Advice please

[madisen]

I have not seen any posts concerning this topic, so I decided to start a new one. I'm glad to see everyone is doing well in their job search for summer 2008. However, I am not doing so well (or so I assume). My grades need improvement; however, I am on moot court, I was selected to join a journal at my school, and I have over ten years professional experience. I put in only 15 bids for OCI, and surprisingly, I got one screening interview from a small firm that is a spin off from a larger firm. She said, while my grades do not fit their hiring criteria, she was impressed with my resume and was even more impressed with me in person. She said if my grades improve this semester I should contact her. My only OCI experience as of now. Our OCI continues until beginning of November.

While I am trying to remain positive, it is tough. I know I have to use other means of finding summer employment. I am using direct mailing as a way to get in touch with other employers other than large law firms, including smaller firms and specific corporations with in house counsel. A friend said I should wait until next semester to contact these employers, but I think I should begin now. Any thoughts?

[jacy85]

Smaller firms usually don't know their hiring needs until the spring, and therefore even if they think they are interested in hiring summers, they tend to wait to see how much work they have.  Most advice I've gotten from speaking with people from small firms and from my career services office is that you should probably wait to apply to smaller firms until spring.

[Krisace]

Jacy's right.  BUT if these firms are located in the city in which you attend law school, consider writing some of them now (and following up with a phone call) discussing the possibility of you clerking for them during the school year - and then of course over the summer.