The market had worsened during my 1st year of law school, so much so that as the end of year approached most of my classmates and I had failed to secure even unpaid summer work. I had mailed my resume just about everywhere, applied to just about every posting, and exhausted every lead. I spoke to my Career Services office, read job search books, and scoured the Internet desperate for advice on how to find that summer position. In the end, I decided that pounding the pavement would be the most effective approach for me. The idea is that if you cold call on the telephone or just show up in person, there will be at least a few attorneys out there who will appreciate your courage and take a minute to talk to you and possibly even offer you a position. I figured that I was brave enough to give it a shot. In retrospect this was perhaps the most traumatic experience of my legal career.
I was prepared to do whatever it took to get someone to talk to me. At the time, being unsure of my practice preference and just wanting to find any legal job, I decided that small family law and civil rights litigation firms would be the kindest to a young female attorney. I searched my school’s alumni directory and made a list of the alumni who worked at those types firms. I first tried to make contact via telephone and email, but I got nowhere fast. I decided it was time to be more aggressive, so I suited up, printed out a stack of resumes, and headed out determined to secure a summer position. I remember it like it was yesterday. I didn’t have a lot of money as a first year law student, so I went to the local thrift store and bought a new used suit. It was an ill-fitting brown wool number, perhaps a bit too stodgy for a young female attorney. Being very young looking 22 year old at the time, I thought it made me look like a professional. I had a plan of attack, and I was off on my hunt.
My first problem was actually getting into the attorneys’ suites. This was a post-9/11 world and there was virtually no way to get passed security of a high rise office building without an appointment…no one ever mentioned this problem to me beforehand, but there went half of the list right there. I didn’t let this discourage me too much, after all I had at least 50 attorneys left on my list, and someone would talk to me somewhere. That didn’t happen. All day, I went from office to office, like one of those cheesy job search montages in the movies, with not one single attorney even willing to speak with me. By the time I reached one of the last names on my list, I thought I was going to get lucky, the receptionist was very friendly and said she would get and attorney to talk to me. Five minutes later the receptionist returned with a message from a female attorney (whose name I can very clearly remember) that I had absolutely no business barging in to someone’s office without an appointment, that if she wanted to talk to me she would stop by my house later unannounced, and that no one would ever hire me. I was in shock. I quickly left the office, found a nearby restroom, and cried. Perhaps I was not as brave a woman as I thought. I gave up cold calling forever right then and there.
I regret allowing that one experience to hold me back. As a 1L I had so much respect for anyone who had achieved attorney status that I took her words to heart. This was the first time I had set a goal for myself and failed to achieve it. I felt like a laughing stock at the time, thinking that this one woman had the power to blacklist me with every law firm in town. Now I realize she probably didn’t even know my name. Even if she did, I hope she would have the good sense to be embarrassed by her nasty behavior.
I don’t know why things didn’t work for me that day. Since I never made it by a single receptionist on the phone or in person, I can only speculate. I think I was too wet behind the ears, and the job market was just really bad. Sometimes that happens. It’s a bitter pill to swallow when you’re the one looking for work. Law firms just don’t have the resources to employ (paid or unpaid) every law student. Law students don’t have a whole lot to offer and require an incredible amount of oversight that most firms cannot afford. I shouldn’t have taken it so personally. For a long time I felt ashamed, as if I were the only one in the whole entire world who had ever failed at pounding the pavement. I’m sure that can’t really be true.
Pride can be a horrible thing when seeking a legal job. Rejection is hard to accept in any job search, but as attorneys we are already such accomplished individuals that it is difficult to put ourselves out there only to discover that we somehow don’t measure up to our peers. Nothing will ever make it any easier. You just have to believe in yourself and know you have what it takes. If you can’t, then why would anyone else?
I was prepared to do whatever it took to get someone to talk to me. At the time, being unsure of my practice preference and just wanting to find any legal job, I decided that small family law and civil rights litigation firms would be the kindest to a young female attorney. I searched my school’s alumni directory and made a list of the alumni who worked at those types firms. I first tried to make contact via telephone and email, but I got nowhere fast. I decided it was time to be more aggressive, so I suited up, printed out a stack of resumes, and headed out determined to secure a summer position. I remember it like it was yesterday. I didn’t have a lot of money as a first year law student, so I went to the local thrift store and bought a new used suit. It was an ill-fitting brown wool number, perhaps a bit too stodgy for a young female attorney. Being very young looking 22 year old at the time, I thought it made me look like a professional. I had a plan of attack, and I was off on my hunt.
My first problem was actually getting into the attorneys’ suites. This was a post-9/11 world and there was virtually no way to get passed security of a high rise office building without an appointment…no one ever mentioned this problem to me beforehand, but there went half of the list right there. I didn’t let this discourage me too much, after all I had at least 50 attorneys left on my list, and someone would talk to me somewhere. That didn’t happen. All day, I went from office to office, like one of those cheesy job search montages in the movies, with not one single attorney even willing to speak with me. By the time I reached one of the last names on my list, I thought I was going to get lucky, the receptionist was very friendly and said she would get and attorney to talk to me. Five minutes later the receptionist returned with a message from a female attorney (whose name I can very clearly remember) that I had absolutely no business barging in to someone’s office without an appointment, that if she wanted to talk to me she would stop by my house later unannounced, and that no one would ever hire me. I was in shock. I quickly left the office, found a nearby restroom, and cried. Perhaps I was not as brave a woman as I thought. I gave up cold calling forever right then and there.
I regret allowing that one experience to hold me back. As a 1L I had so much respect for anyone who had achieved attorney status that I took her words to heart. This was the first time I had set a goal for myself and failed to achieve it. I felt like a laughing stock at the time, thinking that this one woman had the power to blacklist me with every law firm in town. Now I realize she probably didn’t even know my name. Even if she did, I hope she would have the good sense to be embarrassed by her nasty behavior.
I don’t know why things didn’t work for me that day. Since I never made it by a single receptionist on the phone or in person, I can only speculate. I think I was too wet behind the ears, and the job market was just really bad. Sometimes that happens. It’s a bitter pill to swallow when you’re the one looking for work. Law firms just don’t have the resources to employ (paid or unpaid) every law student. Law students don’t have a whole lot to offer and require an incredible amount of oversight that most firms cannot afford. I shouldn’t have taken it so personally. For a long time I felt ashamed, as if I were the only one in the whole entire world who had ever failed at pounding the pavement. I’m sure that can’t really be true.
Pride can be a horrible thing when seeking a legal job. Rejection is hard to accept in any job search, but as attorneys we are already such accomplished individuals that it is difficult to put ourselves out there only to discover that we somehow don’t measure up to our peers. Nothing will ever make it any easier. You just have to believe in yourself and know you have what it takes. If you can’t, then why would anyone else?
