I'm a final year law student from a random time pass law school. However i have been working hard on my own, i have done lot of internships in various T1's and T2's. I have developed decent skills and knowledge however unfortunately this month I will be graduating and with no job offers or even internship offers in hand.

I feel like my career is ruined, the only job offers (tentative) that I'm having are random T3 law firms or in-house companies offering me 3LPA salary. Also, with such a low starting point i feel like it'll take me years to come up to a decent level where I'm earning good enough to have a good life.

I'm very frustrated and i feel like I've entirely ruined my career somehow.

Can people who have been in this position give some insights as to how did you guys get out of this rut ? .. will it ever get any better or is my career over ?

Also, tentatively how many years will it take for me to reach a T1 A0 salary if I'm starting from 3LPA and switching job as and when possible.

The world is an unfortunate place filled with nepotism, privilege and greed.

If you start at 3LPA then it might take you 6-7 years to reach 16 LPA, which is what a T1 A0 earns.

My suggestions to you are as follows:

1. Try and apply for Paralegalship at various firms. If you say you have skills then you may convince them to convert it into an offer.

2. Keep interning for a while even after graduation and see if boutique law firms hire you at decent pay.

3. Try applying to legal startups or other new age law offices, might give a good start to you.

4. Pivot and try giving exams like SEBI law officer, etc.

Take up whatever you get. Don't add up a gap in your cv. I am in the same position as you are and I am taking up litigation as the starting offers are 3-4 LPA and the grind is also similar to what my corporate internships were. Now it feels like I was never into corporate it was only the salary I was running after.

People with 6 UPSC attempts, Blank paper in the name of CV (read mentioning Hobbies are Watching cricket and Netflix) and 0 Mains, (with age 30+) don't even consider their careers ruined. Aap abhi se rona start kar diye hai.

Yudh toh abhi shuru hua hai mitr. Yudh lado, antim saans tak.

I know this because I actually am facing this. Except my college degree and 0 internships, I have nothing, nada to write on my CV. No publications, no research, nothing.

I filled space by writing -

- Hobbies - Playing cricket, watching netflix

- Languages - Hindi, English

- Software skills - Microsoft Word, powerpoint.

Overall, I think the world is more open to failures now. You can jumpstart again. And of the 6-10 interviews I have given, in the over 800+ applications, (and got rejected their too), I was never asked about gap year or something. Never. It was more about this job, and your skills towards it.

However, I will agree that there is a lot of competition in all fields and this makes life very difficult. Marketing, PR, Journalism, Economics, Analytics, policy all fields as all your peers will have work ex + masters degree.

But, well, life goes on. You search for ways to break in. That's it. Although I will say, the 6 attempt, 32y age limit is a blessing in disguise for the General category. Else, I would have continued in the same loop of mistakes and depression for eternity.

Bhai/Behen, dil khol ke apne dukh ko likha humne. Literally, I thought I shouldn't have written this. This is too much information. Par aapko cool banna hai.

Let me tell you what Aspirants and other Bull**** do not tell you. It is not really the subjects which are hard, it is loneliness. It is too too lonely.

Alone. In a dingy room. No girl. No friends. No hope of cracking the exam. And you do not even know how to get out now as you have spent 3+ years in this. Shit in the name of CV.

You also have depression and not low, 100x negative self esteem. In Hindi, there is a word called - "Kosna" as in being hyper critical of something. Every time you'll look in the mirror after each failure, after every 10 days, you'll have bouts of extreme self loathing. Tum kosoge apne aap ko. Why am I so so dumb? Why I do not have the motivation to study? Why I am not disciplined enough? And you cannot get out. The lure of IAS is too big. Too big. A Google or McKinsey cannot compete with it. Hence, you'll continue in this.

The question is batao, as a General Male from a middle class family, kiske saamne jaake roe? Sarkar ke saamne, Imaginary girlfriend ke saamne (no Dhairya talks in real life buddy, you mend your own spectacles, and wear mota specs in the dark corners too, so that people do not see you when you sob), ya 40 LPA package wale dosto ke saamne? Pin point again, is you cannot get out unless your attempts are over, it is almost impossible to get out of that zone.

