The semester progresses. As does my obsession with all things employment-related

While I am taking Employment Law (and like it a lot), the employment referred to in this post title is my own.

CURRENT: I figured out today that I'm completely behind on my hours for this semester's externship. It's not a problem for my workplace--they're flexible--but it is a problem for my law school. So I have to up my hours for the next five weeks. On the one hand, kind of a bummer, since outlining and all that crazy exam prep is looming. On the other hand, I'd probably sleep in and not accomplish much on those days anyway, because I'm like that sometimes. And I like the work just fine, and I have my own happy little cubicle, so it's all good.

(As an aside, is it just me who thinks it feels kind of wrong to say "going in to work" when I'm talking about an externship? Since they're not really my employers and they're certainly not paying me, except in credit, which I get to pay for in the first place? But "going to my externship" sounds awkward and dorky. Anyway.)

It was kind of a relief to figure out my hours, actually, because I had been feeling like it was taking me FOREVER to finish writing the brief I'd been assigned, but I'd been doing few enough hours a week that if I had been working full time, I'd have finished the thing in a week, which is totally reasonable. So I'm not nearly as slow as I'd worried I was!

FUTURE: I have the chance to intern for a federal judge next semester. (Assuming that I can manage the number of hours zie wants.) Which is very, very cool, and makes me happy. For one thing, the judge's chambers are GORGEOUS. Holy cow, the feds have it good. I was with a state court last summer and while I really enjoyed it and the people were wonderful, the facilities left something to be desired. (It's not just me who thinks so--next spring the court is moving and the state's tearing down the building and constructing a new one, because this building is so sucky.) It was kind of like the difference between a nice well-fed Shetland pony, and a thoroughbred racehorse. Sadly, I feel way more at home with the Shetland pony, and the thoroughbred intimidates the hell out of me. But it will be very good experience, so I'll get over it.

The slightly awkward thing is that I have an interview with another federal judge on Friday... and if I had to choose between the two right now, I'd pick the one I've been offered. But you know, the Friday judge might turn out to be AMAZING, or offer different experiences or something, so I might as well show up and find out what their deal is.

EVEN MORE FUTURE: I had the phone interview for the spiffy non-local job. The people were totally cool. I so, so, SO want to work there. Of course, they were very flattering about my application, which is always an effective way to make me want your job. You think I'm smart????? I luuuuuuuuurve you!! Ahem. Where was I? Honestly, it was a little weird because they mentioned a number of times how "impressive" my resume was and asked me twice where else I had applied, what else I wanted to do next summer, and where their position ranked in my choices. They said they knew I had many options. And I wanted to say, Dudes, do you know what YEAR it is? NO ONE has many options! Well, the top ten in my class probably do, but the rest of us are struggling. It's certainly not like I'm so impressive that the local firms have been falling all over themselves to hire me. (Granted, I'm not the typical big firm candidate, and I think with big firms, that counts against me, whereas other employers see that as a plus. But that's a whole other conversation.) 

The other thing that's funny is that I assumed I was only competitive against the happy Ivy candidates because my school offers a specialty (that I am semi-pursuing) in one area that this job involves. I assumed it had to be my interest in that specialty, because I have no background in any of the other areas the job involves (I think those areas are fascinating as all heck, but everyone and his brother at my school is pursuing jobs in these fields, and they all have tons of background and demonstrated experience in the area, and I feel like I'd be behind even before I started, if that makes any sense.) But they seemed to think that I was comparable to the happy Ivy candidates in general. Which made me feel good. Baffled, but good.

So cross your fingers for me.

And I STILL haven't heard yay or nay from my one outstanding  firm callback. So who the hell knows what's going on with them.

And that's the employment update. It's really funny how much time you spend in a professional program trying to get a job. The academic job market is ridiculous and stressful and whatnot, but proportional to the length of time you spend on a Ph.D., I think it's a shorter process than the continual negotiation of internships/externships/clerkships/associateships etc. you deal with in law school, let alone getting the job after you graduate. Actually, I have a post in the works comparing these things further, but this post is way long enough as it is, and I have to read for class. Thanks for bearing with me this long!

Comments

[Krazy Kitty]

Wow, looks like a couple of very, very exciting prospectives!

[New Kid on the Hallway]

Thanks! (I finally figured out that if I apply to work with a federal judge during the school year, I'm only competing with people from the two local law schools, whereas if I apply for over the summer, I'm competing with all the people at fancy national schools who want to come back to my state for the summer. So that's how I think that came about out.)

[Thoroughly Educated]

Fingers crossed! I'll be very interested to hear more about the comparison of job-seeking processes.

[chel]

Fingers crossed.

Awesome on the potential internship with the judge. I remember from my legal asst. days the vast difference in poshness between fed and state. (And you know my state, so you can imagine.) They redid the bankruptcy court at one point, and the unveiling netted this nearly audible reverential gasp. That would be a nice gig and experience.

[pocha]

Fingers crossed. (Hope it's not too late for said crossing). I am impressed by the employment activity in your life, too.