October 26, 2011

• I know I haven’t been regularly updating my blog like I said I would—but I have a good reason: I finally got a job! As an attorney! OMG! I’m a working attorney!

  I’m not saying this as someone who is bragging about being employed, but as someone who had spent over a year trying to get into the legal profession without any success. Yes, I’d been pounding the pavement and mass mailing my resume the entire time, but all I got out of it was an ever growing list of bad first interviews and rejection letters.

  It wasn’t as if I was surprised by how hard it would be to find a job. The market was already in the toilet when I graduated from law school, and I knew I would be spending at least a few months tearing through the classifieds. I just didn’t expect it to be as difficult as it turned out to be. I mean, I wasn’t just competing against my former classmates in this War for Work. I was also up against people who had degrees from better schools, got better grades, had more work experience, etc. All I had on my resume was a brief college internship at a tiny law firm, and some random research projects I did for other attorneys. The end. No, really, that’s all I have on my resume. And I’m pretty sure most of the employers only interviewed me because they wanted to see the loser who tried to get by on such crappy credentials. And let me tell you, I did not disappoint:

  

  

  

  

  I eventually realized that the traditional resume/interview route wasn’t going to be enough, so I turned to networking in hopes that my bright personality and enthusiasm would make up for the things my resume lacked. Unfortunately, you can’t really impress people with personality traits you don’t have…but at least I did not disappoint:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Networking didn’t get me anywhere. Resumes and interviews didn’t get me anywhere. It was starting to look as if I was going to have to pack my things and move back home.

  Before I could start throwing my stuff into trash bags and boxes, however, I had to go to an interview. It was for a job that had been posted on my school’s website, and I applied even though my chances were slim. But slim chances are still chances, and I ended up receiving an e-mail from the employer later that day, asking if I could go in for an interview the following afternoon. And of course I went because it wasn’t like I was busy or anything. And then the strangest thing happened. I got the job! No kidding! And when I told my new boss that I didn’t know much about the law he specialized in, he just said, “Well, the only way people learn things is by having someone teach them.” An employer who is willing to take the time to teach an employee something from scratch? OMG! They do exist!

  Anyway, that’s why I’ve been a little busier than usual. I haven’t had an actual job in a quite some time, so my time management skills need a little work. But I’m getting better, I think. I mean, I managed to put this post together, right?

  Thanks for putting up with me!

  • 4:15 am
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