According to the ABA’s 2023 employment data, 85.6% of law students, or 30,160 total graduates, are fully employed within a year of graduation. However, that still leaves thousands of law school graduates in the unenviable position of being unemployed or underemployed. This included me, who graduated in 2023 but did not find a full-time position until 2025. If you are a law student currently reading this, it can happen to you, regardless of your grades or class rank. Mental health may not seem to be the main thing to focus on during this period, but I’ve found that taking steps to care for my mental health has been key to both my job search and doing my best at the part-time work I had to fill the gap. Here are the lessons I learned that did the most for my mental health.
The first lesson I learned is the one that arguably could have allowed me to avoid the entire ordeal. While I was in law school, I had a dream job that seemed achievable but would not start the application process until I already had a J.D. I was so certain that I would get this job that I didn’t really try and apply to others. That was a mistake.
No matter how sure you think you are of your future, it doesn’t hurt to consider alternative options. Having these options will allow you to stress less about any particular position and is necessary to take not getting the job from catastrophic to a matter of course. Talking to other lawyers throughout my search has further confirmed that my initial approach was the wrong one, as nearly no one I talked to had a straight path from law school to their eventual career. Talking to older lawyers also taught me that life is long, and while diversifying your applications may initially feel like giving up on your dream, you could still theoretically get that job in the future. So, whatever you want in a career, don’t necessarily lock yourself down to one path.
While generally regarded as a virtue, I think it is no mistake that hope was the last thing to exit Pandora’s box. During the job process, I would get my hopes up only to have them crushed time after time when I was almost inevitably ghosted by the job. It’s easy when you apply to a job you are clearly qualified for to start thinking you have it in the bag, that you will get it, but that only sets you up for disappointment. This applies at every step of the process, as I have been ghosted at every stage from initial interviews to submitting a written test.
Having my hopes constantly raised and then dashed was one of the most emotionally challenging parts of the whole job search exercise. However, the fact that there was a whole process is proof that you cannot abandon hope altogether. With no hope at all, it is far more sensible to not subject yourself to another hour of searching job boards or writing cover letters — but doing nothing is the only way to guarantee failure. So don’t get your hopes up, but don’t get them down either.
Coming out of the high effort, high achievement lifestyle one has to live to succeed in law school, it is a harsh truth that the job searching process is almost entirely out of your hands. There are things you can do to improve yourself as a candidate (and certainly things you can do to make yourself worse), but those can’t guarantee you a job. I’ve already mentioned that most job applications end with ghosting and thus being unsure of what happened and why. Jobs almost never tell you why you are rejected, so it is impossible to know what you could have done better. However, unlike getting a good grade, getting a good job isn’t simply a matter of hard work.
There are jobs that are posted without a real desire to find a candidate, job postings on sites where the hiring manager doesn’t check applications, and jobs posted as a formality with a candidate already decided. No amount of hard work can get you those jobs, and there is often little to distinguish them from real postings. Even when it comes to real jobs, you have no idea what the other candidates’ qualifications are or exactly what the employer is looking for. Even if you make it relatively far into the process, the job can still be canceled, filled with an internal candidate, or any number of other unpredictable events that end in your extremely predictable ghosting. It can be a bit of a blow to the ego at first, but in the long run, blaming an unsuccessful job application on factors outside of your control rather than personal failure is key for protecting your mental health during the job search.
For most of my job search, I felt a deep sense of shame. Unemployment is something that is often treated as a moral flaw in this country, rather than just a product of circumstances. Along with the problems above, this also made me afraid to socialize with other lawyers. I worried that if I tried to network or even just make small talk with people, I would be met with pity at best and derision at worst. However, when I did work up the courage to seriously network, I found the opposite.
Almost all of the people I connected with were happy to help, and most of the success I found in the job search came from these connections. The job I have now is a result of a cold email to an alum who was happy to introduce me to her former boss, who was happy to offer me a job that allows me to build the skills I need. You are also helping the people you reach out to in a way, as studies have shown that acts of kindness can reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. Even if they can’t help you directly, there is still value in just having a conversation with someone in a different phase of life. So try to work through your shame and get out there; it will be better for everyone’s mental health.
The lesson I learned that had the largest impact on my mental health is also the one that is most applicable to lawyers outside my position, which is to not neglect non-job-related matters. Despite the other lessons I learned, my self-esteem still took a hit as my job search dragged out over months. The question entered my mind: If I wasn’t a lawyer, as I had trained so hard to be, then what was I? The answer to that question didn’t come from spending even more time on LinkedIn or refining my resume yet again, but in engaging with my hobbies and spending time with loved ones. As obvious as it may seem, studies have proven that engaging in enjoyable activities is good for you and can have both mental and physical health benefits. I’ve also found from personal experience that the confidence and fun anecdotes that come from having hobbies are very useful in interviews. Once you finally get a job, having something outside of law is still key, as hobbies have been shown to help employees recover from demanding work environments. So, take a break from applications and find something that makes you happy. It will help in the long run.
I’m happy to end this article by saying I now have a full-time position. However, for those who are still looking (or even worried that you may have to start, given the state of the world right now), I encourage you to think not just about how to get a job, but about how to protect your mental health along the way. Maybe find a hobby to help lessen the burden from the stress of the search, and know that while you may stumble, the race is far from over.
