Dear Class of 2020,
An exciting day is near! Per NALP guidelines, October 15th is the first day you’re allowed to meet with CCD career strategists or student peer advisors for one-on-one career counseling or application document review. There are a multitude of reasons you should take advantage of one-on-one meetings to plan your 1L job hunt, but I think hearing lessons learned from 2Ls and 3Ls who have gone through the same process you’re embarking on is perhaps the most valuable reason to do so. Whatever your career goals are, CCD has a peer advisor for you! We have peer advisors working at: large firms, small firms, goldilocks-esk “just the right size” firms, public defender offices, and impact litigation organizations. Our Peer Advisors have worked in: New York, D.C., St. Louis, California, Europe, and the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (I made up that last one but maybe it’s true?)
To further encourage you to schedule a meeting with a career strategist or peer advisor, I’m sharing the most important lesson I learned during the 1L job hunt: interview preparation involves more than just reading the employer’s website.
I interviewed primarily with law firms for my 1L summer, and the first few interviews went badly. The reason? I did not have a very good answer for “Why employer X?” Here’s what my typical answer sounded like: “I saw online that your firm has a strong complex commercial litigation practice group. I want to do litigation, so employer X is the perfect place for me!”
That’s a bad answer. It doesn’t show I know anything unique about the firm—virtually every firm has litigators—and it fails to demonstrate that I’ve made the effort to talk to someone who currently works at the firm.
Here’s a better answer: “I had coffee with Jane Doe, a WashU 3L who spent last summer at your firm. Jane informed me that your firm invests in skill development for attorneys and summer associates. Jane told me her favorite summer learning experience was when the firm took all the summer associates to hear a partner’s oral argument in front of the D.C. circuit. As someone interested in joining your firm’s litigation practice group, I love the idea of summer employment that allows me to improve my written and oral argument skills, which will make me a better litigator after graduation.”
That’s just one of the many lessons the 2Ls and 3Ls can share with you. The only way to hear about the other lessons is to schedule an appointment with a peer advisor or career strategist today.
Honorable mentions for best job hunt lesson learned: don’t write a note to employer x thanking them for the opportunity to interview at employer y, avoid submitting a writing sample about the tort of intentional inflection of emotional distress, and don’t ask your interviewer (who has never clerked) what their favorite experience clerking was.