Temps and Tempability

It occurs to me that the purpose and content of this blawg could be taken as an extended whine into the void. Do I sound like I'm whining? I hope not. It's only that I just went through three years of intensive graduate study and spent the better part of a summer sitting for an $815 licensing exam and now I'm ready to work (full-time, with appropriate compensation) in the legal field. At which point--and only then--this blawg will end.

This desire doesn't come from some sense of entitlement or special privilege. Unlike many of my peers just now, I'm not holding out for six figures (or anything close!) or my own office or even something that I will enjoy every day. I'm just looking for a good, honest, PAID (see "interview with the soul vampires," infra for an example of an opportunity that is literally UNPAID) position that will get me as much experience as quickly as possible. I used to have higher standards (read: ideals) about public service and actually helping people and all that, but your heart can stop bleeding pretty quickly after graduation once you start hearing about how the market's taking to new lawyers.

Which is where the temping comes in:

I've signed up with two different legal temp agencies in the Boston area, neither of which have been much help yet. This is, to answer a previous poster's question, why I haven't started looking to wait tables or taken work at a bookstore yet (although I have left an application at all the major bookstores in the area). I'd rather hold out for temporary legal employment, as these postings can get me some experience (however insignificant, it's still going to be more valuable than shelving books at Borders) and I've heard that this is actually one very good and acceptable way to get yourself hired permanantly.