i don't want this horrible song to be the soundtrack to my woes

[meitachi]

Happy August!

I had a pretty good July overall and I hope you guys did too! Friends, HP, bar exam, drunken noraebang and good food, more HP - I've been reading it exclusively, pretty much. I have no regrets. :D The interviews have also been entertaining me because, MALFOYS, SO GREAT (ilu Jason Isaacs, Helen McCrory, Tom Felton ♥), and really so are the rest of Jo's Big 7. My love will never die!

Job-hunting now, post-bar, so I may still not be around much, unless I am trying to escape from the depressing tedium to bemoan the fact that I still feel unqualified for everything.


(1) Jobs that require you to tell them your salary requirements. What. I don't know! However much you want to pay me so I can eke out a living? A million dollars a year? What is a reasonable request, how much does it affect whether they'll give you the job, oh god too much stress.

(2) I've forgotten how to write cover letters. D: It's essentially a talk up of all your skills and experiences to make you sound like the pinnacle of perfection that everyone is desperate to have! ...which sadly does not explain why you are currently jobless, huh. (No, really, I feel so artificial every time I have to embellish my accomplishments with grandiose prose. It's been beat into me to Be Humble. And, anyway, anyone with Asian parents in the U.S. probably grew up hearing about how Everyone Else's Kid Is So Much Better Than You.) So...how crass it to just write HIRE ME HIRE ME HIRE ME I'LL DO ANYTHING and then sign it?

(3) Do you think it makes a significant difference if I apply to DC jobs with a local address or an NC address? The government refuses to pay relocation costs flat-out, so I feel like they shouldn't discriminate based on location. /contemplates

(4) Senator jobs! Republicans offer to pay. Democrats apparently want you to subsist off the glory of serving alone. Now the question becomes: what morals are you not willing to compromise for the sake of gold, gold, gold an income?

(5) The only legal jobs in Singapore require 2+ years of prior experience. The only legal jobs in Hong Kong are for corporate/funds/banking lawyers. The only legal jobs in China are for Chinese attorneys fluent in Mandarin. There are no legal jobs in Taiwan. Well - fine! I didn't like you either! (Not that I could've honestly expected to get anywhere without guanxi.)

(6) Why doesn't your job site support Chrome?! /grumbles and breaks out the never-used Firefox

(7) There are people who advertise lawyer positions on Craigslist? Like, actual firms? I am seriously eyeing all of them with suspicion. Don't you, like, have a website for that? Or...approximately 100 different job websites?

(8) The eternal Catch-22 question of how do I get a job when every job requires experience and no job wants to hire me and give me some experience?


Sad story from post-bar: while I was in NY, there was an episode of Law and Order or a Lifetime movie or something on TV where a suspect gets questioned in a room by the investigating officers who arrested him. They then step out, mentioning something about the suspect's attorney. Mei's first thought: OH NO, THAT IS SO ILLEGAL, YOU CAN'T QUESTION A SUSPECT WITHOUT HIS COUNSEL PRESENT IF YOU KNOW HE HAS COUNSEL FOR THAT MATTER NOOO. Someone then tried to argue with me about how Miranda rights required explicit invocation now and that mere silence was not enough. I only gave him a Look and thought, layman, you don't think I know that? Because this is not a violation of his Miranda rights, this is a violation of NY's indelible right to counsel, guaranteed by NY's 6th Amendment, which offers even greater protection than the U.S. 5th Amendment. I know because I just took a two-day test on it..

And then I was promptly horrified by myself. Don't be one of those unbearably smug lawyer types, Mei!

Cheers, though. Everyone says the bar exam is the most law you'll ever know - I will now commence slowly (quickly?) forgetting everything!

Comments

[chaos-harmony.livejournal.com]

......

Maybe I should just get a master's degree instead.

IDEK, I'M APPLYING FOR TOO MANY THINGS.

