Lateral Job Hunt - Constant Rejection Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am a mid level attorney at a well known firm that is not a big law firm. I have been trying to go back to big law and have been failing miserably. A lot of my former colleagues have been able to lateral easily and it maybe takes them a month to make a move when they start the search. Granted most did not come from a big firm.

Is the lateral job hunt just super shitty and a grind. I have had a number of call backs and I always seem to be rejected or ghosted even after the interviews seem to go well.

Any advice on how to improve interviewing? Is the lateral job hunt just incredibly difficult? If you have left big law does it just make it hard to go back?

Any experiences with how long this process can take. I have been looking for over a year.

[Anonymous User]

I’m currently almost a year into my search. I think corporate is busy right now, but my area is not as busy. I also used a recruiter, so I have a $70k fee attached to me, which makes things a bit more difficult.

No firms have ghosted me after callbacks, but, because I’m in a small niche field, firms seem to put the search on hold or something if they’re afraid there won’t be enough work. That’s a comment I’ve received twice from my recruiter. I’ve been to maybe 5 callbacks in the past six months. I’ve only officially been rejected from one.

[Anonymous User]

I broke into a sizable market to a lockstep firm, without prior biglaw experience at junior-midlevel age.

Here’s the thing. You won’t get it until you do.

I remember many a sleepless nights throughout my job search where I just stayed up late googling threads like this one about timing and all that. I poured everything I had into networking and interview prep. I swear I was only actually working a bit more than 66% time at my job while doing this. It’s very hard and very stressful and then one day it happens. Took me maybe 9 months. I turned every interview (few and far between amongst a pile of straight rejections) into a much more involved callback. I only got 3 of those and I nailed the third.

Find another thread on this—lateral job search support group. It’ll happen for you. Don’t give up.

[sparty99]

I am a mid level attorney at a well known firm that is not a big law firm. I have been trying to go back to big law and have been failing miserably. A lot of my former colleagues have been able to lateral easily and it maybe takes them a month to make a move when they start the search. Granted most did not come from a big firm.

Is the lateral job hunt just super shitty and a grind. I have had a number of call backs and I always seem to be rejected or ghosted even after the interviews seem to go well.

Any advice on how to improve interviewing? Is the lateral job hunt just incredibly difficult? If you have left big law does it just make it hard to go back?

Any experiences with how long this process can take. I have been looking for over a year.

It took me 4 years out of law school to get that sexy job. I started at a big law regional law firm as a Law Clerk for a year (made like $57,000 working 15 to 30 hours a week), then went to 80 attorney insurance defense litigation firm for 3 years (paying $70k to 80k), then went to a mega large insurance defense firm paying low six figures for one year, now about to lateral to big law paying market. Can't tell you how many rejections I have had in the last 2 years. I had to settle for that mega insurance defense firm for a year after receiving so many rejections. I was always nervous in interviews and was totally messing up. This second time around, I had some rejections, but it was mostly because I was trying to get into an area of law where I did not have significant experience. I finally landed the sexy job, however. I only had 2 headhunter interviews. Everything else was through me. Some recruiters would not even work with me.

[Anonymous User]

I have been ghosted by a firm for about 4 months. I had a great call back and got positive feedback then nothing... for what it’s worth I just had a call back at a place that I had a screener at in November.

Pretty sure it’s a reject at this point...

[Anonymous User]

Got to the final round and then told that the firm "is going in a different direction." I am a mid level at a well known boutique. So maybe it is just competitive or people dont like me. Spirits getting low.

[Anonymous User]

I had a similar situation to yours when I was trying to lateral from a regional firm. My colleagues were able to switch firms after a couple of months of searching, while it took me over a year. Lateraling in your situation will have a lot to do with luck and timing. I had nearly 10 callbacks and there were at least 4/5 that I felt amazing about afterward but the offer did not come because my experience did not match what the firm was looking for. There were also many times where I would not hear back for 2/3 months after the interview or where I got ghosted. I eventually got a big law offer from a firm that was dying for associates and understood I would need some time to get up to speed when i got there.

