The Fellowships That Weren’t

So, I’m a bit bummed. I applied to and interviewed for 2 (unpaid) fellowships with an executive branch agency. I REALLY wanted them for the following reasons: (1) the agency they were with, (2) solid work experience, (3) the possibility of obtaining funding through my school, and (4) the max 35 h/week schedule that would allow for looking for full-time employment.

I thought the interviews went well, but then the usual thing happened: I heard nothing. And then more nothing. I followed up: no reply. (Which, for the record, is never a good sign). I followed up again. Instead of my contact emailing me back, a secretary sent me a generic rejection email.

Now, while it’s a bummer to not get something – I think that the way my contact handled the follow-up made the situation that much more sucky. It’s bad enough to be rejected – but to not even have the decency to follow-up with me yourself? It just made me sad.

The unfortunate side effect of being so excited for these fellowships is that I sort of put my job hunting on hold, probably putting too many eggs into those particular baskets. Now I have to get underway again ASAP because trying to do anything during bar study besides bar study is challenging at best. And, as you all know, looking for a job is a full-time job in and of itself.

But, I’m back in the saddle. Here’s to not having to declare bankruptcy come September.

Dear God.

My “hiatus” lasted longer than a month. That was truly unintentional.

But then one final turned into another final turned into a paper. And then that turned into graduation and moving (I truly loathe moving). And then that magically transformed into bar study.

The problem though, is in addition to not posting I’ve also been slacking on the job hunting front. Which means I’ve been slacking on the job application front.

CLEARLY I need to get back on that bandwagon. And how.

Networking 101: And Why I Am Terrible At It

Networking is like a four letter word in law school. We all know we need to do it. Or, rather, we all know we should do it. But, when it comes to doing it many of us would rather leave it to the MBA students over at the business school. I mean, you’re schmoozing with someone for the sole purpose of making friends who will help you get a job. Something about it just sort of feels a little dirty. Nothing about it feels genuine. And yet, in the world of law, it is often the only way to get your resume off the stack and into someone’s hands.

Some of us come to this skill set more naturally than others. I, though gregarious and fun-loving, am not a natural networker. Rather, I am that awkward kid that sits there holding my cocktail like a life preserver mumbling “don’t take my stapler.”

I don’t lack self-esteem. When it comes to my professional skill sets, I’ll be the first to tell you how accomplished I am. I’m a great listener. I also have awesome analytical reasoning skills. I also have great public speaking skills and am not shy in crowds. All of these traits have been fairly helpful in law school. But – yes, there’s a “but” – I am horrible at asking questions. That’s right, I am not good at asking about things I want to know about. And this fact alone seems to make my networking experiences seem like a train wreck I couldn’t look away from.

It’s not a shyness thing – I am a fairly gregarious and engaging person. I have no hang ups with public speaking. It’s not a fear of sounding stupid either. I have no shame.

Sometimes I think perhaps I listen too well, and by the time the interviewer comes around to the “do you have any questions for us?” phase of the interview, all of my questions have been answered. I simply don’t know what to ask about. And I suck at making up questions on the fly. For an interview this innate deficiency is really easy to mask – I prep like hell and make a list of questions that are relevant to the employer and the prospective job well in advance. However, for networking, I often find myself struggling with where to begin.

With a little practice I’ve learned to hide this flaw, masking it with smiles, nods, and frequent trips to the available food and drink. If it’s a group event, I also listen attentively to the other question-askers, using context clues to help me piece together something I might ask that’s not redundant but also useful. And then I ask for a business card. But that’s not really enough.

Step two is the follow up email. Figuring out how to connect outside of the networking event is challenging at best. If they’ve offered to do something specific like, say, look over your resume this part is easier. If you’re asking to meet for coffee its a whole different ball of wax. And my biggest pitfall? Getting around to emailing in the first place. I will sit on business cards for weeks until it gets to the point where I feel like emailing is uncomfortably awkward. And then I feel guilty about the fact that so much time has lapsed – which usually causes even more time to lapse. And even more guilt and shame to accumulate. Until I’ve finally decided to start over with a new group of people only to struggle with this key follow-up step again. Like I said, its a train wreck I can’t look away from.

But now that time is of the essence and my job search is entirely dependent on me learning right this very second to do all of these things I’m so very bad at I find myself jumping straight into the deep end. More events. More business cards. More awkward emails. I even have a spreadsheet to track it. Basically, learning to network is like learning to ride a bike. The only way to learn is to do it over and over again until you get it right. Sometimes you crash into the bushes but you just have to get back up and try again.

