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Consecutive v. Staggered
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February 21st, 2010Career, UncategorizedI met an attorney and I told her about how I was on Plan C and she tooked at me and said “you don’t really want a job!”
“What do you mean? I want a job.”
“No, you don’t. If you really wanted a job then you would have also applied for state clerkships and you would have…”
Jane: “But, I don’t want to do state clerkships.”
“See, you don’t want a job.”
Jane: “No, I don’t want ANY job.”
“I would much rather you be in a position to turn down a job than have nothing. You are working on plan A, then on plan B, now plan C. By working on things consecutively, you are setting yourself up for failure. You gotta have Plan’s A through Z and work on as many of them as possible. You have to stagger your approach. You have to do a full force job search none of this oh, I think I will like this. I need you to spend at least 2 hours a day looking for a job.”
Jane: “Two hours a day?!”
”There’s 168 hours in a week. What? You don’t have two hours to spent searching for jobs?”
Jane: “I can try to find two hours.”
“And, you can’t be egotistical. This is not the job market for that. I graduated from a top law school and worked at some of the best firms. I applied for 150 jobs last month. Guess how many calls I got? I got 4 interviews. In any other market, my resume would have been snatched up but not in this market.”
And…
I met this attorney on Friday. Before then, I didn’t think this consecutive job searching was a bad thing although I knew it wasn’t the best way to go about it. In some ways she is right about the fact that I don’t want a job. I don’t want any job just to say that I have a job. I would much rather leave the legal field behind and jump into something else rather than trying to make my way through a dead end profession where even a former Skadden associate like this attorney can’t find a job based on her superb qualifications. But, I am thankful for this encounter because it did force me to sit down and make a list of A through Z options to pursue after graduation. And, it did make me start spending 2 hours each day starting yesterday.
Tags: Career, Job searching
7 responses to “Consecutive v. Staggered” 
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That was some good advice that you got there from that attorney. In today’s market, you really have to play the numbers game. A staggered approach will let you get a better feel of the job market much more quickly than going at things sequentially.
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Sounds like very sound advice. For a while I wasn’t sure that the attorney market was anything like my market. But the attorney you talked to could have just as easily been in the tech industry telling me the same things (sort of…)
Good luck, sounds like your are on the right path!
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Ronnie February 22nd, 2010 at 09:37
What are your reasons for not wanting a state clerkship? It’s fine if you don’t want to, but make sure you have genuinely valid reasons, not just “I don’t want to.” Because that’s not going to cut it. There are too many really exceptional students, graduates, and attorneys without jobs in our area that you’re competing with. My friend was laid off from McDermott in January 2009 with almost 4 years experience and it took him 9 months just to find a contract position! And he just last week got an offer for the firm he contracted with, after 5 months of working for them for $20/hour, down from $165k he was making straight out of law school.
You even mentioned that your current intern position had 600 applicants for it. There’s no “in” that you’re getting from being there now, which tells you a lot about the economy. I’ll say, I had absolutely zero desire to work in domestic relations, and I took my current job because I really clicked with my boss and thought I could learn a lot from her, even if only for a few years. Four years later, this job is the best thing that’s happened to me, and I love what I do. You could’ve never told me that when I graduated, though being unemployed for a year certainly does change one’s perspective. Good luck to you!
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The attorney is definitely heaven sent and you should definitely (metaphorically) thank her for the wake-up call. This economy doesn’t really allow people to be choosers. However, I see what you are saying about having a more-focused job search and really honing in on the career path you want.
I am not in the law field, but there are many articles that come up on CNN regarding law school graduates and what they are up against given some of the employment moves by the big firms. They mentioned getting creative with the job search; don’t go after the positions that are extremely competitve, because you’ll be wasting your time. Also, know that this is temporary. Once the market bounces back, you can make moves into other firms, but for now, it really is about getting experience.
Investing Newbie´s last blog ..Small Refund Leads to 401K
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@Two Young, @Don, @Inesting Newbie
I agree with all of you that this was a really good wake up call for me. Thanks for your best wishes.@Ronnie,
Good response. I love the perspective that you have since you are a law school graduate and you know exactly what I am talking about. I don’t expect to grow in a state clerkship in any way and that only tides me over for a year. My lack of interest in litigation combined with the fact that I will have to start searching for jobs immediately after turns me off from state clerkships. But then again there is nothing like unemployment to make you reprioritize. I think I would much rather pursue something else than waste my time in the legal field doing a state clerkship. And I know that sounds a bit arrogrant.
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At first, I thought, TWO HOURS? Are you serious?
But if you’re actually writing cover letters and tailoring resumes, then I could totally see putting in two hours a day. She makes a good point on throwing yourself fully into the search, I think, rather than the consecutive way. I mean, when it comes down to the stage of having offers and therefore having options, then that comes into play. But going all out will reap more rewards (hopefully) because even if you don’t want to have just any job, you may end up at the point where you don’t have a lot of choice.
Sorry if I sound down – I’m not feeling very chirpy about my career at the moment either.
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Eemusings,
I don’t think I have been keeping to my 2 hours per day strickly job searching. I contact people, have lunch with attorneys, attend open houses etc… It’s not strickly apply for 5 jobs in 2 hours kind of thing. Sorry to hear you are not feeling chirpy about your career. I hope it works out.
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Dave (twoyoung.com) February 21st, 2010 at 20:42