​How to Job Hunt Without A Network of Contacts

Dear First Gen,

I attended law school out-of-state and in my final year, I made the decision to return home and sit for the #MarylandBarExam. I began making arrangements to sign up for the bar prep course and move back home.

It could have been risky move—I had sold everything I owned from my apartment, but I didn’t really have any contacts to help me find a job. There are four key strategies that I implemented, which most likely helped me find employment within 2 months of the #barexam.

1. In the months leading to the bar prep course, I met with the Dean of the Career Development Office to discuss my options of finding employment back home. He shared with me that I should research the law schools in the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia area where I might be interested in accessing their jobs database. Low and behold, there was a reciprocity policy between several of the institutions. This meant that I would be granted access to the employment databases of these schools so long as the career office made the request.
2. After the bar exam, I became a member of my state’s bar association, because new law school graduates get a free 1-year membership. I looked on their website to find any local/minority/specialty bar associations that I could join. These would have a smaller number of members and thus would increase my chances of networking and gaining more information on the legal profession in Maryland.
3. New law graduates may have an opportunity to gain experience representing clients during the bail process if there is a state-run attorney program for indigenous communities. Depending on where you will be or are licensed to practice, the state may offer it in each jurisdiction (county or city).
4. I sought to meet other new law school graduates and #youngattorneys, so I joined the young lawyers section (YLS) of the state’s bar association. This was a great connection for me because I could learn how Maryland’s employment opportunities work, and get inside information on the places that were hiring. #YLS hosted networking events as well as community service events, which helped me meet people in groups and make one-on-one connections. I preferred the community service events because they would be for a full day or over several days. This gave me a greater chance to have longer, in-depth conversations with my peers. The networking happy hour events were shorter and seemed to work best for people who knew each other. Also, an added bonus was that the community activity could have been related to an area of law, like wills and estates, or healthcare decisions documents, which gave me an opportunity to develop practical skills.

This is short list of the approaches you can use when you want to get the ball rolling on meeting people to help you find a job in the state you are licensed in, but may not have any contacts or have graduated from an out-of-state law school. Implementing any of these suggestions will require work and patience, but the reward is worth it!

Fellow Riser,

​Irnande


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