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I am on Plan C. Yes, C.
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February 20th, 2010Career, Law SchoolI am currently on Plan C.
Plan A was to get a job at the firm that I worked as a summer associate at. The attorney in charge of the summer program told me that I was getting an offer, so I didn’t look at alternatives. Towards mid to late August, I found out that I was no-offered.
Plan B was to apply for a federal clerkship position. I was behind in the application process because I abandoned it as soon as I was told about the offer, but somehow I got my applicated together and applied. I got one invitation to interview from a judge. He said that he had 600 applications for his one position and of that 600 he was interviewing 20. I wasn’t the one person out of twenty who ultimately ended up with the position.
Plan C I decided to go with my current internship site because I believed I was more likely to obtain an entry level position with this organization than the internship offer from the more prestigious governmental agency. I applied for two positions with this organization. I reached out to a recruiter and she informed me competition was stiff these days with each position getting 300 to 600 applications. If a position with this prospective employer doesn’t work work out then I need to consider alternatives.
Readers: What, if any, mistakes am I making with my job search?
Tags: First Job Out of Law School, Job Search, Plan A, Plan B, Plan C
4 responses to “I am on Plan C. Yes, C.” 
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My belief is that you’ve really got to have Plans D-Z either lined up or in various stages of action. So many leads can dry up or blow away at any point for any number of reasons. But that’s from my overly developed sense of paranoia and disappointments.
Revanche´s last blog ..Foodie Friday
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I would definitely be pursuing multiple leads at any given time. Unfortunately, lawyers are a dime a dozen in this town (I’m the DC area too) so you really have to keep putting yourself out there. Keep working and applying for different things and definitely keep making contacts.
I know it’s really hard. I was thisclose to going to law school myself (I had applied and gotten accepted to schools and everything) but decided against it because of the glut of lawyers in this town (among other reasons). Just keep at it though. There are jobs out there, you just have to find the one for you.
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Ronnie February 20th, 2010 at 21:46
I agree with pursuing multiple leads, and make sure to look in the entire region. I lived in DC and didn’t have a car (nor did I know how to drive), and I got offered a job in Fairfax. If I’d limited myself to DC or metro-accessible areas, I’d probably still be unemployed (I’m being facetious, I think…). That said, I had to learn how to drive and buy a car in 3 weeks, which I did.
What type of law are you interested in pursuing? My field, family law, is definitely still hiring, but it’s not for everyone. I know one firm that’s hired 3 or 4 new associates in the past six months, so it’s definitely happening.
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@Ronnie, @Revanche, @kate
All of you are right about using the staggered approach. That is what an attorney that I ran into last week told me to do. I think that working on one option at a time will be setting myself up for failure.
Revanche February 20th, 2010 at 01:49