[chaos-harmony.livejournal.com]

OH YES, AND OBVIOUSLY, CONGRATS ON GETTING THE BAR OVER WITH. ♥

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Thank you! At least it's one less thing to worry about.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

I really have no recommendations-- Well, no, I still say loudly DON'T DO LAW SCHOOL to everyone considering it, as do all of my friends in law school/who just left law school, but we have resigned ourselves to the fact that people set on their path will never listen anyway. So you all can just join us in a few years in our moaning...? :D

[acornmama.livejournal.com]

I have been thinking about you since the end of July rolled around and the bar exams were presumably over.
I take it you did just fine. Knew you would.

The eternal questions of job-life... here's a quick interesting side note: Wouldn't it be interesting/fun if these questions changed the older you got? They are simply couched differently for different aspects. But the best part is we all get them and get past them. I am looking forward to seeing how your answers turn out.

I say you should be just the teensiest bit smug, maybe a little more. You did all that work to get that knowledge. Enjoy it!!!!

I see you are in HP land at the moment, but nothing at all on the Suju's 5th album?

Glad everything is okay with you.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks for thinking of me! I do wonder how the job questions will change with time. Maybe they'll be more: why did I spend so long doing something I hated? And then if you choose to change your career, you'll be back to square one with the lack of experience in that field. Tsk.

I only stumbled across 5jib after it was out! I am terrible at keeping up with them now - but I do have thoughts on the song/MV, haha. I may save them until the weekend, after I've seen the comeback performances, and can compile all my !!! into one post.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Let us commiserate together!

...I just got distracted looking up cover letter writing advice, too, and it frustrates me because there is so much conflicting advice! I suppose it also depends on the employer to whom you're submitting; must tailor them as needed.

This is all such a crapshoot, I swear. Life is one obstacle after another - so I tell myself it's okay to take little breaks. To read HP fic, for instance. :D

[loika.livejournal.com]

Jobs that require you to tell them your salary requirements.
Oh god, I hate this question. Jobs where the interviewer suddenly goes, so how much would you like to get paid? WELL OBVIOUSLY A LOT. But you can't say that. Haha ...

Actually I pretty much empathise with all of your points except of course I am only an undergraduate and you've passed the bar exam, which is pretty bloody amazing. Be proud! At least a little. :)

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Job-hunting woes are shared across the world, I feel. We can all bond!

Good advice I got from a friend: find the average competitive salary for that position and offer a range, then be open to negotiation. Always be open to negotiation! but don't be afraid to push for a higher salary if you feel as though you are qualified.

...though, honestly, "feeling qualified" is the problem I'm having right now, haha.

[plu178.livejournal.com]

Cover letters are so difficult to write.

The eternal Catch-22 question of how do I get a job when every job requires experience and no job wants to hire me and give me some experience?

This, this this! Everything just seems so pointless and goes around in a circle. Connections are pretty much essential to getting anywhere. :/

I loved the last hp film and I love watching interviews of the HP cast. Felton's interview on Conan was hilarious. I signed myself up to Pottermore already.

[plu178.livejournal.com]

Congrats on passing your bar exam btw.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Oh I took it - no guarantees that I passed. Results not out until November and I am happy to not think about it until then. Getting it out of the way is relief enough! For now, the job search!

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Aren't they? I never know the right tone to take with them - professional but not too formal or dry; I want to show my excitement and enthusiasm but not come off over-the-top. So difficult to gauge.

We're all stuck in this awful Catch-22, but at least we are in good company.

Oh maaaaan the Conan interview was epic. I cringed and laughed in secondhand embarrassment, but it was so great. TOM, YOU ARE SO GREAT. He loves his fans a lot, even when he doesn't quite get them. How awkward, though. I loved the bit about his brother claiming the picture was real. :D

[weatherfront.livejournal.com]

There are no legal jobs in Taiwan

I'M SORRY I LAUGHED but oh man, seriously Mei. It seems that no degree will let anyone escape from the clutches of job-hunting angst. :'( Maybe the answer to #2 is #8! YOU SHOULD HIRE ME SO THAT I CAN GET SOME GODDAMN EXPERIENCE BEFORE I MOVE ONTO A BETTER-PAYING JOB THAN WHAT YOU CAN OFFER ME RIGHT NOW

[meiface.livejournal.com]

You are up so early, laughing at me! (Oh it reminds of that Eddie Izzard sketch on mass murderers - death, death, death, death, lunch, death, death, shower, death, afternoon tea - wow, you must get up very early in the morning!) (I'm sure you are happy to be associated with mass murderers.)

