Deferral Stipend, Job Searches, Start Dates

Open Thread: Should Deferred Associates Be Looking for Work?

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Last week, we asked you if deferral stipends for incoming associates are too small. The reaction was mixed. Some people felt that incoming associates should be thankful for every penny they get. Others noted that it was extremely difficult to make loan repayments off of the deferral stipend.
But many people felt that deferred associates should just go out and get a job, any job.
I had assumed that most deferred associates were already actively engaged in the process of looking for work. Not just to defray the costs of their deferment, but for a long term position in case their firm never actually allows them to start working. But then this question came into the ATL inbox:

I am emailing because I think it would be useful to deferred associates to dialogue on how we should react to the situation we are in. I have an offer at a law firm that had initially deferred incoming associates until January 2010. Now incoming associates are being deferred until later in 2010. Are incoming associates (to all firms) being foolhardy for continuing to rely on these offers? What if we are deferred again, or worse, what if our offers are rescinded? Will we look back and question why we did not look for another job sooner? Will potential other employers think we were naive for relying on the offers for so long, making our chances of finding another job less likely? Is it enough that we received job offers from prestigious, competitive firms, but in the end it did not work out; will that get us another job? These are all questions we have to ask ourselves, but it is hard to come to any answers without the benefit of knowing the future…obviously. I think it would be useful to get the industry perspective, because in the end, it the industry perspective that will dictate how our decision to wait around or not wait around is viewed.

Let’s discuss and take a reader poll after the jump.


It is cute that there are some incoming associates that have so much trust that their law firms will someday allow them to start working. I suppose it is just comforting to think that you have a job lined up despite all evidence to the contrary.
If your firm has deferred you twice, you need to be looking for alternative employment.
The problem seems to be this, very 2006, way of looking at the world: “Is it enough that we received job offers from prestigious, competitive firms, but in the end it did not work out; will that get us another job?”
No, it is not enough. Fortune favors the bold, the obsessed, the sleep-deprived, and the incoming associates that understand their deferral is just a precursor to a rescinded offer.
What is the downside of finding other employment? What’s the worst thing that can happen? You end up with two jobs and have … options? If you just sit around during your deferral period, you are putting yourself at the whim of a firm — a business — that doesn’t care about you, your career, or your hopes and dreams.
Will future employers hold it against you if you sat around for a year and didn’t look for work? That’s harder to say. What do you readers think?

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Earlier: Open Thread: Are Deferral Stipends Too Small?

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