Why You Need to Network

The following is a real email from an alum who was a BigLaw litigation associate and used networking to land an in-house job (employer names have been changed).

OCS, I just wanted to update you on my job search with good news: I got an in-house job! I’ll be an in-house litigator at ABC Company in New Jersey. My family has long planned to move from Manhattan to New Jersey, so it’s just what I was looking for.

I used all of your networking advice to get the job. I saw a posting on goinhouse.com, which I was checking daily, and immediately applied because in-house litigation jobs are so rare. I then contacted a very tenuous LinkedIn connection who is not a lawyer but who works at that company, and he was able to put me in touch with a number of lawyers at the company, one of whom was able to hand my resume directly to the head of litigation (and my future boss). I also tapped the BIGLAW alumni network (I was at BIGLAW for four years), and reached out to a lawyer I had never met who overlapped with me at the firm and was now at that company. We spoke on the phone and he also put in a good word for me.

So thank you again for your advice. I pushed my network about as hard as it could go, leveraging friends, coworkers of friends, and former coworkers to get my name to the top of the list of candidates.

I’m so excited to leave the billable hour behind!