Good move bumping this up.
A few additional thoughts, tying in with resources that weren't around when the original post was written.
A major consideration for one's intial jobs is to, well, do a good job. Actually, to do an excellent job--"excellent" being a standard relative only to the partner's mind. A large part of many law jobs, in one way or another, is creating and digesting legal memos. Toward that end, a superb book is Jagged Rocks of Wisdom--The Memo. It's hard-hitting, and tells it from the partners' perspective. Better to learn these lessons before making those same mistakes in a part-time job or clerkship. Now more than ever, don't work hard just to land the job, only to fall flat in the actual job. Impress 'em instead. ("Impressing them" doesn't mean what we think it means. It means, among many other things, doing everything very, very, very well.) Find and read this book--it will make a big difference in your career.
The next two books are more about having the right attitude: the original Jagged Rocks and The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book. This might seem a throwaway line, but attitude is a large part of success.
Also, to Matthies' point, OCI is seemingly the Holy Grail, but is for many a distraction from the real work of landing that first job. One book I've reviewed that is also good on this point: Insider's Guide to Getting a Big Firm Job..
Matthies, you've done a great service.
Thane.
Discussion
Resources
