THE ADVOCATE Newsletter of The Baltimore County Bar Association VOLUME XXIV, NO. 9
April 2015
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE by T. Wray McCurdy Wholly unrealistic The US economy is full of isolated stories of success. As recent law school grads know well, the job market is one that forces the employment seeker to be creative in their job search. If a job seeker does what everyone else is doing in their search, they will get the results everyone else is getting, either good or bad. Most attorneys are individualistic at their core, so thinking outside of the box in a job search should be second nature to them. When beginning the search process, remember some basic rules of engagement to keep your focus, sanity and self esteem intact through the rather introspective and sometimes degrading process of job searching. Wholly unrealistic jobs are just that. Unrealistic. A relative of mine got a job at Twitter. I took the tour of Twitter in San Francisco across from Fillmore West. The micro brews at the food court, the liquor bar, the five-star guest chefs, the rooftop astro-turf play area for families over a fabulous lunch (see photo), the unlimited vacation days. They are all there for those who are hired. The salary, stock options and bonus payouts are pretty impressive for a young person, and tough to spend without saving some, as there are only so many hours in a day. I am certain the Covington and Burling attorney
positions are similar in compensation (without the booze and the chef) and locally, Piper Rudnick is, as well. I recall when sitting for the Florida Bar two years ago, sharing a table with a young associate at King & Spaulding who, as a first-year associate, his sole job for the first two years was to travel the country and take bar exams. He had sat for Georgia, California and New York/New Jersey (there is a way you can sit for both NY and NJ at the same time). Before we all drive to BMW dealership and sign on the line thinking these dream jobs are all ours, let’s do the numbers. For every advertised opening at Twitter there are 263 qualified applicants. More apply, but the system for a variety of reasons rejects the applicant preliminarily. There are four phone interviews before a person is flown to San Francisco for an in-person interview. I suspect the major multistate law firms have similar numbers as well. The rebuttal to this point is simply that while unrealistic jobs are just that, someone does get hired at these dream jobs. For every one hired there are hundreds who are not. The reasons people aren’t hired are probably as unrealistic as the jobs themselves, although the decision on Continued on page 2
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April 2015