internship.

How? I don't mean this in a douchey way, honestly. Wouldn't that be difficult financially?

[Okie25]

I live at home so I don't really have expenses. Fuck should I even go to law school, feels like I'm already screwed. What if I were to do well and just apply for shitty jobs, could I get something?

[DKM]

I live at home so I don't really have expenses. Fuck should I even go to law school, feels like I'm already screwed. What if I were to do well and just apply for shitty jobs, could I get something?

What is your degree in?

[GreenEggs]

Unrelated, but after reading some of DFs and others posts, if you were heavily involved in internships (interned every summer, interned a year at a big place, etc.) does this actually help you when it comes to snagging jobs post law school? Or at least at summer gigs? Or is really useless?

[Ron Don Volante]

I live at home so I don't really have expenses. Fuck should I even go to law school, feels like I'm already screwed. What if I were to do well and just apply for shitty jobs, could I get something?

I mean if you go you're going to have to count on getting pretty legit grades, as you're almost certainly going to really underperform your grades in your employment search. Going to a "T30" makes this a scary proposition as the employment prospects are going to be pretty not good to begin with, in all likelihood. On top of that, 1L grades are notoriously unpredictable, and it doesn't exactly sound like you've been doing anything terribly stimulating; it's going to be a huge adjustment. I would plan on graduating unemployed if you went to this law school.

Either way, just get something going immediately. Say you were into lifting, start like a "personal training" "company" or something. And volunteer a lot.

[Ron Don Volante]

Unrelated, but after reading some of DFs and others posts, if you were heavily involved in internships (interned every summer, interned a year at a big place, etc.) does this actually help you when it comes to snagging jobs post law school? Or at least at summer gigs? Or is really useless?

Undergrad summer internships? I don't think they'll substantially help, but not having them would hurt. They're not going to give a shit about the actual substance (unless you're a PI dude), but just having something to talk about in an interview is really all that matters. Also indicates you had some level of drive and aren't lazy af.

[MCFC]

How many times have you taken the LSAT?

[Jaymore]

Lie. The bigger the lie, the more they believe. Say you were volunteering, figuring out what you wanted to do with your life. The place shut down because of funding, so you can't provide a reference. Or you moved between volunteer positions a lot, so you can't provide a reference. There is no website because there was no funding for a website. And you then decided to go to law school, but because of timing you had to wait a year. So you spent that year travelling. Boom.

Or you decided to spend a year or two chasing your dream of being an artist/actor (depending on how attractive you are), but that fell through so you moved on and decided to go to law school. You had to give it a shot, even though the odds were against you.

That's two plausible lies off the top of my head.

A surprising amount of the time employers don't check this shit out. People are naturally lazy (especially people with no motivation like HR people), and predisposed to believe the best of you. If they have trouble finding information they will just give up and assume you are telling the truth. Especially for something minor like what you did before law school.

Also exaggerate your travels.

If I may ask, why didn't you do anything over the last two years?

[Winston1984]

Lie. The bigger the lie, the more they believe. Say you were volunteering, figuring out what you wanted to do with your life. The place shut down because of funding, so you can't provide a reference. Or you moved between volunteer positions a lot, so you can't provide a reference. There is no website because there was no funding for a website. And you then decided to go to law school, but because of timing you had to wait a year. So you spent that year travelling. Boom.

Or you decided to spend a year or two chasing your dream of being an artist/actor (depending on how attractive you are), but that fell through so you moved on and decided to go to law school. You had to give it a shot, even though the odds were against you.

That's two plausible lies off the top of my head.

A surprising amount of the time employers don't check this shit out. People are naturally lazy (especially people with no motivation like HR people), and predisposed to believe the best of you. If they have trouble finding information they will just give up and assume you are telling the truth. Especially for something minor like what you did before law school.

Also exaggerate your travels.

If I may ask, why didn't you do anything over the last two years?

Sounds like a horrible idea.

[Username123]

Lie. The bigger the lie, the more they believe. Say you were volunteering, figuring out what you wanted to do with your life. The place shut down because of funding, so you can't provide a reference. Or you moved between volunteer positions a lot, so you can't provide a reference. There is no website because there was no funding for a website. And you then decided to go to law school, but because of timing you had to wait a year. So you spent that year travelling. Boom.

Or you decided to spend a year or two chasing your dream of being an artist/actor (depending on how attractive you are), but that fell through so you moved on and decided to go to law school. You had to give it a shot, even though the odds were against you.

That's two plausible lies off the top of my head.

A surprising amount of the time employers don't check this shit out. People are naturally lazy (especially people with no motivation like HR people), and predisposed to believe the best of you. If they have trouble finding information they will just give up and assume you are telling the truth. Especially for something minor like what you did before law school.

Also exaggerate your travels.

If I may ask, why didn't you do anything over the last two years?

Sounds like a horrible idea.

[bjsesq]

Your grades>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>your mooch lifestyle for two years

Chill the fuck out.

[hoos89]

Almost every interviewer will ask you what you did during the 2 year gap on your resume. You'd better have a better answer than "No job/internship. Did a little traveling and lived at home."

[UnicornHunter]

join the army and then in 3 years go to law school for free. 2 birds, one stone

[rpupkin]

Your grades>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>your mooch lifestyle for two years

Chill the fuck out.

Dude, the OP is not going to Yale. Yeah, if he gets top 5% grades or something, then some employers will likely overlook two years of doing nothing after college. But if he ends up, say, no better than top 25% at a T30, he's probably fucked. And, yes, he's even more fucked than the typical student who is no better than top 25% at a T30. Unless you're a top-of-the-class superstar, employers are going to care that you just sat on your parents' couch for two years after undergrad. It's not a minor issue.

[exitoptions]

As someone who interviews people pretty regularly, I wouldn't even look at someone with a two year gap where they lived with their parents. But, I know there are plenty of people who don't care. I would hedge the risk by going to a better law school.

[Iagreetotheseterms]

There's still six months, get an internship or volunteer somewhere. It's pretty easy to get a volunteering gig. Then do the same for 1L.

You have now discovered your passion, that you were built for the law, so now you get to work on something related.

If it's something related to depression look for help.

Don't join the army just to get a job, that's a ridiculous idea.


EDITED: Spelling Error.