Looking for a job with a federal agency? Have Westlaw access?
December 7, 2010 at 12:45 pm • Filed under Career Resources
Elizabeth Peck, Director of Public Service at Cornell Law School brought this great job searching tip to our attention after coming across this resource suggestion in Finding and Funding International Public Service Opportunities (an online guide updated annually by NALP members at the Universities of Arizona and Georgia, and at the William & Mary School of Law).
Westlaw maintains a database of federal agencies’ regional offices across the U.S. and the world. The database gives you the ability to search by more than 100 practice areas to locate the agencies which need lawyers with particular practice specializations.
To search the database: login to Westlaw and then go to Home –> Career Focus –> Law Student Jobs Online –> Federal Careers for Attorneys.
Also, don’t forget to utilize the federal career resources available to you for FREE on PSLawNet, including the 2010-2011 NALP Federal Legal Opportunities Guide and more.
Put the Googles to Work Finding Job Openings
December 8, 2010 at 12:58 pm • Filed under Career Resources, Public Interest Jobs
Yesterday we shared how to utilize Westlaw to search for jobs with federal agencies. Today we wanted to highlight another job searching suggestion from the AvidCareerist Blog: set up Google Alerts to search for jobs as part of your on-line strategy.
My job search clients and I use Google Alerts, in addition to job boards, to find job openings on-line. Alerts pull more openings than the major boards, they pick up openings from Craigslist, and they help my clients find niche job boards for additional feeds.
“What’s a Google Alert and how do I set one up?” you ask. See here.
The AvidCareerist in her blog uses the job title example of a “contract recruiter” — how can you translate this to looking for public interest legal positions?
Let’s say you are looking for a staff attorney position at a nonprofit, you could set up the following alert: {“staff attorney”} {litigate AND research} {“staff attorney” AND apply}. What if you want to restrict this to search for ONLY jobs in California, then: {“staff attorney”} {litigate AND research} {“staff attorney” AND apply AND california}.
If you are interested in a particular practice area, for example civil rights, you could set up an alert tailored to that preference: {“attorney”} AND {“attorney” and apply or submit} AND {“civil rights”}. You can also set up alerts to search for new opportunities at specific organizations, for example: {“attorney”} AND {“attorney” and apply or submit} AND {“U.S. Department of Education”}. To set up your personalized google job alerts go here.
A note of caution from the AvidCareerist:
However, put a strict limit on the amount of time you spend using alerts and feeds to find and respond to job openings. Why? First, as mentioned above, you will only find a tiny portion of the available openings using these tactics. Second, these are the easiest openings to find. Thus, you will have a lot of competition from other job seekers. I suggest that you spend no more than 30 minutes a day building feeds and alerts and responding to postings. How do you that? Only respond to postings that you are well qualified for.
Want more job search resources? Visit PSLawNet’s Career Central.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Pursuing A Public Interest career
Pursuing a Public Interest Career: Key Insights from NALP/PSLawNet Public Service Mini-Conference and EJW Conference and Career
Today’s guest post is shared by Leeor Neta, the Assistant Director for Public Interest Programs at Golden Gate University School of Law. After attending the 2010 NALP/PSLawNet Public Service Mini-Conference and EJW Conference and Career Fair he is sharing key insights from programming he attended at both conferences on GGU’s Law Career Services Blog.
Best Advice I Know on Pursuing a Public Interest Career
On the last day of the NALP / PSLawNet Public Service Mini-Conference, I attended a panel discussion that indirectly shared some important advice on how to pursue a public interest career. I say that the advice was “indirectly shared” because the purpose of the panel was to discuss pathways to public policy and think tank careers. Two of the four panelists (Nicole Austin-Hillery, director and counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice, and Alejandro T. Reyes, associate counsel for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law) are involved in some of the most prestigious impact litigation and legal policy work in the nation.
Both of the panelists agreed that lawyers who work on policy need to understand the nexus between law and enforcement. In concluding that the “best policy percolates up from the street,” Ms. Austin-Hillery explained that a policy lawyer can’t craft effective policy unless she understands her clients and understands how to get them to tell their stories. A policy lawyer needs to make brief and effective arguments under pressure. A policy lawyer also needs to know how to work with opposing forces and different interests to negotiate on her clients’ behalf. Because effective communication and negotiation skills are the key to policy work, the entire panel agreed that a lawyer wanting to work on policy needs a solid foundation in litigation.