I would recommend applying without a recruiter because the fee associated with a recruiter could hinder your chances of getting an interview. In my over a year of applying, I never got an interview using a recruiting while I interviewed with over 10 firms.

[Anonymous User]

In my experience, the lateral job hunt is a weird one.

I've never gotten a job I actually applied for.

In my current job (primary market - big firm), the hiring manager called me out of the blue and asked me to come interview based on the recommendation of someone who I didn't even realize I'd made an impression on when we met the year prior at a conference. I did the interview and got the offer before they realized that I never actually applied for the position.

Networking seems to be the key. Otherwise you're just a fish in a sea of resumes.

[Anonymous User]

The lateral process feels like a full time job. I’ve been spending hours a day finding jobs, traveling to cities for events in my field, networking with alumni from my law school and college. It’s exhausting. I haven’t had much luck. I have decent grades, a good job, and I interview well. But I’ve been getting rejection after rejection.

People have said the lateral process could take over a year, so hopefully it’ll end soon.

[Anonymous User]

I'm in the middle of my hunt myself, only about 4 months in. I'm moving for family reasons so I'm up against a deadline here, and each passing day I get more frustrated. I'm going to a new state so I have been working with a recruiter, since I don't really have much in the way of professional ties there, but part of me isn't sure if that was the best decision. I'm just hoping something decent comes along soon.

[Anonymous User]

Yeah, I'm a litigation midlevel in Biglaw. Been looking to lateral for a year. Had three interviews, no offers.

[Anonymous User]

I'm in the middle of my hunt myself, only about 4 months in. I'm moving for family reasons so I'm up against a deadline here, and each passing day I get more frustrated. I'm going to a new state so I have been working with a recruiter, since I don't really have much in the way of professional ties there, but part of me isn't sure if that was the best decision. I'm just hoping something decent comes along soon.

I think using a recruiter for a posted job is probably not smart. The best thing about recruiters is that it is their job to continually ask firms if they have needs. That’s how they make a living. If a firm has a posted job, clearly they are looking and will see your resume even if you apply through the application portal.

I made the mistake of using a recruiter for a positions I knew about (it had been posted for months). I didn’t get it. I applied not using the recruiter the second time and got a screener. It was 9 months later so it could just be the increase in experience, but my gut tells me it was the lack of a fee.

I know the recruiter wasn’t happy about it, but they can’t control what I do and don’t do with my resume for a job they did not find for me.

[Anonymous User]

Rercuiters are definitely most useful when there’s no public posting, and most of my success in my recent lateral search came from interviews that I got either through a recruiter reaching out to a firm that did not have a posting or by reaching out to connections at firms without postings myself. But I think a recruiter with the right connections and relationships can be helpful even for a posted job because they can get you noticed when you might otherwise get lost in a huge pile, and they can occasionally buy you an interview when recruiting might have otherwise screened you because you don’t quite fit the posting ( e.g., you’re a bit outside the class year range listed). The problem is knowing which recruiters actually have good connections, because they all pretend to, but most don’t. Of course, if a recruiter is only suggesting firms that have public postings, that’s a pretty good sign that you should drop them.

[Anonymous User]

Not really getting interviews anymore. I think the market is slowing down.

[Anonymous User]

Not really getting interviews anymore. I think the market is slowing down.

Yeah, I’m in a specialty field and there hasn’t been an influx in postings recently. One or two positions have popped up, but that’s about it.

My recruiter said she is hoping the lateral market picks up but acknowledged that it has slowed down a lot since last summer (when I began my search).

[Anonymous User]

My particular circumstances were a bit different (state government, not private practice). But I applied to over 300 state government jobs in major markets. Got 13 interviews. Received only 1 job offer. Been almost a year since I started and I couldn't be happier. Grew up poor, so the relatively 'modest' paycheck is a lot more than I'm used to anyhow. Just keep grinding, stay positive, and something will happen for y'all!

