Update on my "getting pushy" post

As you might remember, I emailed a potential employer (who I had interviewed with before) a couple weeks ago.  The idea was that I wanted to find out if I had a chance to work at that org, in a town that's much closer to friends and family, before I took the job in the middle of nowhere.  Well, I accepted my job on the 16th, and the other place emailed me on the 17th, telling me they wanted to interview me.  Argh!

I am happy to have a job, but a little peeved that it took this other organization 2 full weeks to get back to me.  Yes, I would prefer living in a town closer to home and friends, but that old saying about a "bird in the hand" still holds true.  So I am getting used to the idea of living in the middle of the state, and having to drive about 3 hours to visit anyone I know. 

And when it comes time for me to job hunt again, hopefully the economy won't be so bad, and I will have more flexibility when accepting offers, and won't get pushed into accepting a job before all my other options have been explored.  I also have learned that public interest employers move slowly, and to take that into account when I am looking.

Risky Business

So, I have finally done something that I had avoided in my job search so far - I got pushy. 

Why?

I had interviewed for a job at a public interest org in July, and didn't get the job.  And they recently posted another job for that same location.  Actually, I have interviewed 5 times for jobs at this same organization, in many different locations.  And I didn't get any of the jobs.  One rejection was b/c they hired a transfer from another office.  Another was because the subject area they wanted to hire someone for was unfamiliar to me.  I know they hired a 2006 grad from another school for one of the positions.  One interview just went badly for reasons I can't explain here, but was fallout from my previous life hiring attorneys as an office manager. 

So, I wanted to find out whether I had any chance whatsoever of employment at this org.  And I emailed to ask just that.  Very nicely and professionally, but I did.  My email went something like this:

"Dear Ms. Employer: I met with you in July regarding a position with your office.  Since then, I have been volunteering at ABC Public Interest Org and working with XYZ Org.  Recently, I saw your office posted a new staff attorney opening.  As I mentioned during our previous meeting, I am very passionate about working as a legal services attorney, and am still interested in working for your office because of my many connections to the area.  Would you be willing to reconsider me for a position in your office?  I have attached my resume to refresh your recollection of our previous meeting.  Thanks in advance for your consideration.  Sincerely, Improvilaw"

This is risky as hell, but had to happen.  If this org really has no intention of hiring me, a lack of response to my email will verify that.  However, if I was their second choice the last time I applied, I am hoping that they will contact me and say so. Doing this scares me, but it's even more frightening to send in my materials and wait a month or more to find out what's going on.

Fingers crossed.

Job interview on Monday went well

I had a job interview on Monday in the middle of the state to work at a legal services non-profit.  As usual, the interviewers tended to focus on the one area that I am lacking, rather than the many areas where I have a good amount of experience. 

When I was a 1L, I tried to get into the school's consumer law clinic.  Since consumer law is the one thing I knew I really liked when I was a paralegal, I thought that doing that clinic was a great way for me to expand my knowledge and get some real experience.  Before law school, I had worked on a few cases at my old firm, and really loved fighting sub-prime lenders who had sloppy bookkeeping practices and unfair loan terms.  However, I did not get into the clinic.  That year, they took 6 out of the 72 people who applied.  It was by far the most competitive clinic. What bugged me is that the students who were admitted to the clinic really did it "for the experience" and didn't have the same burning interest in the subject matter that I did.  After law school, NONE of them decided to pursue it professionally. 

And I missed the one opportunity I would have had to actually appear in court as a law student.  And potential employers never let me forget it.  At my interview, they asked why I didn't have this experience.  I explained that our school only allows clinical students to represent clients under the student practice rule.  Since my summer job was with the government, but wasn't supervised by a clinical professor, I wasn't allowed to appear in court.  I attended a lot of hearings, but never appeared on behalf of a client until an externship my 3L year.

Since about 1/3 of our students did clinicals, and I would guess that at least 60% got some court time through them, I am at a disadvantage with legal services organizations. 

At the time, our career advisers said this wasn't a big deal, but apparently it was.  I am hoping that the organization I interviewed with can look past this and see that I have a broad base of public interest experience and am passionate about doing this work. 

Otherwise, it will be more months of unemployment for me.

Phone interview went well

So, I had my phone interview today, and it went pretty well.  I still got hammered on the "why here?" question.  I answered by saying that I want to stay in-state, and would love to start my career in MediumTown, where I would be centrally located in the middle of the state. 