Until then, I hope my foibles are as entertaining to everyone else as they are to me. I’ll be in the corner, drinking red wine, mumbling about how someone took my stapler.

 

 

Taking Off The Blinders

I think one of the hardest things about job searching is that we all have a vision of ourselves living and working in a particular part of the country. Except, in this economy we just can’t be that picky.

I know, it’s hard. You sit in front of your computer staring at that job posting thinking “I could move to Vegas. I’m young. Living in Vegas could be fun.” And then you click over to something else (probably facebook or gchat) and before you go back to your other tab you think “do I really want to move to Vegas?” And so the inner turmoil begins.

You begin an unintentional list of pros and cons. Pros: Sunny, Casinos, Night Life; Cons: Crime, Old people at casinos, Will I have any time to enjoy the night life? You debate just how much housing might cost (and further procrastinate by visiting craigslist to check the average price of a 1 Bedroom). You think of how far away your family will be. Because it’s April, and you’ve likely already registered for one bar exam, you bemoan the fact that you’d have to take a February bar. Or that they might not even look at your resume because you’re not taking the Nevada bar and it’s too late to switch. And, ultimately, you angst about Vegas not being the Location of Your Dreams.

As law students, we’re taught to be targeted in our approaches to things. We have goals. We reach our goals. When we’re working in the city (or even the region) of the country we want to work in is unrealistic, we just don’t know how to process it. I know “processing” for me often involves a box of cookies and some nexflix continuous streaming.

And, half the battle is that we only really know how to job search where we’re used to looking. At worst, we shy away from the unfamiliar. At best, we bumble through trying to find jobs in a region we know little to nothing about.

But, there is hope! Something that your Career Services office either forgot to tell you or glossed over – Law School Career Offices have reciprocity agreements with one another.

What does this mean? Well, you know that nifty job board that you can log into by virtue of being a student? Every other law school has one as well. And all of these job boards have unique postings. In order to help students with searches across the country, schools have set up reciprocity agreements granting students from sister institutions access.

What does this mean for you? Go, now, to your career office and get that list of sister schools. Email your career counselor requesting information on gaining access and email their career counselors requesting information on gaining access. Hopefully, with enough email prodding you’ll eventually have a much, much larger job board to look at.

And more job postings means more applications. More applications (hopefully) means more interviews. Which brings you one step closer to gainful legal employment, right?

I certainly hope so.

 

What Does it Mean to be “Entry-Level?”

I’ve been combing job boards all week, trying to scrounge up more positions to apply to. Whenever I see the words “entry-level” or “recent grad” I get ridiculous amounts of excited. And then it happens. I’ve clicked on the posting, begun to scroll down, and *POOF* all of my excitement evaporates into a cloud of disgruntled bitterness. I’ve reached something that says “requires bar passage” or “bar passage required at the time of application” or “requires proof of bar license.”

I have exactly none of these things. Why? Because I haven’t graduated from law school yet. I haven’t taken the bar yet. I will be taking the bar this July and I certainly hope I obtain bar passage when the results come out later in the fall.

Why does this embitter me so? Well, quite frankly it’s because legal employers aren’t stupid. They know darn well that there are exactly two times a year that someone may sit for a state bar exam. They also know that, with a few exceptions, you can only sit for one state at a time. And furthermore, they know that by April you’ve already financially committed to which state you’ll be sitting for and won’t be able to add an additional state until February, when you can sit for the next bar exam.

So, when I read through these positions I can’t help but think “do they really want someone who is “entry-level?” And, the answer I’ve come up with is a bit disheartening. In today’s economy entry-level isn’t usually a new grad. Rather, it’s someone who is still job hunting from the prior year’s graduating class. Or someone who has been clerking. Or someone who has been taking contract work.

No one wants to take the time to train the fresh meat. No one wants to risk employing someone who might not pass the bar their first time out of the gate. Everyone wants a sure bet.

So, as a soon-to-be new grad, how do I market myself? How do I let an employer know that I’m not the fresh meat they fear me to be? My resume is chock-full of clinic and internships and my work experience prior to law school. My cover letter clearly literates my skill sets. But, I know that when a recruiter is faced with 600+ candidates (common in the age of internet applications) that we’re lucky if half of our applications get face time. Getting off that pile in the first place is really the whole battle.