Huge amounts of time last week were swallowed up by the 2L job search. And that's just for one part of one phase of it.
There are many firms that will be at various regional job fairs, and there are many firms that will be interviewing on-campus at various points. So last week I logged onto the website facilitating these programs to see what firms would be at which. Then I went to each firm's website to evaluate whether I'd even want to think about working there.
There were quite a few to check out, even when I only looked at firms that had offices in locations where I'd be willing to work. I'm concentrating my search in New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC - if you can call that "concentrating." At least I've managed to eliminate a few places, like Boston. Several months ago I decided that although I like living in Boston now (er, well, during the school year) I don't feel inspired to stay. Instead I feel ready to return either to my roots in the New York area, or my later roots in the Bay Area. Washington is a possibility because it's a cosmopolitan environment vaguely in the Northeast where important things get done. I suppose of the three places it is my last choice because it's the place where I have the least attachment, but there are some firms with offices in all the aforementioned places whose DC office looks the most interesting, either given its size or practice areas. I find myself flipflopping on the NY-SF choice though. I'm very comfortable in the Bay Area, and there are certain firms based primarily out there I'd like to explore working for, but given an equivalent office in NY I find myself unexpectedly preferring the idea of staying back east. I'll have to give it some time to see how transient this sentiment may turn out to be. In the meantime I'm looking into jobs in both locales with a certain "que sera sera" attitude. Most important is the right opportunity, so I'll have to see where that turns out to be.
Written on 7/24/04 but posted on 8/03 due to travel.