Would You Consider an Internship—Or Even a Career—Outside California?

By Frank Zeccola 
LCD Graduate Fellow 

Andrea Loh (third from right) with other California attorneys

Late last month, LCD Counselor and Director of Employee Outreach Andrea Loh spent a week in New York attending meetings with attorneys from several legal offices. Prior to that, in mid-June, Andrea attended the American Bar Association (ABA) Small Firm Conference in Newport Beach, in southern California, and met with employers from throughout California. This is part of a larger effort for LCD to develop relationships with employers in the Bay Area, as well as both inside and outside of California. The goal is to give our students an edge when applying to internships and jobs throughout the United States. As Director of Employee Outreach, it is Andrea’s mission to cultivate and develop these relationships.

For example, in New York, Andrea met with the head of the Juvenile Rights Division of the New York Legal Aid Society. The Legal Aid Society is currently accepting students for fall 2017 in the Adult Criminal Defense Division, Civil Division, and Juvenile Rights Division. These offices include more than 1,000 attorneys fighting for public interest causes—and the Society stresses a focus on diversity. As such, the Society will be hiring 40 interns for the summer, so this may be a great opportunity for relevant candidates.

How to Take Control of Your Job Interview: Make Your Requirements Clear Ahead of Time to Command Respect During the Interview Phase

By Frank Zeccola
LCD Graduate Fellow

Do you ever feel like potential employers have all the power when you’re applying to jobs?

A recent article on the PBS Newshour career blog “Making Sense” posits that, all too often, employers abuse their power in the hiring process and “behave badly” toward job seekers. In turn, job seekers take the abuse because they feel they have no other choice: The employer has all the power, and if you want the job, you have to bend to their will. But the article cautions: “When job applicants behave like beggars, they’re treated with disrespect.”

You may relate to this, although the reality is probably not as cynical as this article, penned by top Silicon Valley headhunter Nick Corcodilos, paints it. But the truth remains that, as we search for jobs, it often does feel like the employer holds all the cards and we are forced to approach them as beggars.

 What’s worse, Corcodilos explains that if a company does treat you poorly during the interview phase, it’s almost certain to treat you poorly once you are hired.

Luckily, Corcodilos has a solution. He offers a four-point plan for earning respect during the interview phase so that the power is more balanced and you are approaching the employer as an equal, and not as a beggar.

Follow this plan to take control of your next interview:

Your Words are Your Craft and Your Reputation: Don’t Let Up on Proofreading—In Your Job Search or Your Career

By Frank Zeccola 
LCD Graduate Fellow

Every new lawyer knows the feeling: You just passed the Bar and got sworn in. Now you are applying for a job at a firm that sounds like an amazing opportunity. This will be your first real job as a lawyer. You type up an engaging cover letter outlining exactly why you are a great fit for the firm. You sell yourself like an ad man from the 60s writing about the new Rolls Royce for a billboard in Times Square. There’s no way they won’t hire you after reading this.

Then you read over your cover letter again. And spot a typo. And another typo. Frantically, you scrutinize your letter again and again searching for any little mistake you may have made. After all, one misplaced comma or misspelled word could kill your chances for scoring the job. Before long, your brain starts hurting. And your anxiety skyrockets.

If you fret about making typos in emails to hiring partners and other colleagues, there is good news. A line of research going back several decades shows that, as you advance in your career and earn a reputation in your profession, you can get away with being less formal in email contact with colleagues. Further, typos and proofreading mistakes matter less than when you are an entry-level job seeker.

Networking Spreadsheets and Other Tactics: Organization is Key in Job Search

By Frank Zeccola 
LCD Graduate Fellow 

As I met with my counselor this week for a career appointment, he suggested I create a networking spreadsheet to brainstorm all the contacts I could reach out to, and then include additional fields in the spreadsheet for dates of outreach, notes of topics discussed with each contact, and next steps to take in further developing these relationships. This had never occurred to me and is a level of organization I’ve never achieved in any of my previous job searches.

Now that I think back on it, my prior job searches have mostly been edge-of-the-seat expeditions where I was in reactive mode—reacting to job posts, reacting to job fairs or other networking functions, reacting to leads from friends. I feel like I have never been in the driver’s seat in my own job search—and achieving a level of organization through this networking spreadsheet is an empowering idea.

