LCS Graduate Fellow
We are all familiar with squeezing in “search for jobs” in
our daily planners, but between school, work, family and an attempt at having a
social life, we may not always get around to it. Updating your resume may seem
like a fun task, until you can’t seem to come up with enough attractive action
verbs to begin each bullet point. At that time, the job search can seem tedious
and overwhelming, making its way to the bottom of the priority list.
In the September 2013 Edition of ABA’s Student Lawyer, Carla DeVelder outlines how to manage a jam-packed
schedule with enough time to search for jobs in 6 quick and easy steps.
- Get Focused. A tight job market does not necessarily mean students should be open to take any type of experience that is available. Students should actually focus their interests to make the job search more effective.
- Get Your Materials in Order. Once students have focused areas of interest lined up, they should update their resume, cover letter, references and writing samples, tailoring their materials to each area of interest.
- Make the Actual Searching as Easy as Possible. Create job agents that notify you of local opportunities. Virtual agents, like the one available on LCSOnline, allow you to create job agents based on your search criteria. Since some posting are more general and don’t refer to a specific field of practice, it’s best to expand your search criteria for these agents and filter out the job postings that you are not interested in.
- Stay on Top of Your Applications and Contacts. Students should keep track of applications and communications to remember which resumes are outstanding, names of interviewers, and thank you cards that need to be sent. The article provides tools to make this task easier!
- Be Consistent. Once the job search flow has started, students should be consistent and keep the search high on their priority list. After getting your materials in order, the job search task should not be difficult to maintain.
- Stay Positive. Searching for jobs can be a draining process, but staying positive and keeping your search a priority will ultimately lead to successful results!
Along with the steps in this article, I recommend that you
make known your status as a law student and your particular fields of interest
to all communities that you are involved with – legal or non-legal. I found a great
summer internship with a non-profit organization in public health policy just
by mentioning that I was a law student interested in public health at a dinner
party. Lawyers and networking opportunities are hiding everywhere!
You can read this article in its entirety by clicking here.
Access to recent editions of ABA’s
Student Lawyer Magazine, and a wide variety of helpful tips and articles for
your job search is waiting for you at the LCS Resource Library. Also, you can
meet with a counselor at LCS for tips, pointers, and a confidence boost for
your next job interview.
