This reader was a third-year law student about to take the bar exam in Massachusetts. Original post here. He writes:
I graduated this spring with a law degree, and spend the summer in bar preparation. I sat simultaneously for the New York and Massachusetts bar exams, figuring that I would put my eggs in as many baskets as possible. Afterwards, I moved to D.C. from Boston in search of work. From all I had read, D.C. seemed to have a better job market for attorneys than any other locale.
I threw myself into the job hunt with gusto – I was on ten different job email lists, and probably can immediately recite twenty different job posting websites off the top of my head. I informational interviewed and attended alumni and networking events. I also applied to thirteen temping agencies, primarily legal. When I say I applied, I mean I actually went to their offices in suit and tie ready to sell my skill set and impress them – these were not anonymous resume drops. Each agency’s representative was pleasant and said that opportunities would come in any day now. And then they shooed me out of the office when I tried to press for details. I call each every Monday and leave a voicemail (always a voicemail). Since mid August, I have not received one job opportunity from these companies. Not one.
The first job I got out of law school requires me to wear an apron and hairnet, paying me twenty-five cents an hour less than a high school job I had in 2001. I’ve also proctored the LSAT, and joined an HIV vaccination study for money – yes, my health is now for sale.
Happily, my story ends on a happy note.
I was selected for a fellowship through the Office of Personnel Management this past spring, and with this designation, I was able to get interviews for fellowship-specific management jobs in the federal government. I received an offer to work for a federal agency just last week, and begin on January 4th. It’s a non-attorney role, but I hope to use my fellowship (and the completed background check) to continue on in federal service. It’s the best Christmas present anyone could ever dream of.
I’m very excited about this opportunity, but also very conscious about how dire things were getting. My savings are absolutely depleted, and my credit cards have been filed away lest I overdraw them in a weak moment when I want caffeine. I qualified for food stamps the same day I learned I’d passed the New York bar exam. I believe there is no entitlement to a job in this country, but I am very very angry to see so many of my peers struggling though no fault of their own – It's a great hardship to have a newly-minted professional degree right now. Before the new job came along, my income-based repayment figure for my student loans was $0.00 monthly. I predict that student loans will become less easily available in the coming years as more and more students don't keep up on their payments, or pay very little as I was scheduled to do.
The hardest part about this experience was when the Massachusetts bar association swore in this summer’s test takers. I viewed all my law school classmates’ ceremony pictures on Facebook – I could not afford to travel back to Massachusetts and share this great accomplishment in Faniuel Hall at Qunicy Market, where the oldest bar association in the western hemisphere has always held its induction ceremonies. Instead, I’ll have to be sworn in by affidavit later in January. I'm a grown man, but I was in tears at viewing those pictures and being struck at how much I wanted to hug my classmates-now-attorneys.
We live in interesting times, and I know my generation will come out of it with a very different perspective on savings, spending, and investment than did the graduates of the 1990’s and early 2000’s.
The Dish 