By Steph Lanz (2L University of Ottawa, Common Law Program)
Originally published on the Law School & Beyond blog.
Last year I participated in the 1L Toronto recruitment, which is a very small round of recruiting for just a few Toronto firms. Since there are only a few firms that participate, only a few 1L students get hired. Although I did not end up landing a job or truly expect to for that matter, it was hands-down the best experience I had in my 1L year because of the invaluable lessons I learned.
I was lucky to have interviewed with one firm that I was very excited about, and I was fortunate to get far enough in the process to learn a few things. With that being said, everyone’s experience recruiting and interviewing can vary drastically, so take this all with a grain of salt. Here are the top five lessons I learned during the 1L recruit.
1. The power of networking
It is well known that getting an interview at a law firm is heavily based on your academic success. A lot of firms only want the cream of the crop — which is totally fair! However, there are many firms that take a more holistic approach to recruiting and consider factors other than your grades. I will admit, I am not a straight-A student, but I know that my communication skills are my strength, so I leaned into that.
After touring the firm I was interested in, I took it upon myself to connect with multiple students from that firm. Networking is pivotal for securing an interview for three main reasons.
a) It will make the firm familiar with your name. When students reach out and make connections with people from a firm, it is usually reported to whoever is in charge of hiring. Now the firm is aware that you are interested and made a real effort to get to know more about them. Don’t underestimate the power of these connections — especially if you had a meaningful and memorable conversation.
b) It will help you create a strong and tailored application. To my surprise, I ended up having very long conversations with all the students and learned a lot about the firm culture and the role of a student. This gave me great insight into what an ideal candidate and cover letter looked like for that firm. Because of all the time I spent learning about the firm directly from the source, I had a stronger application to submit that was perfectly tailored to them. This ultimately strengthens your chances of getting an interview.
c) The connections you make while in law school have longevity. If you are able to make a genuine connection with anyone in the legal field, this can help you later down the road. The legal community is smaller than you may think, and maybe the person you reached out to knows somebody who knows somebody.
Although I did not land the job, the connections I made from the 1L recruit are still alive today and are people I can now go to for advice or help in the future.
2. Your cover letter will never be perfect.
I know I just said that I was able to tailor my application, but that doesn’t mean it was perfect. This took me a long time to come to terms with, but the truth is your cover letter could always be improved or changed.
It is important to set aside a lot of time to prepare your applications. Your cover letter should go through multiple rewrites and revisions before its final draft. However, I remember getting obsessed and caught up in the little details and wasting so much time trying to make it flawless. At some point, I had to give up. Like me, you will likely get burned out by over-editing and accidentally make your cover letter worse. Sometimes you have to just trust your gut that you did your best, and not worry about making it perfect! Perfect doesn’t exist; we are all unique and the purpose of the application is to let that uniqueness shine through.
3. Take time to reflect. Every experience has transferable skills.
This tip may be obvious, but it is important to strategically frame your experiences. Before you present yourself to a firm, reflect on all the experiences you have had thus far. Look at your resume and think about one to two specific moments from each experience and what you learned. There are important skills to be drawn from each job, extra-curricular experience, or academic achievement.
Think about:
- What made you succeed in those experiences?
- Even if you didn’t enjoy one of your old jobs, how would you persuade a stranger that it was still a valuable experience?
- What were the most challenging parts of the experience and how did you overcome them?
- Who was the best boss or mentor you ever had and why? What did you learn from them?
After answering these questions, you will certainly be able to write and speak about your experiences and skills in a thoughtful and meaningful way. If you know a firm values a certain skill, emphasize and frame your past experiences in a way that shows the firm you have that skill.
4. Evaluate and reflect on what you truly want in a career
If you are like me, you probably watched Suits and decided you want to be the next Harvey Specter or Jessica Pearson. I’m not saying that’s not possible, but watching fictional TV and glamorizing Bay Street can be detrimental to one’s self-image and can blur the lines between lust and true desire.
When I began networking and touring firms on Bay Street, I definitely fell in love with the idea of working among the greatest lawyers at the top-tier firms (or maybe it was the aesthetically pleasing offices — it all got very confusing to me). Now don’t get me wrong, I still hope to work on Bay Street one day, but the constant glamorization of ‘big law’ is emotionally draining and took me away from truly understanding what I wanted for my future.
Many of you reading are probably still young, in your 20s, and very career focussed. Although now is the time to focus on your career, I believe it is important to keep in mind what else you want to accomplish in the next 10 years. Do you want to maintain friendships, find a significant other, have a family, travel? These are all things to keep in the back of your mind when recruiting. There is no doubt that all of these other objectives are definitely achievable while working on Bay Street. However, having an open mind and broader idea of what is important in your life will not only help you navigate what firm best fits your desired future, but more importantly, help put the entire recruitment process into perspective. Life is more than just your career!
5. Don’t take it personally
Rejection sucks. There’s no way to put it lightly. When I got rejected after working for months to secure an interview, I was crushed. It felt like a very personal decision and definitely bruised my ego. I mistakenly put so much value in getting a job offer from this firm and thought that my entire legal career was over. Hindsight (and a global pandemic) has now made the whole situation clearer.
Rejection from a firm is not saying “we hate you”. Rejection is telling you “there is a better opportunity out there waiting for you.”
Looking back, I realized that this firm I idealized and obsessed over was probably not even the best fit for me. The silver lining: I get to participate in the 2L recruit, with more experience and knowledge under my belt.
Rejection is always a tough pill to swallow at first, and you are allowed to be upset — that is normal! But, if you happen to find yourself rejected in 2021, let it help you come to the realization that it just means you are free to explore new opportunities that you didn’t turn your mind to before.
The fact of the matter is that the odds are against students securing a job through the 2L Toronto Recruit. Leaving the recruitment unemployed is NOT determinative of your future success as a lawyer. There are SO many firms in Toronto, and you will find a firm that wants you just as much as you want them.
Best of luck!
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Law School Life & Beyond aims to demystify the law school experience through first-person commentary on Canadian law school life. Every week, our wide range and ever-growing team of student writers from law schools across Canada provide their own individual and real-life experiences, stories, advice and tips on a variety of law school-related topics. Read more online at: medium.com/law-school-life-and-beyond
