Get a job... and some sha na nas

I’d like to share the story of how an enterprising and appealing, spirited and spontaneous – why, downright plucky, young woman woke up one day, moved to Florida on a whim and landed a fabulous job within days. However, I’ve never met that woman, and I feel it would be inappropriate for me to tell her story without her permission. Instead, let’s learn how I managed to find employment in Tropicana-land.

The decision to move to Florida was a long time coming. The turning point was a trip to St. Petersburg in the first week of May. The final decision was made sometime in June, I suppose. Early July saw another trip to St. Petersburg for a few interviews. My personal favorite was a law office who needed a paralegal. They were willing to train – which would be ideal, since I have zero law experience. (I’ve decided that the two college courses in criminal justice sound good, but don’t actually count.) The interview went well, with the HR Director seeming quite impressed with me. I had to double check to make sure I hadn’t sent my roommate’s resume by mistake. (Don’t laugh, I did do it once.) In the end, the firm decided to promote someone from within to the paralegal position. BUT! There was a legal secretary opening, and was I interested? My traveling plans sped up by about two weeks, and I was feeling good.

** traveled across country – see previous entries **

I arrived in St. Petersburg on a Friday night. Monday was my interview. It went very well and I had high hopes. However, the HR Director was careful to warn me that they might go with someone who had law office experience. This wouldn’t be at all unusual in the legal world, but since the firm had seemed willing to train a paralegal, I felt confident that the deciding factor wouldn’t be my previous experience (or lack thereof). Wednesday, the call came. They went with another candidate who had law office experience. However, there was now a paralegal position open, and was I interested? At the risk of seeming desperate, I jumped at the chance. (I wasn’t desperate for any job, but I was beginning to get irrationally attached to this particular firm.) Thursday’s interview was the least comfortable of the three. It also felt less like an interview and more like a warning about the workload and personalities of the lawyers that I would be working with. On Friday I got the job.

Yes, let’s recap.
Paralegal position – went to someone internally, who already knew the systems, etc.
Legal secretary position – went to someone with previous law office experience
Paralegal position for the lawyers with the two largest (and thus, as a team, the largest) caseloads in the entire firm and zero interest in personally training any candidate – went to me, whose legal experience is… well… zilch

Don’t get me wrong, I’m THRILLED about my job. But what were they thinking?