They responded by reminding me that MediumTown is nothing like CollegeTown or BiggestCity I have lived in before.  I fired back by saying that my parents live in a town of 1,400 people, and I love that place as much as anywhere I lived before.  That seemed to satisfy them.  If that comment gave them the impression that I am not from BiggestCity, so be it. 

Otherwise, the interview was great.  They were very impressed by my work publicizing the CCRAA (College Cost Reduction and Access Act) and my interest in consumer law.  Which was excellent. 

I have an in-person interview in 2 weeks.  Yay!

Just knowing that there is a possibility of a job in my future puts me in a great mood!

Online job hunting

Did my semi-weekly sweep of the government job sites.  Nearby cities, counties, the state job board, even the usajobs.gov site.  Nada.  Couldn't find a thing that I am remotely qualified for. 

The one thing I have learned through all this job hunting is not to waste my time applying for government jobs unless I meet at least some of the qualifications.  Trying to emphasize similarities between what they are asking for and work I have actually done never gets me interviews. 

A friend sent me a job posting paying $27,000 to work as a housing counselor.  I think at this point, I would rather work as a paralegal.  If I have to take a non-attorney job, I would rather that it pay a decent wage.  I know that most Americans would love a job paying $27K, but not those with $110,000 in student loan debt!

Phone interview next week!

I have a phone interview with another legal services organization.  This one isn't very familiar to me, because it's in the middle of the state, in a city I have visited only a couple times in my life.   Since I know that housing law is part of the position, I am going to spend tomorrow re-reading those statutes, in the hope I might be able to talk more intelligently at the interview on this topic.

From what a former employee of the organization said, the managing attorney seems to just let staff attorneys follow their interests and take some cases that are out of their job description, but in  the attorney's area of "expertise."  I am hoping that this means I could take some consumer law cases if I worked there. 

There will be, as usual, the question about my connections to the area.  I hate this question.  Why? Because at this point, I would take a job in Nebraska if it was offered to me.  I could care less about location - I just want a damn job.  So I think I am going to just flat out say, "I think I can make anywhere my home, as long as I am here in my home state, and my work is interesting." Or something like that.

Any tips from readers on how you handle interview questions like that???

Forecast: continued unemployment

The worst thing about the legal profession is that you can go on the state bar's website and see who got the jobs that you unsuccessfully interviewed for.  I really wish that this wasn't possible.  I would rather believe that the person who got the job I coveted was a superwoman (or man) who practically invented public interest law.  I don't like knowing that the winner of my job is an ordinary student, who is no more qualified than I am.  That means that I have to take a hard look at why I didn't get the job instead, and there are no easy answers to that question.

I am starting to think that I must be terrible at interviews.  During law school, I would get almost every job I interviewed for.  That streak was broken when I started looking for post-grad work.  Obviously, I am not selling myself very well at these things.  I just need to find out where I am going wrong.

Ugh.

Taking a Paralegal Job to Ride out the Recession?

I have been sending out resumes and networking my ass off lately..  Today, I got a call from a headhunter, asking about whether I would take a position as a paralegal working on a short term document processing project.  The pay is almost as much as our local Legal Aid group pays.  (Without the benefits and super coolness of public interest law.)

This is tempting because:

I haven't worked since April.
I haven't been able to spend any money on anything but bills and insurance since May.
I would love to get out of the house a bit more.

However, I am not sure that an employer that needs someone for 2-3 months would be very pleased if I left after a month.  I mean, what do I do if I get a real job?  I would have to quit, and I hate putting anyone in a bad position, as it could burn a bridge I might need later.

We shall see....

I got offered a job

My friend is a lawyer, and he needs a legal assistant.  In Colorado. 

If this job pays more than $40,000, I would seriously consider moving there and taking it.  I have no interviews coming up, and only 2 outstanding applications.

This state isn't doing it for me, and I absolutely loved Colorado when I stayed there for a week in 2007. 

Sad that I would consider this, but I am. 

Thoughts?

Law schools and judicial clerkships

This handy chart from the always questionable US News shows the rankings for law schools placing students in judicial clerkships after they graduate. My law school is doing a poor job, placing less than 10% of students. Meanwhile, the University of North Dakota is kicking ass, placing right behind Yale with 28% of students in clerkships. Wow!

I wonder what they are doing that my school isn't? Oh yeah, probably providing decent mentorship of students, and assisting them beyond a one-hour "hey, clerkships are good, try and get one" class.