The panel also suggested that law students interested in policy work try to work for state legislatures, researching and helping to draft proposed legislation. International work experience, moot courts, and writing opportunities are also considered important. Everyone agreed that working for the Administrative Office of the Courts and State Bar Associations were ideal — and less competitive — ways to acquire policy work experience.
The panel’s best advice pertained to all aspiring public interest lawyers. First, they advised — as I have already done for many of you — that law students identify five to ten offices that they would like to work for and try to join their advisory boards. Many of those offices might need independent legal advice and the work that one does as a board member is a great way to leverage an employment offer once a position opens up. Students should consider a two-week immersion program, some of which are extremely affordable (one of the panelists described a program in Mexico that costs less than $800!).
Finally, the entire panel agreed that the best candidates for entry-level positions demonstrate through their resumes and cover letters that they were born to pursue the job for which they’re applying. Their resumes demonstrate a seamless progression of attention and commitment to a specific area. Therefore, “the sooner you can decide what it is you want to do with your legal career, the better prepared you will be when you apply for your first job.”
Today’s guest post is shared by Leeor Neta, the Assistant Director for Public Interest Programs at Golden Gate University School of Law. After attending the 2010 NALP/PSLawNet Public Service Mini-Conference and EJW Conference and Career Fair he is sharing key insights from programming he attended at both conferences on GGU’s Law Career Services Blog.
Best Advice I Know on Pursuing a Public Interest Career
On the last day of the NALP / PSLawNet Public Service Mini-Conference, I attended a panel discussion that indirectly shared some important advice on how to pursue a public interest career. I say that the advice was “indirectly shared” because the purpose of the panel was to discuss pathways to public policy and think tank careers. Two of the four panelists (Nicole Austin-Hillery, director and counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice, and Alejandro T. Reyes, associate counsel for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law) are involved in some of the most prestigious impact litigation and legal policy work in the nation.
Both of the panelists agreed that lawyers who work on policy need to understand the nexus between law and enforcement. In concluding that the “best policy percolates up from the street,” Ms. Austin-Hillery explained that a policy lawyer can’t craft effective policy unless she understands her clients and understands how to get them to tell their stories. A policy lawyer needs to make brief and effective arguments under pressure. A policy lawyer also needs to know how to work with opposing forces and different interests to negotiate on her clients’ behalf. Because effective communication and negotiation skills are the key to policy work, the entire panel agreed that a lawyer wanting to work on policy needs a solid foundation in litigation.
The panel also suggested that law students interested in policy work try to work for state legislatures, researching and helping to draft proposed legislation. International work experience, moot courts, and writing opportunities are also considered important. Everyone agreed that working for the Administrative Office of the Courts and State Bar Associations were ideal — and less competitive — ways to acquire policy work experience.
The panel’s best advice pertained to all aspiring public interest lawyers. First, they advised — as I have already done for many of you — that law students identify five to ten offices that they would like to work for and try to join their advisory boards. Many of those offices might need independent legal advice and the work that one does as a board member is a great way to leverage an employment offer once a position opens up. Students should consider a two-week immersion program, some of which are extremely affordable (one of the panelists described a program in Mexico that costs less than $800!).
Finally, the entire panel agreed that the best candidates for entry-level positions demonstrate through their resumes and cover letters that they were born to pursue the job for which they’re applying. Their resumes demonstrate a seamless progression of attention and commitment to a specific area. Therefore, “the sooner you can decide what it is you want to do with your legal career, the better prepared you will be when you apply for your first job.”
Friday, August 13, 2010
Guide to E-Professionalism for Law Students
Reprinted from NALP Bulletin, August 2010. 2010 National Association for Law Placement, Inc.® All rights reserved.
A Guide to E-Professionalism for Law Students:
Five Steps to Create and Maintain a Professional Online Persona
by Kristen Uhl Hulse
What Is Social Networking?
