No Offers Today (2L Recruit 2023)

[Dinsdale]

Best thing you can do is knock 'em out with your 2L transcript.  Make it dazzling.  Make yourself impossible not to hire in the upcoming (smaller) articling recruit.  As someone said above, you achieved three in-firms, so your interviewing skills are likely decent.  But it is ok to ask those firms for constructive feedback on your interviews, too. 

[Whisk3yjack]

I also struck out in the 2L recruit and I know how much it hurts to not get hired. Hopefully, though, at least one of you who didn't get hired will read this and realize it will be ok.

Going into the recruit I had high grades, good extracurriculars, and good pre-law school work experience. I thought all my interviews went well and was confident I would get hired. When I didn't get a call that afternoon I was crushed. It's hard to be in that position and not take it personally. After all, I was a great candidate on paper and I had a lot of interviews, so they must have just not liked me on a personal level. How else could they have not hired me, especially when a lot of my friends got offers. When you're in law school, especially if you're living in Kingston, London, Windsor, etc and you're not from there, law school can become your whole life. There's so much pressure in law school on getting hired in the recruit that when you don't get hired, it can feel like your world is collapsing. It certainly felt like that for me. 

But you know what? My world didn't collapse. I felt shitty for a while and then I eventually got over it. I got a non-law, but legal adjacent summer job. Then I got hired in the Articling recruit at a mid-sized litigation firm. For a while, I had a chip on my shoulder. I thought I was just as smart as all my friends who got hired on Bay Street and was jealous that they had gotten the jobs that I wanted. I still have a bit of a chip on my shoulder. I don't think that will ever go away. I'm not jealous anymore though. I have no reason to be. I am, far and away, the happiest person I know. 

I have a good job. It's not amazing, but it's good. It's run of the mill litigation. Some of the files are interesting, some of them are not. I'm friends with the other lawyers at my firm and everyone gets along well. Do I get paid what I would if I worked on Bay Street? No, but I make more than enough money and the additional $20-30k probably would not affect my happiness all that much. My job isn't as "prestigious" as working on Bay Street. The files aren't as complex. If I could go back in time and ensure I got hired in the 2L recruit, would I do it? Sure, probably, but I don't think that would make me much happier. My job is good, but not great. That's fine though, I don't need, nor do I want, to derive a lot of my life satisfaction from my work. What I want, and what I have, is a job that allows me to live a fulfilling life outside of work.

Not to brag, but I have a lot of friends. I love hanging out with them, which I get to do a lot, and I get a lot of joy out of that. I make enough money that I can afford a nice apartment. It's not huge, but I have enough room to have people over. I make enough money that I can buy new things for my hobbies every so often and I can go out to the bar or for nice dinners with my friends. I have a family that I love and that are incredibly supportive. I have a girlfriend that I love deeply and who I am going to get engaged to soon (hopefully, she already said she would say yes, so she can't back out now). One day we'll have kids and then grandkids. I have a great life. I have ups and downs, sometimes work is stressful, sometimes I fight with my girlfriend. Overall though, I am incredibly happy and I don't think working on Bay Street would affect that one way or the other.

The fact is that you are going to be a lawyer. You are going to make a lot of money. There's even a pretty good chance that you'll enjoy your job. But, what's going to make you happy in life is not how you did in the 2L recruit. It is the people and the life you build around you.   

 

[Psychometronic]

16 hours ago, uoftearsalumna said:

 ...uncertainty as to what I did wrong and why these firms didn’t like me enough to extend an offer. 

You might not have done anything wrong and they might have liked you a lot. There are lot of good candidates for very few positions and firms agonize behind closed doors as to who to keep and cut. 

Uncertainty is a recurring theme in this profession so it's worth finding ways to get comfortable with it.

Take some time to deal with the disappointment and then talk to your career office about options. There are a wealth of opportunities in law school to find a job and people who haven't had to job hunt outside of this environment don't know how lucky they are.

Re: lateralling - forget five years, some of my colleagues have done it in under two years. There are recruiters floating around Linkedin who message people about postings and so on. It's not as difficult as you might think.

Not to be harsh, but your posts read as someone who can stand to gain a lot from more life experience. 

[capitalttruth]

I also struck out in the 2L recruit after what I thought were a series of excellent 2nd and 3rd interviews with several firms. I had great grades and extensive extra-cirricular experience. I was crushed when I didn't get a call on call day. I also nearly struck out in the articling recruit, as well. I had a chip on my shoulder for a while. The only offer I received out of the entire 2L and the Articling recruit was the DOJ, which I was of course ecstatic to receive. When I look back on it now, I knew I was probably not a good fit for any of the 2L firms I interviewed with. I couldn't be happier that I'm with DOJ, because I think based on my interests, it was where I was meant to be. In my view, things have a way of working out in the way they are supposed to. In the end, whether now or later, you end up being where you are supposed to end up. 

Edited November 10, 2023 by capitalttruth

[BeRightBack]

Being an internationally trained lawyer, having left my cozy, rewarding and exciting job back home, having to start to build fresh networks here, and having no clue about the process or any friends in similar recruit cycle, I feel so so lost. 

 

And then I read these posts which gives me so much hope. You guys are the best! Possibility of working with people like you is what makes me wanna stay here in this country. 

[123]

6 hours ago, BeRightBack said:

Being an internationally trained lawyer, having left my cozy, rewarding and exciting job back home, having to start to build fresh networks here, and having no clue about the process or any friends in similar recruit cycle, I feel so so lost. 

 

And then I read these posts which gives me so much hope. You guys are the best! Possibility of working with people like you is what makes me wanna stay here in this country. 

Stick around and keep posting! We could use the perspective of more lawyers who have practiced outside of Canada. 

[goodisgood]

Like the others who thought they didn't do horribly on OCIs then proceeded to flunk out of the procedure, I know how it feels to feel unwanted. It sucks. I also made a similar doom & gloom post last year. It doubly sucks because the schools seem to tunnel in on the OCI process to the detriment of everything else, and it makes you feel like you have to tunnel on the OCI procedure too. 

To echo the others, I also ended up getting a summer job in 2L almost right after OCIs in an area of law that I ended up not having to fake my interest in. This firm is also where I'll article. Don't give up and you may end up with results beyond your expectations.

Edited November 17, 2023 by goodisgood