The interesting part of this is that my career services counselor said that only the top 10% or so of our students could get these positions. Yet, 28% of those at UND are doing it. And of those people, that can't be the top 28% of the class. (Some of those grads have to be taking jobs in law firms or public interest orgs) Therefore, it seems that, yet again, the view of our career counselors is skewed by their own experiences, rather than what actually happens.

Going too far

Yep, I am totally desperate for a job. But I have to keep reminding myself that I went to law school for a reason, and that reason didn't include doing icky things like insurance defense. I just can't and I won't. I applied for a job that a friend of a friend recommended, and it turns out that the guy doesn't want someone to do "some family law and contracts work." It's insurance defense and some collections.

There is a line to be drawn, and for me, it's right there. I just can't spend my days helping insurance companies cut/reduce/eliminate benefits to people. Blech!

Waiting for rejection letters to arrive

I had 4 different jobs that were supposed to "let me know" by the end of the month. Today is the end of the month. I have not received telephone calls from these potential employers, which obviously means that they hired someone else.

But, since my mail has been held up for a month now, I was still holding out a tiny bit of hope. (That's an Obama voter for you!) Now, I am anxiously sitting in the living room, scoping out the street for the mail truck.

Not getting mail for a month does something to a person. In my case, it causes insanity.

Please get here soon mail carrier. I can't take it much longer!.

Officially giving myself permission to freak out

I have had an issue with the post office not forwarding my mail since I moved in with my sister almost a month ago.

First they said that there was a processing error, and they noted the date to start forwarding the mail incorrectly. That was last Thursday. They told me they would send the mail this week.

It's now Friday, and no mail yet. I called yesterday and left a message for someone to call me about this.

The big problem? I have 3 different jobs that said they would make a decision by the end of the month. If they have rejected me already, I would sure like to know. If they haven't, I could still have a little hope that maybe the hiring process is a little delayed. I don't want to be a nag, and send them emails, only to find out that they hired others. This is quite a quandry.

I am going to give these employers until Tuesday (or until my forwarded mail arrives, whichever happens first). If I don't hear anything by then, I am going to contact them again.

I hate this stuff. I just need a job!

Jobs jobs and more jobs

I just got an email that a non-profit I know is hiring in the town where I went to law school. The position is about 50% volunteer management and recruiting. This is the same thing I did with both my project assistant job in law school and in my volunteer work. I think I have a good chance of getting it. Keeping my fingers crossed.

There's no place like home and I don't have one

I moved in with my sister on August 1. Into her basement to be exact. Beforehand, I idealized what this would be like, imagining taking my little nephew to the zoo and museum and parks to play. I thought my sister and I would have heart-to-heart talks over tea in the morning. I thought that all my friends in my hometown would be lining up to hang out with me.

None of this has happened. Instead, I have spent quite a bit of time by myself, reading, organizing and surfing the internet. My sister and her husband's household is usually in a state of chaos. Keys get lost, checking accounts are not balanced, meals are unplanned - causing my sister to visit the grocery store about 4 times a week. I get lots of mini-lectures about:

turning off lights,
turning off the outside water (after I do my chore of watering the plants and lawn daily),
making sure water doesn't seep into the loose floor tile in the bathroom,
making sure I rinse my recyclables before putting them in the bin,
not turning on the dehumidifier in the basement unless my brother-in-law thinks it should be,
and on
and on
and on.

I haven't committed any of the above infractions, but my sis and her husband sure have. And I don't say a thing.

Not to sound ungrateful, because I am happy not to be homeless.

But I am not happy about being treated like a 15 year old, and I don't like that the family eats everything I buy from the store (with my much-needed foodstamps), even when they know I bought the stuff. I also just miss having my own home, A HOME.

There really is no place like it.

Interview today

I have a second interview today, at a place in my hometown, where I would really like to work. It is a place where I could really make a difference. According to the lawyers working there who attended my first interview, there is a ton of work to be done, and there will be a TON of court time. This actually excites me.

There is a video of some of those involved with this organization talking about the project I am interviewing for posted on the net. It's an hour long, and I have been watching it (again) this morning, desperately trying to come up with new questions to ask at the interview. That is the tough part as I "used up" my 4 good questions at the last interview.

Does anyone have any "go to" questions for public interest interviews?

