I finally got the courage to write the lawyer back and feel like I have drafted a good enough 1/2 page essay and responding email. I'm not sure if he's trying to intimidate me, or if he really does want to know the real me, but, either way, I hope I succeeded in meeting his expectations. Of course, I don't have any great trauma in my past, no ex husbands or any children, legitimate or otherwise. Which is good for me, but not so good when I'm trying to craft a compelling story about my life. Still, I tried, and I will show you what I wrote in the hopes that you will tell me that I am quite clever and did not totally misunderstand what he wanted. Anyway, here's hoping.
This is my responding email, which took quite a bit of time to compose because I felt like the standard was so ridiculously high based on the emails he sent me. Here it is!
"I have to say, I like your style. I have been applying for jobs for awhile now, and no one has spoken to me so frankly. And I admire frankness. In my job search, I have not had anybody push me like you have in your last two emails, and I appreciate the challenge and hope I can rise to the level that you seem to expect.
What makes me tick? Well, fortunately for me, my life has been characterized more by happiness and opportunities than by any great struggles. I’m also on the young side, and went straight to law school from college, so I don’t have any husbands, ex-husbands, or children. I do, however, have a great family that has built me up into what I am today—which is what I wrote to you about in the attached document. I have also attached the writing sample you requested.
The marketing page you directed me to suggests that you brand your law firm as an experience—like what you would get if you go to a Starbucks or a Denny’s restaurant. If I was an experience, I would have to say I’m Southern, but with an edge--friendly, conscientious of others, tactful, and well-mannered, but, at the same time, I can’t be pushed past a certain point. I’m fiercely competitive and can’t stand to lose, even in Scrabble. Maybe especially in Scrabble.
What am I trying to prove and for whom? Well, it’s no secret that this is a male-dominated field. I think what motivates me the most is knowing that this is not something that many women do and that, in order to actually do this myself, as a woman, in this economy, and with my humble background, that I have to be better than most people. I think I’m mostly trying to meet the challenge head on, probably as much to prove it to myself as to everyone else. I’m a planner, and I’m happiest when I am making a plan, when I already have a plan, and when I’m looking forward to the plans I’ve made. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I can’t go back to sleep until I’ve made a plan to deal with whatever it was that made me wake up. Whether it’s school or job related, or a problem that I’m having with another person, I make a plan that includes every detail, one that I’m sure will win. I don’t go into anything without a plan.
I hope this helps and that I have dug deep enough to give you an idea of the kind of person I am. I really look forward to our interview. Please let me know what day and time is most convenient for you."
I will also let you read what I wrote for my 1/2 page essay, even though it is SLIGHTLY more than a half a page. Hey, you want to know the real me? Well, the real me is not generally inspired by brevity. I'm wordy, and that's just how it is. Here goes:
"Your firm is about helping women reach their maximum potential, which is why I sent you my resume. You recognize that success is not purely the result of an individual effort and that many of us would be unable to reach our fullest potential without a little help and inspiration from others. In the case of your clients, inspiration comes from your lawyers. Helping those women meet their goals, especially when those goals often deal with the lives and future well being of their children, is a very powerful thing. Having worked in the Child and Family Advocacy Clinic at WVU, I’ve seen a number of seriously abused children, dealt with disability discrimination in the public schools, and advocated on behalf of parents whose children were wrongfully taken away from them. That’s not really my story—not yet, anyway. But it is part of the reason that I intend to make family law my career.
My story begins in 1954, when my grandparents opened the bait and tackle shop that my dad now runs. The store has provided the framework that my whole family has been built upon. It has provided me with the life I have been able to live and, on more than one occasion, has also provided me with a dose of reality. After all, my dad and granddad made their living selling worms—and that’s a humbling thought. Moreover, I have sold my fair share of worms now, too. Don’t knock it, because worms have helped me pay for law school.
What makes me tick? Opportunity and challenge. I like having the chance to try something new, and I like it even better when it’s something unexpected or when people tell me that they don’t think I can do it. I don’t want to shoot a bow that’s designed for a girl. I want to shoot one that’s top of the line for a guy. It’s not enough for me to just reel in a cobia that someone else hooked up, I want to make my own cast, set the hook, and reel it in. I want to beat the boys at their own game, whatever game that may be. “Good enough for a girl” is not a standard by which I am ever willing to be judged.
I use the confidence I have developed over time to push myself to my limits on a regular basis. The influence my family has had on me throughout my life, and the influence law school has provided in the past three years, has turned me into a confident, passionate, and well-adjusted woman, ready to tackle whatever the world (and you) might hand to me in the future. Not hiring me would definitely be a mistake. Thanks to the influence of my family, I’m a woman who is well on my way to reaching maximum potential, and I am eager to use my abilities to help other women, hopefully your clients, reach theirs."
I have experienced enough stress over this pitifully small assignment that submit it now and vow to think no more about it. I did what I did, I hope it was good, but if it's not...well, I obsessed over it for several days and even lost sleep at night and that's the best I can do. Its hard to feel like your whole life and general philosophy has to be reduced to a half a page--and, even beyond that, it has to impress someone who has been impressed before with a much, much more tragic story than I can come close to spinning. I didn't try to emphasize struggles or hardship, I tried to discuss strength and how I found it. I hope I succeeded. I hope you agree, too.
Like he said, this is American Idol for lawyers, and I get one bite at the apple. Yeah, that's not stressful.
Well, it's snowing in Richmond today, so me and the beautiful boyfriend are snuggled up to the fire and have been eating delicious things since we woke up this morning. We stopped to play a fishing board game, which was super fun until I lost all my fish when the game warden discovered me breaking a law that said I was only allowed to fish with one pole and I had to give up all my fish. So I lost. I'm a bad sport. Another fact about me. But he doesn't need to know this fact, too. Mmmmmm, distracted by marshmallows to roast--take care, readers.
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