Here we are. You’re wrapping up the semester and ready for a holiday break. Then it’s back to school for a final semester followed by the bar exam. You’re ready for a breather before you get serious about grinding your way to the finish line.

You’re definitely not coasting. You’re stressed. The bar exam is scary and, most importantly, you don’t yet have a job. If your head isn’t bordering on exploding, then you’re underestimating the gravity of the situation. This is a reasonable time to panic.

Here’s the first half of my advice to get you through the homestretch:

1. Don’t worry about the bar exam.

You’ll likely pass. Nearly everyone passes (which is part of the problem). Look around at the lawyers who practice law. We passed. If we passed, you’ll pass. Chill out about it and focus on getting a job while you study. Here’s the deal: your days will consist of attending the bar review course and reviewing the material. You can’t do that crap for more than about eight hours a day without breaking down. You’ve got another eight hours to work on the job hunt. Use it—no excuses.

2. Get away from the law school.

The law school can’t get you a job, so stop hanging out there and quit working the angles with the placement office. Sure, if the staff gets you an interview, then go do it, but stop counting on them to get the job for you. They’re good at one thing (getting people to go to law school). The data suggests that they pretty much suck at getting jobs for young lawyers. Walk away and take care of yourself. I’ve been running a practice for 23 years and hiring lawyers all along with nearly no assistance from the placement people. The placement offices are a joke. They barely even try. When was the last time a placement director showed up in my office? Um, never. My life insurance guy runs rings around the placement office people. They couldn’t sell a life preserver to a drowning man. If they could, they’d be selling something other than law students.

3. Get out and about: meet lots of lawyers.

Lawyers are the folks who offer jobs to lawyers. Start attending law-related events. Go to continuing education programs (often free or cheap for law students—or ask whether you can audit without credit). Hang out at the courthouse and sit with the lawyers. Ease your way into their conversation at the coffee shop. Crash events if necessary: just go. Meet lawyers and tell your story (see point 4). Dig in to the various bar associations and sections in your area. Attend bar association events, but go further. Find out when the bar association leadership meets and go watch. Start showing up where you think you don’t belong and hang out. Just watch and meet people. Yes, this is hard, and you feel awkward and weird. Do you want a job?

4. Develop a story.

There must be something interesting about you, right? Figure it out and emphasize it with everyone you meet. You need an identity. Don’t be the boring law student no one remembers. I guarantee that I can find something interesting about you in five minutes of asking you questions. Can you find anything interesting about yourself? I met a classroom of law students a few weeks ago and talked to a bunch of them after the class. I remember one of them—only one—because she told me of her passion for higher education administration. It was unusual and interesting. She talked to me for two minutes, but her story sunk in. The rest of the students had nothing—no story at all.

5. Ask for advice.

Meet with every lawyer you can find who will talk to you. Aim high. Aim higher. Call the leadership of a 2,500 lawyer firm and ask for a meeting. What’s the worst that can happen? She says no? So what? Meet with solos and small firm leaders. Meet with medium-size firm lawyers. Go talk about the future. Ask questions about what’s happening and what’s important for a new lawyer. Ask them how they started. Ask them what they love. Ask them what they’re passionate about. Ask them about their best and worst experiences as a lawyer. Ask them what they would do differently if they had it to do all over again. Meet them. Things will happen when you meet people.

6. Don’t expect any sympathy.

Look, this dismal job situation for lawyers isn’t a new development. This was already happening when you applied to law school. If you lacked the ability to do the research and apply the critical thinking, then you have no one to blame other than yourself. We all knew this was happening. Why didn’t you? Blaming the law school? Come on. Can you really expect it not to sell the seats? That’s what it does. That’s why it exists. Do you believe the used car dealer?

7. If you can’t get a job, you can’t get a client.

I’m telling you how to get a job. If you can’t succeed at what I suggest, then don’t use starting a practice as a backup plan. If you fail at this, you’ll fail at that. Getting a job is much easier than starting a practice that will support you (of course, neither is easy). Get a job in the legal arena or quit. Don’t open your own practice unless you’re turning down offers left and right. If you open your own office without getting a job, you’ll struggle. It’s likely that you’ll eventually close the practice and take a job. Just get the job now and shortcut the process.

8. You don’t have to be a lawyer.

Feel free to finish school and pass the bar exam. You can still use your law degree to impress employers in other fields. If you start now at something else, most anything else you’d consider, you’ll likely earn more over your career and experience greater career satisfaction than if you stick with the law. That’s especially true given the changes we’re experiencing now. Tell yourself that the legal education is an asset no matter what you do with the degree. You’re good at rationalizing, and I’m sure you can figure out why law school was a great decision. You’ll have an easier time getting a job outside of the law than inside.

9. Quit.

It’s never too late to quit. This was a mistake, and the sooner you realize it the better. Sure, if you quit, you’ll have no law-related job to use to pay back the loans. That’s likely also true if you stick around. Can you avoid the final semester of borrowing and get to work paying back what you already owe? Quitting is not for losers or those who can’t cut it. In fact, at this point, sticking around and finishing is the path of least resistance. Quitting is a bold move that sets you apart from the crowd.

10. Be resilient.

Keep your head in the game. This is about losing over and over again until you win. If you quit, you lose. You can’t win if you don’t play. You’ve got to expect failure, expect rejection, and keep going. Seriously, if you can’t lose, pick yourself up, and keep playing, then what were you thinking? Why are you here? If you can’t lose and keep going, then you seriously should just quit now because you’re going to lose. Expect to lose 1,000 times before you win, and you’ll be right on track. It’s a numbers game.