The Post-Fellowship Job Search Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi all, just curious if anyone can discuss how the post-fellowship job search differs from the 3L job search.

I am currently in Year 1 of a 2-year fellowship with a NY state agency. Staying at the agency post-fellowship doesn't interest me at all. I'm getting a lot of experience (administrative law hearings, litigation, FOIA stuff), but I can't stand the agency I work for. The leadership is terrible, and there's a lot of turnover (the last two fellows both quit ~6 months before their 2-year commitment was up).

When is a good time to start applying for the next job? I don't necessarily need to thread the needle lining up a start date that fits perfectly with my fellowship ending in September 2020, but I'd like to get reasonably close. Will it be off-putting to employers that I can't just put in two-weeks notice and start when they need me?

Any advice/experience is appreciated.

[Anonymous User]

I've been in your position before. I had a 2-year fellowship with a federal government agency with terrible leadership. I faced two major disadvantages, one of which you're going to have to deal with, and one of which you don't. First, my agency practiced a very niche field of law, and there weren't a lot of jobs in that particular market. You won't have to deal with that, because you're getting a lot of useful, widely applicable experience. However, you will face the second problem, which is that you can't rely on the traditional hiring track for law clerks; firms don't have a hiring track for people coming out of fellowships.

I have two recommendations.
1. Don't get hung up on the terrible leadership in your agency. I wasted a lot of energy agonizing about that, and in retrospect, it really just makes for some funny stories more than anything else. It certainly isn't going to change, so just roll with the punches while you're there.
2. Don't wait to apply to new jobs, and get out as soon as you get a permanent offer. After my fellowship ended, I did an unpaid internship for 7 months just to stay active in the profession, and then took a semi-legal policy job for 9 months. When that job ended unexpectedly (the entire office shut down), I fortunately found a new attorney position in a federal agency, where I work today. However, I'm now in my fifth year of practice, and they started me at the same rate as a second year government attorney (even though I'm doing work way above that level). Don't let any sense of obligation to your current employer put you in a situation that you could end up being multiple years behind in terms of salary. Your current employer doesn't have your best interests in mind, and only you can take care of yourself.

If you're worried about potential future employers asking why you're leaving the fellowship early, just tell them that you can't wait until the end of the fellowship to apply to jobs, because the job hunt can take at least a year, and you're ready to start in a permanent position as soon as you find a match.

[Anonymous User]

Thank you, that's very helpful.

I'm curious about the timeline, though. Should I be treating this like 3L, and sending out a ton of applications in late-summer/early-fall? Or is that really only a good idea 3L, where employers understand your timeline and have designed the hiring process around it?

Also curious if I should be applying to entry level government positions like I would as a 3L (e.g. with the NYC Law Department or Manhattan DA's main annual classes)? Or should I be looking for individual openings aimed at lateral hires?

[Anonymous User]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you - hadn't checked this board for a while.

I wouldn't overthink the timeline too much, because it's hard to know in advance just how long your job search is going to take. Just start applying now. We had people leave my fellowship early, and their old and new employers totally understood the situation, and that it wasn't like a clerkship or 3L year of law school with a commitment to stay until a certain date.

I would take a little time to figure out exactly why you don't like your current job, though. Is it just management practices or the nature of the work as well? Are any of these problems just inherent to government attorney positions? Are there questions that you could ask in a job interview that might help suss out any potential problems before you accept your next position?

To be honest, I'm sort of inclined to think that the problems you're having in your current job are just part of practicing law. At least in my experience (and in talking to friends from other agencies) this seems to be the case--although each agency has its own type of dysfunction. I hope I'm wrong about that, but if your next job is equally unsatisfying, might be worth considering whether there's another kind of work that you'd enjoy more...