For students who didn’t get an offer
U of T Law has a reputation for being a pipeline for law students to get prestigious jobs on Bay Street. Specifically, this pipeline will lead you through the Toronto 2L recruit, requiring you to fit rounds of interviews into too few days with too many expectations.
This year, approximately 210 students were eligible to participate in the Toronto 2L recruit. Many students will have already secured employment through 1L recruits or the New York 2L recruit. Many more will emerge on the other side of in-firms with a job offer. Then there are those of us who won’t receive an offer at all.
Not getting a job through the 2L recruit can be an isolating experience. There is the silence of the minutes after 5pm when your phone doesn’t ring amid the barrage of peers sharing celebratory LinkedIn posts. It feels like no one really knows what to say to you. It’s one thing to know, logically, that you are not the only person who didn’t get a job offer, but it’s hard to hold onto that when many of us are unwilling to talk about it. It doesn’t help that not getting a job offer is often framed in terms of “failure,” especially at a school with a reputation for recruit success. At least, that’s how I felt.
I spent much of my 2L year embarrassed about not getting employment through the 2L recruit. It wasn’t until January that I learned about another peer who was also still job-hunting, almost by accident. It took more time than I’d like to admit to get over the feeling of shame when someone asked me what my summer plans were. Even though I knew I wasn’t the only one, it was one thing to read statistics on paper and something else entirely not to see that reflected in my daily life. As lovely as it was to be reassured by friends about my employment prospects, it didn’t feel quite the same when they had all secured employment themselves or had intentionally opted out of the recruit. I also spent much of the year afraid that I wouldn’t find a job and would spend my 2L summer doing nothing at all. That fear did not come to fruition. I worked as a policy research assistant at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology & Society. I am currently keeping an eye out for job postings, but I plan to complete the Law Practice Program (LPP) at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2024.
In hindsight, the aftermath of the 2L recruit would have been much easier to navigate if I had known others who were going through the same experience as I was. For this recruit special, I reached out to some current 3Ls and recent U of T Law graduates who also did not receive employment in the Toronto 2L recruit. I asked them what they did during their 2L summer, what they do now, and what advice or message they have for others. Here is what they said:
Megan Chan (JD ‘23)
Year of recruit participation: 2021
What I did in 2L summer: LSSEP
What I’m doing now: Insurance defence and civil litigation
Advice: If you are worried about finding a job, consider applying broadly. I applied to 60-70 jobs in the articling recruit because I felt like I applied to too few in during the 2L recruit. Good luck; you can do it!
Jacob Broz (JD/MBA ‘23)
Year of recruit participation: 2021
What I did 2L summer: Worked at the Ontario Securities Commission
What you’re doing now: Corporate lawyer (not yet admitted to practice in NY State) at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Advice: First of all, take a moment to reassess what you actually want out of your career. Some people want to enter big law just because everyone around them is recruiting for it. If you do still want big law, aim for high grades during the rest of 2L, network, and work with the CDO to improve your interview skills.
Jessica Pan (JD ’23)
I participated in the 2L recruit in 2021 and struck out. I went on to work as a caseworker in the Employment Law and Academic Appeals Division at Downtown Legal Services in my 2L summer. I’m now articling at the Treasury Board Secretariat.
It’s cliché, but things did have a way of working out. My experience with the 2L recruit helped me reflect on what I wanted to do for my career and focus my job search (shoutout to the CDO for helping me navigate my post-recruit search!). I got to work with amazing people and get valuable experience at DLS, which made for a really fun summer and helped me land a position in the articling recruit! If the 2L recruit employers didn’t really reflect what you want to do, you now have an opportunity to find something that suits you more.
Even though things worked out eventually, it was overwhelming at the time. If you need to, take a break to recuperate before you jump back in. Lean on your support system and be kind to yourself. It’s OK if you need some time and rest to feel ready again. I know I needed it.
Dominique Wightman (JD ‘23)
Year of recruit participation: 2022
What I did in 2L Summer: I worked as a student caseworker with DLS, in their Refugee and Immigration Division, where I’d previously done a 2L externship.
What I’m doing now: I’m articling at Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP, a large full-service firm in my hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Advice/Message: I struck out completely in the 2L recruit – I didn’t get a single call on call day. I remember thinking that it was over for me. I was ashamed to tell my friends that I didn’t get any calls on call day – even if I knew that they wouldn’t judge me, it was hard hearing about all the interviews my friends had to juggle. I’m a pretty talkative person, whenever conversations about our in-firm interviews came up I’d be uncharacteristically quiet.
Until the 2L recruit, I never really felt the need to “fit in” with people or pretend to be someone I’m not. There’s a lot of unhealthy pressure in the 2L recruit, most of which I put on myself.
When going into and coming out of the 2L recruit, it’s important to ask yourself whether you really want the jobs that you’re applying for, or if you’re just applying for those jobs because U of T Law students are “supposed” to have 2L summer jobs on Bay Street.
It’s also important to remember that there are many pathways to success and self-realization, and the 2L recruit is only one of those pathways.
The bottom line is – if I landed a good job after law school, you can too.
Andrew Parker (3L)
Year of recruit participation: 2022
What I did in 2L summer: I completed an IHRP fellowship with the Justice & Accountability Unit, a joint initiative by Bellingcat and the Global Legal Action Network. The focus of my fellowship was on achieving accountability for atrocity crimes committed during the conflict in Ukraine. During my fellowship, I helped conduct open-source investigations into international crimes and wrote several research documents for use by national and international accountability mechanisms.
What I’m doing now: I will be articling with the Ontario Ombudsman in 2024.
Advice/message: The single most important piece of advice that I can give is that you shouldn’t freak out. I know that that’s easier said than done, especially if lots of your friends have already landed jobs. That said, there are plenty of great opportunities outside of the 2L recruit, in Toronto and beyond. It’s also important to remember that the 2L recruit isn’t the last major recruit for Toronto. There are plenty of great jobs in the articling recruit, especially for students interested in working in the public interest. Stay focused, keep networking, and you’ll land something great eventually. Good luck!
You can find more student experiences with not getting jobs through the 2L Recruit here, here, and here.
