Sunday, January 29, 2006
Career Day
Spent yesterday at my law school's career conference. It's always kind of weird to be around young law students who are looking for jobs; it's a level of desperation just below reality show contestant but just above Sharon Stone. They seize upon anyone with a stack of business cards and a navy blue suit and start pretending to care about Federalism and continuing legal education with an almost surreal fervor. They spend hours listening just a little too attentively and laughing just a little too loudly to be believable, and then try to slip a resume into your portfolio while you're in the men's room. The problem, however, is the same as it always is -- firms would much rather hire a sociopath with cloven hooves and a law review editorship than a Nobel laureate who happened to get a C- in Property. I don't necessarily endorse that view, but at least until all the other lawyers at my firm are hit with scabies and I become hiring partner, I'm sort of stuck with it.
I did get to a bunch of mock interviews, however, which was sort of fun. I have had so many bizarre interview experiences that I was able to give the kids important tips like "don't stare at the incredibly lazy eye" and "don't interrupt if they go on forty minute talking jags about A Trial They Had Once in Maryland." I also gave them a little pep talk about how there are lots of places you really wouldn't want to work, anyway, and how rejection letters can be used as a cheap and efficient source of fuel. What can I say? I'm a helper.
Oh, and the Hawthorn Inn and Suites? Amazing. I'm a little skeptical of the designation "suite," since there was really only one big room with a sort of half wall next to the couch, but there was a large TV on a swivel stand and a kitchenette, which of course I didn't use, but slept easier knowing I had just in case guests should come by and a five-course meal should be required. And there WAS a free continental breakfast. A wafflemaker was involved.
Spent yesterday at my law school's career conference. It's always kind of weird to be around young law students who are looking for jobs; it's a level of desperation just below reality show contestant but just above Sharon Stone. They seize upon anyone with a stack of business cards and a navy blue suit and start pretending to care about Federalism and continuing legal education with an almost surreal fervor. They spend hours listening just a little too attentively and laughing just a little too loudly to be believable, and then try to slip a resume into your portfolio while you're in the men's room. The problem, however, is the same as it always is -- firms would much rather hire a sociopath with cloven hooves and a law review editorship than a Nobel laureate who happened to get a C- in Property. I don't necessarily endorse that view, but at least until all the other lawyers at my firm are hit with scabies and I become hiring partner, I'm sort of stuck with it.
I did get to a bunch of mock interviews, however, which was sort of fun. I have had so many bizarre interview experiences that I was able to give the kids important tips like "don't stare at the incredibly lazy eye" and "don't interrupt if they go on forty minute talking jags about A Trial They Had Once in Maryland." I also gave them a little pep talk about how there are lots of places you really wouldn't want to work, anyway, and how rejection letters can be used as a cheap and efficient source of fuel. What can I say? I'm a helper.
Oh, and the Hawthorn Inn and Suites? Amazing. I'm a little skeptical of the designation "suite," since there was really only one big room with a sort of half wall next to the couch, but there was a large TV on a swivel stand and a kitchenette, which of course I didn't use, but slept easier knowing I had just in case guests should come by and a five-course meal should be required. And there WAS a free continental breakfast. A wafflemaker was involved.