Stop ‘Wasting Everyone’s Time’: Five Tips to Help Employers Help You Find a Job

By Frank Zeccola 
LCD Graduate Fellow 

An email by a partner at a large national law firm has gone viral across the Internet in the last month. In the message, the partner complained that sending thank you notes after your interviews with BigLaw firms is “Just a complete waste of everyone’s time.” The subtext is that thank you notes add very little value to your prospects of landing the job but cost large firms money by clogging employees’ inboxes with unwanted emails. Whether this advice translates to small, midsized, or public interest law firms remains to be seen, but a general guidepost is probably: “when in doubt, leave it out.”

The bigger picture issue is that hiring and training new employees costs money—some estimates range as high as $300,000 per new lawyer.

 As a new lawyer entering the marketplace to find your first job, the last thing you want to do is waste employers’ time at any point in the hiring process. If you can show that you can seamlessly transition from job applicant to employee without any wasted time and effort on the part of the employer, you stand significantly improved chances of landing the job.

To do that, here are five tips for helping employers help you in the job hunting process. Further, these tips will help get your resume to the top of the pile and increase your chances for scoring the job:

Telling Yourself Better Stories About Networking

By Tammy Dawson 
Law Career Development Counselor 

I love networking but, believe me, that wasn’t always the case. I found the whole experience to be deeply uncomfortable. I was sure I was bothering people who didn’t really want to spend their limited time talking to me. I hated feeling like I was begging people for work. I didn’t know what to say. In other words, the stories I told myself about my ability to successfully network were neither motivating nor empowering. No wonder I avoided it!

Do you feel the same way? If so, you are not alone. Many people view networking as a distasteful chore or worse. So how did I go from hating networking to loving it? I started telling myself different stories.

People don’t want to spend their time talking to me; I’m just bothering them. 

If the tables were turned and a friend of a friend of a friend reached out to you to ask about your career, how would you respond? Would you feel annoyed or put out by the request? Chances are you wouldn’t. Most of us are happy to help someone starting out in their career. It is likely the person you have reached out to feels the same way.

Tips for Tailoring Your Application Materials When Applying to Pro Bono and Public Interest Employment Opportunities

By Corey Farris 
Law Career Development Counselor 

Counselors in law career development often hear this question: “Can I just use the same cover letter and resume for multiple applications?” Unfortunately, it is not that simple. To stand out from among the pile of resumes and cover letters, you absolutely need to specifically tailor your materials to each employer. That is especially true when applying to public interest and pro bono positions where your materials needs to show not only an aptitude for the work, but a passion for it as well. 

Public Interest and Pro Bono Cover Letters 

When drafting your cover letter, focus on the mission of the organization or the community that it
serves. Do not just “cut and paste” the mission statement from a website to show that you read through it. Instead, delve into your personal experiences and background to illustrate that you have a long-running commitment to a specific cause or group of clients. This does not have to be in the form of actual work or volunteer experience. Sometimes a personal story can be just as effective. Do you come from a family of immigrants and your family’s experience has motivated you to do immigration work? Are you a first-generation college student interested in improving access to education for others? These are the types of personal connections that show your commitment to specific types of public interest work.

New Online Appointment Scheduling!

by Sandra Derian
Interim Law Career Development Coordinator

Law Career Development will begin accepting appointments online on August 24. Here are the instructions:

1. Log into LCDonline.
2. Hover your mouse over the "Calendar" tab, and select “Counseling Appointment” from the drop-down menu.
3. Click “Request New Appointment” to make a new appointment.
4. You may narrow down available appointments by date, time of day, day of the week, and counselor.
5. Click on the appointment time you desire.
6. Choose the appointment type – in person or on phone.
7. Feel free to add additional background notes to the appointment request, if applicable 
8. Choose “submit request”.
9. You will be notified by email when the counselor approves the appointment. 
10. If you wish to modify or cancel an appointment, you may do so in LCDonline in the main “Counseling Appointment” screen.
11. Bookmark this link to go straight to booking an appointment.

If you have any questions or if you need your login password reset, please phone (415) 442-6625 during business hours.