Newly minted attorney (licensed in May) having terrible with luck job hunting.
I’ve been desperately hunting for a first year associate position in Chicago since July. I’ve had a number of interviews that seemed to go well, but only one offer (which turned out not to be a firm I would be able to work for) came out of about a dozen interviews. I can’t figure out if the market is rough now or I’m doing something wrong in my interviews.

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I'm a new attorney as well! I can't speak to Chicago, since I'm in Ohio. BUT I can say that I struggle job searching as well. Almost no one is looking for someone with less than three years of experience out by me. I'm hoping that'll change once the October results come out.

The advice I've been getting is to try and network but with covid that seems impossible. All bar association activities are virtual. I'm a first generation attorney in a city without any family, so can't rely on family network to get in the door either.

Keep fighting the good fight!

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My school has some things but (from what I hear from fellow alumni) it isn't very helpful. I took a jd advantaged role before results came out because I was getting laid off. However, the "time gap" on my resume between my bar admission date and the present day was just getting bigger. I flat out had interviewers ask me if I was even interested in practicing the law because of this gap.

Thankfully I got a role as an attorney but I'm not sure this is the right fit. Just planning on chugging along for now.

Unfortunately the market is not rough right now, at least not for transactional attorneys. Are you lit? Are you open to transactional?

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The majority of my intern/clerk experience is in litigation work, but I’m not opposed to doing transactional work. The issue is that it seems nobody is interested in hiring new attorneys for those positions currently (at least that’s what I’m finding in my scouring all the job sites)

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Chicago is a tough market for entry level jobs, and most of those jobs go to people from top law schools. You may have better luck at firms in the suburbs. Clerking for a state court judge is also a good way to get experience.

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This isn't accurate. JMLS has a lot of grads in all areas of law in Chicago and it's known as a school where the grads know how to practice, as opposed to just theory. The struggle for Chicago first years right now is that firms are not looking for first year attorneys unless you interned with that firm to start with. Senior attorneys are also not looking to mentor anymore, and covid has really just made this whole problem worse.

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The good news is that you’re getting interviews, which means that you have at least enough qualifications to make it worth their time. It could be that you’re losing out to candidates with more experience, or it could be something you’re doing in interviews. Hard to say without more details.

I would encourage you to reach out to your school’s career office as they should be able to give you resources for interviewing. You might try mock interviews, for example.

Also tap into your alumni network and reach out to other junior associates for advice. I would often have a hard time getting the attention of partners without some other connection, but I’ve often found junior associates (esp fellow first gens) to be very generous with their time and/or advice.

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