The good news is that law firm positions do exist, but you might have to lower your expectations and look in places you probably haven't thought of to find them. You may find that locating a needle in a haystack isn't as difficult as you thought. Your road has gotten narrower and steeper, but with perseverance and some additional planning, you can locate legal employment, albeit maybe not the dream job you once envisioned, during or immediately after your third year of law school.
The Third-Year Resume
Your third-year resume shouldn't differ much from your first and second year versions. Obviously, you should include work and educational experience from your two previous summers and any recent academic honors you might have received. This information should easily fit on one page, unless you have significant work experience. Refer to the sample third-year resume on the following page.
How to Make Your Resume Look Good
A big dilemma for many students at this point in their job search is how to positively portray work experiences that didn't lead to job offers. If you received a job offer from a former summer employer, you should indicate that on your resume. And always include all of your past summer legal-related positions on your resume, even if you didn't receive job offers. Obviously, it's improper as well as misleading to omit pieces of your work history. A good recruiter will immediately look for gaps in your work history. Many firms make their new employees including associates sign a completed job application, testifying to the fact that their chronological work history has no omissions. But there is a delicate art to handling negative work situations, which anyone seeking employment should learn how to finesse.
Let's face it--it's not unusual in today's working world to have been fired, laid off, or simply not given a job offer. As devastating as any of these experiences can be, most people are able to turn a negative situation around and go on to bigger and better things. Mastering the art of making a bad situation sound good is difficult at best, but not impossible.
Here's a list of helpful hints that can aid you in making yourself look good to a potential legal employer:
- Use only positive verbs and adjectives on your resume. For example, don't include statements such as "Firm decided not to make offers to any members of the summer associate class," even if it's true. Instead, you would make no reference to receiving an offer, but you might include the fact that your brief was used in an important trial. You only want positive verbiage coming off your page. But also make sure you don't sound overly enthusiastic to the point of appearing desperate. Somewhere in between is a happy medium.
- Never say anything negative, in person or in writing, about a former employer, no matter how bad the experience. The thinking is that if you'll say something negative about one employer, you'll say something bad about all of them, including future employers. Negative comments send negative messages to the outside world. And people never forget your negative comments.
- Embellish your experience, and add it to your resume. If you failed to obtain the summer job you wanted during your second summer, add to your resume by volunteering during the school year, or do something that will add to your experience. If nothing else, your work history will look better on paper. For example, if you're interested in litigation, volunteer at the local courthouse, work on litigation cases at the Legal Aid Society or clerk for a judge during the school year. You may not have a job offer on your resume, but you've added other things.
- If your grades are less than stellar, leave them off. If you have less than a 3.0 average (on a 4.0 scale) or are not in the top third of your class, omit your grade point average. But if there is a pattern to your grades- your grades have steadily improved since your first year, or you had a good average except for the one semester in which your favorite uncle passed away-include a transcript with your resume, and note the pattern in your cover letter.
- Attempt to differentiate yourself. At this point in your law school career, you have the ability to differentiate yourself from the rest of your peers. You're the one who held all the offices in law school, a born leader. Every activity you participated in involved your interest in environmental law. You're a well-known equestrian in your spare time, or you have a fabulous golf handicap. Make it appear that you are different from your classmates by bragging about yourself and your accomplishments just a little bit. Don't be dishonest, but bring your strong points to the surface for the reader to see.
As a third-year student without a job, it's probably best not to include references on your resume. If you don't have a position at this point, you should control who calls whom during this process. You must make sure that all reference checks come out positive, leaving no trace of doubt in any employer's mind. This is absolutely critical at this stage of your job search.
Whom should you use as a reference? Law firms will want to talk to someone who knows your legal skills outside of the academic law school environment. A seasoned recruiting coordinator will ask you for individuals from your two or three most recent jobs. You can include professors, but not to the exclusion of practicing attorneys or judges. Someone should definitely be on your list who worked with you in your most recent job, even if that includes the firm that declined to make you an offer.
When you select one or two attorneys from your last position, talk to them before you give their name out as a reference. Make sure that their stories are the same, including why you didn't get an offer from the firm. Since most people are reluctant to give bad references in our litigious society, it's unlikely that anyone will say anything negative about you. But one of the biggest red flags to a seasoned recruiting professional is when someone is too quick to tell you that they can't say anything or when stories are inconsistent. And very often you can convince people to talk positively about someone "off the record," even if firm policy is to do otherwise.
As an example of a "red flag," I once checked the references of a woman who had worked for several excellent law firms but never for any length of time. When checking her references, I could hardly get the woman's name out of my mouth when the person on the other end said that he or she could not tell me anything about the candidate. Immediately, I knew something was wrong. Finally, I was able to determine that this woman had numerous personal problems that would make her an undesirable candidate. I inferred from the tone of the conversation that something was wrong, even though nothing negative was ever said.
The Cover Letter
The wording and overall message in the cover letter are critical in the case of the third-year student without a job offer. The first question any law firm is going to ask is "Why is this person still looking for a job?" You must learn to be savvy without crossing the boundary of misrepresenting your situation. Your goal is to interest the firm enough so that the negative obstacles can be overcome. Many recruiting professionals indicate that they like to get the overall picture of a candidate by reading the cover letter. Since most of us don't write like Ernest Hemingway, it can be extremely difficult to create such an impression in a few short paragraphs. With some work, however, it can be done. Once you take the time to create a really good cover letter, use it over and over, making minor alterations for different positions. Refer to the ones you used as a first- and second-year student as well.
Stress the Positive
Your primary goal is to stress the positive. You don't have to mention why you are in the market for a job if you leave little doubt in the reader's mind that you are a viable candidate--or at least one worth inquiring about.
For example, you can indicate that while you worked for a firm last year in New Orleans, your focus now is only on the East Coast because your fiancé was accepted to medical schools only in the East. Or you can state that your fiancé has entered graduate school in Los Angeles, which has made it necessary for you to work in that area. You can come up with numerous reasons to be on the job market at this stage without lying about your situation or misrepresenting yourself. Just don't give the reader the impression that you were passed over, even if you were. Reread your cover letter, and ask yourself if it leaves you with a positive impression. Have several of your friends do the same. Just remember that no one, especially attorneys, wants to be involved with someone who leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth.
Checking Grades and Bar Results
Another common practice in law firms (and in corporate America as well) is the verification of law school graduation, grades, and bar results. It has become a routine practice for firms to request a final official law school transcript from the registrar's office and evidence of bar membership, if applicable. If you change law firms as a lateral, expect to be asked again for this information. Firms are forced to demand this evidence, as "fake" lawyers have been hired who never completed law school and even passed a bar exam. You can speed up the process by having these needed materials on hand at all times.
