This short editorial is for the 2Ls. Specifically, the 2Ls that have very likely been bending over backwards to secure interviews and positions in the 2L recruit.
First, I want to congratulate all who participated for participating, because everyone who has done it knows that the 2L recruit is not easy. It starts in the middle of the summer—when no one wants to think about it—and chugs along throughout the Fall semester. It is most certainly a marathon and not a sprint, and like running a marathon (theoretically—I could never, and have never ran a marathon) each step becomes more exhausting. Drafting and editing resumés and CVs is exhausting. Equally as exhausting is drafting twenty cover letters to different firms—even if they are relatively similar. Then the interviews begin. So put on your best outfit, read whatever resources Osgoode recommended, and get ready to smile as hard as you can. Then cross your fingers.
Each material step is one thing; waiting to hear from firms is another. I vividly remember the stress I felt on Call Days, and throughout the week of in-person interviews. I remember sleepless nights and endless LinkedIn messages to associates. All this is to say that completion of the process alone is something to be proud of.
Yet, I know that for some of you completing this process won’t feel like an achievement. Some of you won’t get jobs. For some of you, it is going to feel like the end of the world. It might ruin your day. It might ruin your week.
If there is one thing that I could say to any of you in the 2L recruit right now, it is that even if you don’t get a job, you will be fine. I promise.
I, like many, participated in the 2L recruit and I, like many, did not get a job through it. I was quite distraught. Months of agonizing over cover letters and interviews led to essentially nothing. It felt as if all the hard work I had done was meaningless. So, I sulked—for three days, watching movies and TV shows all day long.
One of those movies happened to be Rocky Balboa and as I sat sadly on my couch, as if it was a message from a higher power, Rocky said, “It ain’t about how hard you’re hit, it’s about how you can get hit and keep moving forward.”
I know quoting Rocky is arguably one of the most cliché things I could do, but it is relevant here. Not getting a job through a recruit after weeks of preparing could feel like a hit. A hit may be an understatement—it may feel like an uppercut to the jaw, one that leaves you sprawling on the ground struggling to remember your birthday. But the fight is not finished.
Inevitably, you will emerge from the hit. It may take you a second to find your footing, and the next few rounds may be difficult, but you will finish the fight. You will come out of this and you will be okay.
And don’t forget that each and every one of you is very smart and valuable. You worked hard to get to law school, and I am sure you have worked hard to remain in law school. You are smart, or you wouldn’t have made it this far. Don’t let a firm make you think you are not; rather, remember the awful feeling of rejection, and use that feeling to light a fire inside of you. Become the lawyer that they will regret not hiring.
Not getting a job through a recruit is not the end of the world. I didn’t, and I know many others who didn’t, and guess what—we’re all okay.