I’m seeing a lot of tweets encouraging students seeking articles to cold call/email contacts at firms, regardless if they’ve made an official posting. I was encouraged to do the same. Here’s a warning: not all firms are receptive to that and they’ll make that clear

In particular, I approached it as an out of province student trying to network. Explained that I was unable to network in the traditional sense by attending firm events. The response I received?

“For an out of province student, I think you are best served by attending networking events first so that you can meet with people face to face. My experience with getting hired is that it’s all about who you know. “cold calling/emailing” only got me one interview and a job...

Told me to fly across the country for events and “I encourage you to make genuine connections instead of hawking for an articling position (which, I know is hard to do but that’s my tip).”