Hiring Conference: The Aftermath

So many of us have now returned home from the AALS Recruitment Conference hopefully unscathed for the most part.  I thought I'd share a few of my general observations on this year's meat market.  First, I was wondering was it just me or did the place seem a little more subdued (ie less like a zoo) than usual?  I got the distinct impression that less schools participated this year than is typically the case, which, if true, wouldn't be surprising in this economy.  I also noted that many of the interview teams seemed to be smaller than usual, with many schools only fronting two or three faculty on their interview teams.

It also seemed to me that despite a somewhat smaller group of CVs than in some previous years (again, this is anecdotal - I may be wrong about this), the quality of the candidates was generally notably high.  It's not often that there aren't a number of candidates met in D.C. that a school can easily knock off its list for potential call-back slots.  However, I spoke to representatives of a number of schools' hiring teams who felt that just about any of the people they interviewed in D.C. would make good candidates to proceed with.  This may again be a testament to a sluggish legal job market or maybe candidates are getting generally better prepped for the AALS interviews.

There also seemed to be a lot of law school deans accompanying their teams to D.C. - which I think is generally a nice thing and good for the candidates to have a chance to meet with the person they will ultimately be negotiating with if they get a job offer.

How did others feel that this year's conference compared with previous years?  I'm sure candidates got the typical amount of exercise running from one tower to the other.  And I must admit I never got to try the new Illy's (?) coffee place, so would welcome any comments on how it compared with the old Starbucks...

Comments

[Matt Lister]

I can't (or won't) comment on most of the above, but I thought the coffee (not espresso drinks- I didn't try them) at the Illy's was generally better than Starbucks. I'm pretty picky about coffee but not a reflexive Starbucks hater, but this generally seemed better to me. Not great, mind you, but not at all bad. Also, their staff was pretty efficient and their sandwiches were surprising good, so it seemed like a plus to me. I did have to laugh at my self at one point in light of Mary Dudziak's warnings about hotel room coffee when I made myself a cup and found myself thinking it really wasn't working at all, only to realize later that I'd accidentally made de-caf. (Thankfully this was on Thursday afternoon and not Friday or Saturday morning!)

[Anthony S. Montagna]

I went in 2008 to DC to get the lay of the land...I must say there was more hustle bustle then, alot more interviewing and people, younger ones, this year, it was about half and half...and I did go to the afterparty...the feedback I was getting was that the older candidates seemed to be having more luck, i.e. recruiters were more interested in people with experience along with credentials...me, I am still waiting on a callback, otherwise I will pin my hopes on a Fulbright Commission, research and write in the winter and hopefully publish in the spring...although it would be nice to get that call back and a guaranteed spot for next year by Christmas...and yes, the coffee at Illy's was good!