Anyway, I wish you all the best. I hope you all crack the exam! Go make us proud. But, please don't post bull**** cool banne wala comments. Itna empathy dikha do.

This is why UPSC needs to revamp things and cut attempts down to 2. So that people don't waste years of their lives.

They can introduce lateral entry after the age of 40 so that people can go get experience elsewhere and then try again for civil services. Win win for all.

What Bs if you are getting a job at T3 firm take it and try switching next year to a T2 and within a year to a T1 . With PQE it gets much easier to switch if you know your shit. Caveat in the above mentioned scenario is that you apply for the same practice area and after two years you would be earning an A0 salary at T1. Lateral hires aren't difficult if you have worked at Law firms even if you were paid 3 lpa as a fresher. However do switch next year to a firm that is atleast offering a100 to125 percent hike.

Hi OP, this is coming from someone who got an overwhelming number of PPO offers, independently from the college —

You are at the stage where you'll have to become extremely proactive in your applications — there shouldn't be a single remotely decent law firm/reputed litigator that you can find on LinkedIn whose partners/HRs you haven't contacted. Start by finding common grounds — common practice area, common uni (if possible), common school, or even common hometown if need be. Anyone in law who has reasonably decent qualifications and could hire another junior/associate should get a proper, tailored & detailed mail from you whereby you specify what you've done, what you've read & studied, and how that demonstrates you can be an asset to their team. If this sounds overly daunting, that's because it is. This will take at least your entire month, and is still not foolproof. But respectfully, when you take admission in a 'time-pass' college, a natural sequitur becomes that you'll have to spend far more time & energy in finding a decent job than someone who went to a decent college.

PS: For what it's worth, it's not impossible. I've seen people from terrible colleges eventually make it to Tier 1s but in most cases, such people tend to come from other forms of privilege and still take ~2-3 years, either by jumping through firms, or through year-long paralegal contracts. So, if you want to beat the odds, you'll have to work extraordinarily hard accordingly.

Thank you so much for this. This affirmation means a lot to me. Hard work is not something I'm afraid of so I'm definitely gonna act upon this. This affirmation is kinda what i was looking for because i was feeling hopeless and feeling like as if this can't be done so thank you for the much needed reassurance.

If I can give you some practical advice
1. This is a bad year for fresher hiring for various reasons beyond your control. This is not your fault, but you will have to deal with it.

2. Take whichever job you can get now which promises good learning and/ or good exposure to other lawyers/ clients etc. Don't focus on the money as long as it is enough for you to take care of your bills and any other necessary payments. Right now all you need to do is get your foot in the door and use your job to become a better lawyer.

3. Your best bet to increase the amount of money you make will be to switch jobs, keep a look out for opportunities amongst people you interact with as part of your job. If you do good work you will be noticed, this I can guarantee you. When I am looking to hire someone who has work exp, where they graduated from is far less important to me than what work they have done and how much they have learned.
4. Do not worry at all about the time it will take you to reach X salary or Y designation. Everyone has their own path and their own way to traverse it. Your life is at the beginning not the end. Good luck.

Trust me this is not the end of life. My suggestion is to join a T3 law firm, and apply yourself to learning vigorously. Spend each moment of your life wisely. Read, research, write and observe. There is a dearth of good lateral hires at association/ senior associate level, and if you truly are good at what you do, there will be no dearth of takers. Give or take 2-3 years, you will get placed in a T1 law firm. And in a year or two there, with career corrections, you will be at par with what your batchmates from the NLUs are getting. Don't lose heart and give up. All the very best.

This is unfortunately the truth for about (60%?) of all graduating lawyers in the past 5-6 years - not finding the job you want or finding one at all - the demand for first years as lawyers is tanking, and therefore the market is competitive. Take what you find.

Don't jump ship whenever "possible" since it reflects badly on your profile as someone who will leave the job quickly. Leave only when you have a serious possiblity of getting into a tier 1/2 firm.

Experience always improves chances of success, its just the start that's tough.