Summer blast

I'm doing my part to keep the post office in business! When did postage go up to 44 cents?

It has been a while since I sent out resumes. Futile, I know, but important to do once in a while. Although it seems like a chore, I must admit that it gets addictive. You think you'll only send a couple, and then you wind up sending a dozen. Just one more! Maybe the next one will be the one! Almost feels like I'm a crack addict. Or, I guess more appropriately, a lottery addict.

In the past, I've felt that there was an unspoken agreement between the law firms and I. I won't take up their time sending them my resume and they won't crush my spirits with rejection. Alas, I decided to break our little understanding. True to form, the law firms have responded in kind. Like I said, at least I'm keeping the mail carriers busy with all the rejection letters they are delivering to my mailbox.

Now, with summer classes over, I've got nothing but time. Tweak my resume here and there. Tweak my cover letter a little bit. Gets addictive. But for a short while before the rejection arrives, you get a little high. Hope is in the air!

Of course, reality sets in when the rejections arrive. Honestly, I prefer rejection letters to non-responses. It's somewhat satisfying to know that my resume was at least acknowledged.

While the rejections are disappointing, some parts of the form letters can be fun. Some say I'm "outstanding." Others say I'm "impressive." Nice to know. Then there are somewhat more custom tailored letters. Some call me "interesting." Others, a "unique opportunity." Unique good or unique bad? Who knows? At least they read my cover letter though. (which I'll admit, is a tiny bit unique.)

I think I'll continue my resume blast for at least the next week. Though, my pool of possible recipients is dwindling. The hunt can be a little frustrating, but somewhat fun. The hardest part may very well be finding the law firms themselves. You know they exist. There must be at least a hundred in a two block radius from Morgan Lewis alone. All the skyscrapers contain countless law firms. Even the shorter buildings like 1515 Market. But I digress. Once you find a law firm, the real fun begins. Figuring out which attorney is most "like you" so that perhaps they might actually care about you. Most of the time, this bears no fruit. I happen to be of Asian descent, so sometimes I poke around to see if there are Asians in the mix. Without fail, the search comes up empty for mid-sized law firms. BigLaw might have a couple. I guess that's to be expected though. In absolute numbers, Asians are a small minority.

The next step, try to figure out which people went to my law school. Perhaps they'll care? This yields a bigger sample size. I went to an area law school, so that helps. Couple this with reading what type of litigation they do and expressing your interest in said type. Of course, you've got to be careful with this. Don't tell people you're interested in representing construction companies but then lack things to back that up. There has to be some connection, even if minor. Perhaps you took a class in environmental law and liked it and are interested in the environmental impact regulations of new constructions. These little tweaks make cover letters more time consuming, but I feel like it makes the jobhunt more fun. At least less monotonous.

Once Labor Day arrives, I'll put a hold on my resume blast. Where did this summer go? Seems just like yesterday, the sun was setting at around 9. Before you know it, it'll be Christmas-time and the sun will set at 5.

I've given some thought to returning to the "unique" world of coding. Right now, I'm still thinking "Thanks. But no." However, I certainly miss the insane bonuses (bonii?) which may or may not still exist. At the very least, I miss the paycheck. I've heard the temp market is slowly picking up steam. Philly to $33/hr?