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[guysmiley]

There are several patent positions I want to apply to, but in the past year I have had very little luck.  A couple of months ago, I changed up my strategy, and starting contacting partners at firms directly, sending them emails as cover letters.  I actually got some calls back from partners but it never went past that.  My next idea was to possibly include a professional cover letter along with an email to a partner, but I don't know if partners get annoyed by this or not.  Essentially, I discuss why I contacted them specifically and why I might be a good fit for the position.  I have heard back from some partners who simply say they will forward my resume to the recruiting department and some have actually called me to get a meta-interview, but with no results.  Some don't respond. 

Now I am thinking if all these partners do is forward my resume to the recruiting department, does the department even keep track of where they got the resume from?  Does it make no difference at all submitting it directly to recruiting or not? I think it is very possible that recruiting departments immediately delete your resumes if they do not meet some specific criteria such as GPA, etc, and partners often don't do this.

Anyone had any luck contacting partners and if so, what was the preferred way to go about this?

Thanks!

[klaviernista]

At my old firm, partners (in particular the managing partners of regional offices) received resumes all the time via e-mail.  They would almost always forward those resumes to HR without looking at them.  So in the case of my old firm, sending a resume to a partner would get you to the same place as sending your resume to HR.

That being said, if you have a personal contact with a partner or associate in a law firm, you might want to consider sending them your resume.  It is far more likely in that instance that they will read you resume, or better yet, give you a recommendation while passing on your resume to HR for consideration.

Of course, you should understand that firms hire based on need.  You could impress the hell of a partner with your resume and telephone interview, and it won't go anywhere if the firm doesn't have any need for your skills at that time.  Not that you shouldn't try and impress as many folks as possible.  Connections are very important in this business.  But don't get discouraged if nothing comes of it for a while.