Why not landing a 2L summer job isn’t that big a deal. No really, I promise.
Bernd Buschke (3L)
So you didn’t land one of the coveted Bay Street positions in this year’s 2L recruit. That sucks. Get mad, it’s okay. It can be incredibly disappointing, and the only real solace is that it wasn’t anything you did. You’re talented, personable, and likeable, but it didn’t work out. Life isn’t fair. That said, it’s far from over. Turn those emotions into action and put yourself in the best place to find another job this summer and for articling.
You’re still the same person as before OCIs. There is no black mark on you, much as you might feel like there is. You didn’t get to U of T by being a dunce, and less clever people than you got jobs. You didn’t get here by being an unrepentant weirdo either—unless you did, in which case welcome to Tax Law!—and less charismatic people got jobs too. The upside is that, with many of your talented classmates out of the running, you have a smaller pool in which your best attributes can show through even more. And there are many, many jobs left to come.
Still want to work full service? There are always several mid-size full service firms which open their recruitment after OCIs. Big-time finance? Last year, in-house legal positions opened up at some of the biggest investment firms in the world. And there are the Ontario Securities Commission positions—competitive, but very flashy on the resume. Public interest? Many government offices and legal clinics hire outside the November recruit. You can also get grants through the school to work at public interest employers. None of the above? Work as a research assistant for a professor in a fulfilling, low stress atmosphere, and drink daily!
What if you don’t end up finding a job for this summer? The articling recruit is LOADED with incredible opportunities in all of the above and more. Work on your resume and interview skills all summer and crush your articling interviews.
If you’re like me, and get absolutely snakebitten in the process, and nothing seems to work out, keep the faith.
I was in with the CDO weekly to hone my resume, prepare for interviews and work on job search strategies. Cold calling blows, but it works. I landed an unpaid—I know, ugh—position with a sole practitioner who rents an office and is quite successful working on his own. Later, I landed a summer student position at a big corporate governance firm editing a textbook. Being in those sorts of positions lets you learn about the law, and how to act around clients, but also teaches you how the actual business of law works. It can be fun, and the options are only limited to what you can hustle up. This brings me to my dos and don’ts of being jobless after OCIs.
DO
Talk to anyone you know at the firms you were close to landing a job at. It hurts, but it’s the best way to figure out how to improve your interviews going forwards. That also goes with any places you don’t get in the rest of your search. Befriend the people in HR—they’re normally sweethearts. I had an interview go squirrelly in Ottawa, and by contacting the HR rep for the firm I was able to get an hour long breakdown of exactly what I would have had to do to get the job.
DON’T
Panic. That said, you’re going to. Try to limit it and push your emotions down with pub night and intramural sports violence. Or yoga. I don’t know. Do you.
DO
Hustle. Seriously, the best thing you can do is keep looking at UTLawcareers, Kijiiji, and any other “law+student” alerts you can set up on major job sites. I got numerous interviews this way, and you can too. Ask people you know if they have any leads. Sometimes it goes somewhere and sometimes you make friends. That’s networking, and it’s important.
DON’T
Accept an offer to represent someone you found on Kijiji. Turns out that’s super illegal, and the Law Society doesn’t look fondly on it.
DO
Be happy for your friends. Don’t be salty, they’re still great people.
DON’T
Get jealous. Your friends on Bay Street will make more money—though for some, it just comes out of financial aid anyway—and they may have an articling job lined up. But their summers will mostly be full of miserable toil for the largest and most oppressive of the major firms. Winning kind of stinks in law school.
DO
Expand your horizons. “Yes, I’ve always been interested in the cosmetics and toiletries industry” was a thing I actually said at one point, and that’s hilarious. Keep yourself open to options, and after a while you’ll actually start to believe your own preposterous untruths.
If you follow these steps you too may soon leave the frenzied panic of joblessness behind, and enter the sweet, sweet world of existential dread that is the awful prospect of working in law for the next five years. May the odds be ever in your favour!