[Anonymous User]

Hang in there. Took me a year to lateral back to my target market. Lots of silence and waiting for the phone to ring. There is no rhyme or reason to it, but I do think lateral hiring picks up in the summer/early fall, so keep grinding.

[Anonymous User]

Another rejection. I think this is my 6th in person interview. It is my second move may make it harder.

[lateralquestions]

Another rejection. I think this is my 6th in person interview. It is my second move may make it harder.

I am worried about having the same experience once I lateral. Do you feel you have any weaknesses in your resume or as an interviewer?

[Anonymous User]

I can absolutely relate. I have been applying since last summer/fall, had 7-8 interviews and 5 callbacks. Three of my callbacks felt really solid. For one, I could not have been more perfectly experienced and suited for what they wanted. Then got dinged. That was the worst one. I started really losing hope. I've had two more interviews since then but nothing promising yet. Just have to keep pushing forward and hoping for the best I guess.

[beeoBoop]

I can absolutely relate. I have been applying since last summer/fall, had 7-8 interviews and 5 callbacks. Three of my callbacks felt really solid. For one, I could not have been more perfectly experienced and suited for what they wanted. Then got dinged. That was the worst one. I started really losing hope. I've had two more interviews since then but nothing promising yet. Just have to keep pushing forward and hoping for the best I guess.

What practice group? With groups like commercial lit, there are so many apps that it's hard to break through

[lateralquestions]

It depends on practice group and experience level. A corporate mid-level can lateral to a lot of firms right now. Litigation has been slow. This process is tough.

Not really getting interviews anymore. I think the market is slowing down.

Yeah, I’m in a specialty field and there hasn’t been an influx in postings recently. One or two positions have popped up, but that’s about it.

My recruiter said she is hoping the lateral market picks up but acknowledged that it has slowed down a lot since last summer (when I began my search).

[Anonymous User]

I can absolutely relate. I have been applying since last summer/fall, had 7-8 interviews and 5 callbacks. Three of my callbacks felt really solid. For one, I could not have been more perfectly experienced and suited for what they wanted. Then got dinged. That was the worst one. I started really losing hope. I've had two more interviews since then but nothing promising yet. Just have to keep pushing forward and hoping for the best I guess.

I feel like I could’ve written this. The whole process has been very frustrating. I only have 3 more callbacks left to hear from and none of them looks very promising. After that, I would’ve applied to and interviewed for almost every open position I know in my practice area (in addition to the unposted ones).

I may have to just wait until next year at this point.

[Anonymous User]

I can absolutely relate. I have been applying since last summer/fall, had 7-8 interviews and 5 callbacks. Three of my callbacks felt really solid. For one, I could not have been more perfectly experienced and suited for what they wanted. Then got dinged. That was the worst one. I started really losing hope. I've had two more interviews since then but nothing promising yet. Just have to keep pushing forward and hoping for the best I guess.

I feel like I could’ve written this. The whole process has been very frustrating. I only have 3 more callbacks left to hear from and none of them looks very promising. After that, I would’ve applied to and interviewed for almost every open position I know in my practice area (in addition to the unposted ones).

I may have to just wait until next year at this point.

Are you in your stub year or older?

[Anonymous User]

I can absolutely relate. I have been applying since last summer/fall, had 7-8 interviews and 5 callbacks. Three of my callbacks felt really solid. For one, I could not have been more perfectly experienced and suited for what they wanted. Then got dinged. That was the worst one. I started really losing hope. I've had two more interviews since then but nothing promising yet. Just have to keep pushing forward and hoping for the best I guess.

I feel like I could’ve written this. The whole process has been very frustrating. I only have 3 more callbacks left to hear from and none of them looks very promising. After that, I would’ve applied to and interviewed for almost every open position I know in my practice area (in addition to the unposted ones).

I may have to just wait until next year at this point.

Are you in your stub year or older?

I’m a 3rd year