The 1L Job Search

It's December now, which means 1Ls
can start applying for firm jobs for the summer. I got a lot of questions about the process last night when I showed up for the second half of
a California Club jobs panel / wine tasting. I'm no expert, but I know what happened for me.

I picked the markets I wanted to target (San Diego and San Francisco), sent a cover letter and a resume to every firm in those cities that was hiring 1Ls starting December 1st and had a litigation department. I knew that the yield for these things was very low, so I did very cursory research up front and tried to just maximize the number of chances I'd give myself. I didn't write a new cover letter every time - I just wrote one that had two sentences I'd customize to each firm.

My initial mass mailing (pictured) had close to forty envelopes, which resulted in one interview. That's about the rate of return I'd been told to expect. Because actual interviews were rare, I spent a lot of time researching the firm offering me one so I could make the most of that chance. Through sheer blind luck, they sounded like a great fit, and the interview went really well. When they gave me a job offer, I accepted immediately. I had another volley of mailings ready to send out on January 15 (or whenever the other date was that a lot of firms started taking 1L resumes) that I never sent.

The important thing to keep in mind is that you're taking a whole lot of low-percentage shots, but you only need one success. Going 1-for-100 is winning.