Crappy nonprofits in crappy towns don't usually post on career services databases, PSLawNet or Idealist. HTH. Try--shocking--newspapers and local magazines. And the "I don't really feel as if I am in a position to judge what towns are crappy" line? Geeze.
Your experience of getting 500 applications was in 1) a town where there are lots of people, 2) a desirable location, 3) a town with tons of law schools, 4) with a well-known non-profit, and 5) posted in an online database.
As for the bolded, I was talking about charity rankings.
And how in the world is me saying that there are jobs for people with 3.3s from Rutgers-Camden elitist? You're the one making it seem like a nonprofit gig is impossible...
Your position is elitist because you keep claiming that the jobs you and your peers wouldn't choose in places you wouldn't choose to live are a dime a dozen merely because most of the people who take them or live there don't have your credentials. It's not elitist to acknowledge that the OP has a tough road to hoe -- not because s/he has a 3.3 from Rutgers-Camden, but because there aren't very many JD jobs out there (and most of us, after taking out thousands of dollars of loans for law school, need to get JD jobs in order to pay back our loans and/or to qualify for loan repayment programs). The EIC of the law review at my school is having trouble getting interviews. Her credentials are impeccable, but the jobs are still scarce. (She has an offer from her top-five firm, btw, but she wants to do non-profit work.) This is what I mean by competitive. There are a lot of people competing for a small number of spaces. It has nothing to do with credentials.
And with respect to the bolded, if you agree with me, then you also must agree that there are very few positions, no?
Its not pretending like it will be easy to get a job. I think YBR and I were both just saying that OP should look at some non-profits if he/she werent already doing so. It is not easy to get a non-profit job, even at a small, unknown non-profit, but it is easier than getting jobs elsewhere.
You come across as if you believe that every legal job is equally difficult to obtain. This is simply not the case. Unqualified people work somewhere. This isnt to say that they are all in non-profits as many are probably in the small firms, government jobs, and even large law firms. The point is just that the OP, with good grades from a good school may be able to find something from a smaller less known non-profit. That is all.
I don't know that you have provided any evidence -- anecdotal or otherwise -- that getting a non-profit job is "easier than getting jobs elsewhere." Meanwhile, goaliechica has offered a logical explanation of why this wouldn't be the case, and I have rounded this out with my experience as both an employee with some responsibility for JD hiring and a 3L seeking non-profit employment.
I also don't know why you keep referring to "unqualified" people. The OP's credentials make him/her perfectly qualified, as are lots of people who are having trouble finding jobs.
The point is that the OP isn't a "complete failure." These are rough times. The non-profit sector is particularly hard hit in an economic crisis. If you have specific ideas for the OP, that's great, but your assumption that non-profit jobs are easier to come by than the jobs you want is not very helpful.