Anxiety Over Economy Grips Students as Graduation Nears

“I understood that it wouldn’t translate into a full-time position, but the experience would be so good that it wouldn’t be such a tough time when I came back,” said Mr. Goldman, 26. “When I came back, the economy tanked so I’m stuck with nothing. I had an amazing time and it was really good work experience, but if I had stuck around here and got a job with the promise of post-graduate employment, I may have been better off.”

Mr. Goldman, who has an internship with the Environmental Protection Agency and founded the Environmental Law Society at Cardozo, said he is looking for jobs up and down the East coast.

“It has been really frustrating. There are environmental law jobs that I think I’m really qualified for and I haven’t gotten any interviews or the employer takes months to get back to me, or I don’t hear from them at all,” Mr. Goldman said.

The job search has taken its toll, especially with loans coming due. “Some days I feel real good, some days I feel terrible. I’m going to have to do something, whether it’s waiting tables or whatever.”


David Lopez, 27, who is set to graduate from Hofstra University School of Law in three weeks, had hopes of packing his bags for Washington, D.C., after a second interview with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Then he got news that the agency was holding off on new hires until its budget came through.

Despite his experience working in the corporate department of a large law firm before law school, and taking securities and corporate law courses at Hofstra, Mr. Lopez said he knew his chances of getting hired had dwindled even further after the massive Wall Street layoffs sent veteran financial attorneys into the applicant pool.

“For someone like me, I’m at a disadvantage competing against securities attorneys looking for jobs. [Companies] are going to need people who are experienced, so it puts us at a disadvantage and our resumes go to the bottom of the pile,” Mr. Lopez said.

Post-graduation unemployment was the exact predicament facing Long Island native Jennifer Chen, who took the February bar exam after graduating from Northeastern School of Law. But rather than sit back and wait for an offer, she took a volunteer position with the Nassau County Attorney’s Office.

During her stint, she researched and prepared court papers in a bid to “keep active during difficult times, keep occupied and gain litigation experience.”

“I knew that I didn’t want to sit at home and wait. I knew I wanted to serve the public, get out there and get some experience,” said Ms. Chen, 26. She credited the experience with helping her recently land an offer with a Manhattan solo practitioner. “I was learning, essentially, what I wanted to do.”

Law School Help

Ms. Chen’s experience is proof of a mantra that administrators at Touro Law Center have been repeating to graduating students since the economic downturn began, according to Brett Gilbert, assistant dean for career services at the school.

“New grads can’t just sit at home. They have to do pro bono work, volunteer, get their name out there,” Mr. Gilbert said. “Most of our new alums want to work on Long Island. It’s like pulling teeth to get them to look elsewhere, whether it’s Albany or Newark or Philadelphia.”

But while there are no hard figures on how many of the Touro graduating class of 160 do not have jobs, Mr. Gilbert said the number is “more than usual.”

To combat the extra anxiety of students who will be studying for the bar and looking for work, the school is trying to help throughout the summer by acting as a proxy for job-seekers, sending out applications for jobs in categories the students have pre-selected.

“We tell them that they should be studying for the bar and we’ll pick up the slack,” Mr. Gilbert said. “If in the early part of the fall they still don’t have jobs, we’ll get them back in here to see what the resume looks like, get them on some panels [to help] with networking.”

NYLJ Photo/Monika Kozak

New York University School of Law hosted a job fair yesterday.

Career staff at St. John’s University School of Law took a page out of a matchmaker’s manual and implemented a round-robin “speed dating” networking event last month. Students were given seven minutes each with a panel of 12 alumni to hone their interviewing skills, said Jeanne Ardan, chief of the school’s career office. The event was “well received” and will be brought back in the future, Ms. Ardan said. Meanwhile, the staff is meeting with every one of the 275 graduates to help fill in any gaps in the job search.

“We are advising them to be a lot more active and be more than just a piece of paper in a pile,” Ms. Ardan said.

Students are encouraged to step up face-to-face contact and attend events like panel discussions and try to set up informational interviews just to get a foot in the door.

Yesterday, New York University School of Law held a job fair for deferred and furloughed associates to help approximately 125 students with delayed start dates of at least one year put their talents to work helping non-profit organizations. According to Irene Dorzback, assistant dean for career services, the idea was a direct response to a market in constant flux.

“Every day there is another firm that is moving the start date,” she said.

At a career fair for deferred associates in Newark, N.J., earlier this month, around 100 graduates-to-be, some with delayed start dates and some looking for jobs after their offers had been pulled, made the rounds and met with 26 non-profit groups looking for help.

Adam Waite