(I already used up questions about funding, grants, and the project's legislative advocacy.)

Finally - my paralegal experience pays off

Throughout law school, I have been shocked and sometimes upset with how easily my fellow law students and potential employers have dismissed my years of paralegal experience. I worked hard at that job. I helped build a firm from the ground up. I happened to have worked for someone who trusted me and who gave me a long rope (which I sometimes attempted to wrap around my own neck out of frustration. That enabled me to develop an advertising mechanism that doubled the net profit of the firm from that point on. I hired and trained staff, including attorneys. I learned how to handle conflict, both with clients and the sometimes ornery opposing counsel in our cases.

Frankly, I kicked ass at that job. The owner told me I had to go to law school because I had a knack for the business and communication portions of law practice. I was successful, and sometimes, when the joblessness brings up that tiny bit of fear about the future that sometimes ebbs when I feel stressed, I wish I could go back to that job.

Which makes it even harder when the skills I honed there are so easily disregarded as unimportant. Paralegals really are the ones running most law firms. They provide continuity, mediate disputes among staff, ensure quality work product and keep the firm on an even keel.

This morning, I got a call from a firm I applied to. Granted, I didn't really want to start applying to jobs at law firms, but it's a small planitiffs' firm, which doesn't offend my public interest sensibilities. The woman who called immediately told me that the firm had decided to hire someone with 3-5 years of experience, but that they loved my resume and experience, and wanted to consider my paralegal experience as fulfilling that requirement. Hallelujah!

The scary thing is that they want someone who can start up a bankruptcy/debtors' rights practice for them. I have a ton of experience in this area, but not as an attorney. The thought of doing all of that on my own scares me, but is also exciting. In this economy, bankruptcy is booming, and I should take advantage of my knowledge in that area.

I really just want to save the world though.

Still jobless. Have company.

So, update is that I am still job hunting. The good news is that:

a) I am by far not the only one. Some of my smartest, most competent friends and family are still looking too, so I don't feel too inadequate because of my unemployment.
2) I have an interview in my hometown for a job on Wednesday. Please God, let me get that job. It pays almost nothing, but it's doing really good, important work.

The job is at a legal services place, and I would probably have to improve my ability to speak Spanish by about a million percent if I got it, but I think I could really love the work. Can you imagine loving your job? I didn't used to, but I can see loving this. Helping people eliminate barriers to employment is a great thing. Who wouldn't want that job?

OK, the bad thing is that I can't let myself get too excited about it. Period. A crushing defeat might be too much for me right now. How about a tenuous optimism? That sounds very good.

My own ecomonic crisis

So, I am running out of money. Fast. I knew when I started law school that my savings would be out by the middle of this school year, and that I would have to rely 100% on student loans. Then my significant other lost his job.

And it has been rough. No spring break trips for us. While classmates headed to Florida and Mexico and other warm destinations, we went on a day trip an hour away to visit friends. I am not complaining - I had a good time. It just is hard to have two people in my household looking for jobs, and being so incredibly low on money. His car needed a new transmission 2 weeks ago. We actually found out about that $1700 bill the same day he got into an accident with an uninsured driver. There goes $2,200.

I figured out that we will be out of money entirely by the middle of June, and I will have to start waitressing or something. No shame in that, but it is a little odd for someone with a law degree to be waiting tables again.

One step forward, two steps back.

He went to a teachers job fair this morning. Said that he handed out his resume and chatted up some people, but no one was interviewing people with his specialty area. I am happy that he went. I think that both of us need to improve our confidence - and you can't do that staying at home!

For those soon-to-be law students reading this, be aware that these are bizarre times. Normally, more than half my class would have jobs by now. Normally, I would have a damn job by now. However, before you go to law school, think about what you would do if you couldn't find a job after. Seriously.

Job market looking bleak for "firmies"

For my classmates who are looking to work in big firms after graduation, things aren't looking so good this year. Only one or two local firms were on the 3L OCI list.

That means that these people might actually have to use their brains, and come up with a list of firms and addresses to send *gasp* snail mail resumes and cover letters to. Oh the humanity! They are going to have to do a real job hunt, not just go across the street to interviews with 2nd year associates who don't have a clue about what's going on.

On the other hand, I feel like I should be more worried about finding a job, but I am not. Many of the public interest employers I want to work for need more help in a bad economy. They also don't hire until winter. For now, I am just making my mail merge list of employers, and doing a lot of networking.