(This is now an awkward comment.)

WRITE MY COVER LETTERS FOR ME, IFRIT.

[celerywench.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHAHA. *hugs* ♥ILU MEI.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

I love you too! Did you see Tom Felton on Conan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXc9u7_R_YE)? Oh my god, brace yourself.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Good luck to you too! Sometimes I want to pose this question right back at interviewers/job-hunters. Honestly. What do they expect us to do?

[suxing.livejournal.com]

Ugh, cover letters. I just look up sample cover letters and try to half-ass my way through mimic the style/structure. :/

Not that I could've honestly expected to get anywhere without guanxi.

UGH THIS. THIS IS SO TRUE AND IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY. D: I asked one of my cousins how his job-search was going a few weeks back and he was like "OH I'LL JUST GUANXI IT UP WITH OUR BIG-COMPANY-CEO!AUNT~~" and I was all "FDSLJLDSF RAGEEE HAVE YOU NO SHAME." KIDS THESE DAYS. :|

I'M SORRY MEI, I FEEL YOUR PAIN :( it didn't stop me from laughing through a lot of this. BUT I FEEL IT AND SYMPATHIZE ALL THE SAME :((

[meiface.livejournal.com]

I think I read somewhere that up to 45% or something of cover letters aren't read. :/ But yet, on the chance that we will be read, we still must eke out something half-decent.

Honestly, sometimes I wish job-hunting were as easy as guanxi hook-ups haha. It would save me so much time and effort!

[kasugai-gummie.livejournal.com]

/pat pat

The only advice/help i have right now in my state of sleep dep is for (6).

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hehijbfgiekmjfkfjpbkbammjbdenadd

And re: (7), a lot of those lawyers are most likely small, independent firms. Newly started, or just... small. Those will actually probably be your best bet for experience. The small not-new start-ups who're looking for associates.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

But even small start-up firms can post on monster or legaljobs or something - I feel like that is where most people go looking? Actually, to be honest, I'm not interested in firm jobs at all haha. So it's only a cursory look; right now focused on governmental jobs.

Ooh thanks for that extension.

[aisutennyo.livejournal.com]

OMG I love that you took the bar exam and are on your way to being a lawyer!

See the thing is.
I love the law.
And people who practice it seem the smartest to me.
I just wish I had the ability to know all that important stuff too *-*

Congrats on making it through, I really respect that and know you'll go far <3

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Hah, sadly, a lawyer is sort of the last thing I want to be by this point... But, yes, the bar exam was taken! I know some law! :) Thanks!

[regicidaldwarf.livejournal.com]

UGH I've been job searching for the past...two? months and it's AWFUL. You have my serious empathy.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

It's not that jobs don't exist out there - it's just that they won't hire us, and I feel like that is the real problem. :( Good luck!

[regicidaldwarf.livejournal.com]

Right? HOW CAN I GET EXPERIENCE IF YOU WON'T HIRE ME.

Thanks! Good luck to you as well!

[forochel.livejournal.com]

you could be a centre right republican! BE SPECIAL! :D

[meiface.livejournal.com]

I have so much hate for Republicans, it cannot be safely addressed in an LJ comment. What that label - voluntarily adopted - now stands for in the US is absolutely vile to me. :/

...though I suppose they are at least not Tea Partyers.

[forochel.livejournal.com]

...oh. I'm sorry for having offended you; shouldn't have made light remarks about things I don't have enough information about.

(but yes, that. Tea Partyers are absolutely vile.)

[meiface.livejournal.com]

No, no, I don't assume the rest of the world should know how awful US politics are - it's just been particularly frustrating lately because of the whole debt ceiling debacle. Urgh, fucking Republicans.

I cannot even wrap my head around the fact that Tea Partyers are for real and not just horrible trolls perpetuated upon us by life.

[forochel.livejournal.com]

oh, no — I mean, when I got back from my dig I flipped open the Economist, stared, and thought "jesus, the American democracy is now a farce". I'm sorry your government is such a farce, Mei. ):

it's kind of worrying that there are Tea Partyers running for the Presidency.