Social networking is about making connections online,whether they are personal, professional, or a combination of both. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are the leading social networking websites, each offering a unique platform to help you share information with your personal and professional contacts.
• LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com), which allows users to make “connections” with professional contacts, has over 65 million professional users in over 200 countries.(See http://press.linkedin.com.)
• Facebook (www.facebook.com), designed to facilitate online connections between “friends,” is the most visited Internet website. (See Facebook Surpasses Google in Weekly Traffic,available at www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_14698296.)
• Twitter (www.twitter.com),a relative newcomer to social networking,is a micro-blog that allows users to communicate with “followers” in short 140-character messages (“tweets”).
Making connections online can yield favorable offline results, such as making new professional contacts or networking to find a new position. Conversely, it may also expose you to unintended risks and consequences. It is therefore important to manage the information you share online(your “online persona”)to help you achieve your professional goals. This concept is known as e-professionalism.
Any information that you share online may influence an employer’s view of you, even if the employer cannot legally consider the information in employment decisions. With that in mind, this advice is designed to assist you in promoting yourself as a professional online, offering five simple steps to help you create and maintain a professional online persona.
STEP ONE: Identify your online social networking goals and choose the social networking platform accordingly. Law students typically use social media to keep in touch with family and friends, reconnect with fellow alumni and former colleagues, make professional networking contacts, and even search for jobs. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter may all be used for those purposes, but some are better than others for maintaining a professional image. Choose a social media platform aligned with your current goals, mindful that your goals may change. Err on the side of professionalism because it can be difficult to clean up “digital dirt” in the future.
Once you have chosen an appropriate platform, manage the content you post online. Any information you post on a social networking site creates an electronic record that may be accessible for years. Because employers may be able to locate your online posts and photos in the future, take steps now to establish a professional online persona.
STEP TWO: Conduct due diligence on your online presence. Is there disconnect between your online persona and your offline persona? Find out by conducting “due diligence” on your online presence. Whether you are an active user of social media or you have chosen not to participate, chances are information about you is publicly available online. Before you can begin managing your online identity,you must first determine what your online persona is now. To do this, run a search of your name (including your maiden name if relevant) on www.google.com, www.bing.com, www.pipl.com and search.intelius.com.
Assume any information you retrieve is discoverable by an employer. Many legal employers have admitted to running searches of a candidate’s name, the results of which can influence the employment process. Remember: your online persona is part of the complete application package you submit to employers. What you post publicly online may be just as important as what you have printed on a formal résumé.
STEP THREE: Clean up your online presence to reflect a professional online persona. Start by thoroughly examining the information you have posted on social networking sites, including status updates, photographs, and even responses to friends’ comments. You do not have to be posting about illicit behavior to raise an employer’s eyebrows. For example,consider the following Facebook or Twitter status updates:
• LAWYER “is stuck on a conference call with a bunch of idiots. Calgon, take me away!”
• LAW STUDENT “just got a job offer! Selling my soul to the devil for financial stability!”
While social media make it easy to share information with friends, be careful when doing so, particularly on Facebook. Even if your personal pages are private, your friends’ pages may be publicly accessible, allowing personal information you post on friends’ pages to be discoverable. Similarly,Facebook friends have the opportunity to “tag” photos of you without your permission.When interacting with a friend online, ask yourself: Does your friend have privacy controls? Do you know your friends’ friends? Assume that if you are telling a friend something sensitive online, the whole world will know your secret.
Beyond interacting on a friend’s page, friends might post material on your page that you may not wish the public to see — for example, “Care to take a ‘sick day’ and join me at the beach on Friday?” or “What time did you get home last night? Can’t believe we drank all those tequila shots.” Think carefully about the image you convey in any status update, photograph, or blog posting. Review information you have posted online as if you are an easily offended employer and purge any questionable material.
There are additional ways to mitigate the risk that a potential employer will find personal information. First, become an expert in Facebook’s privacy settings. From your profile page,select “Settings” for an extensive list of settings to provide different access to identified groups. Note that Facebook changes its privacy settings often. Thus, “fan” the Facebook Privacy page for automatic alerts each time Facebook alters its privacy settings.
• If you have personal AND professional friends on Facebook, create “Friend Lists” to control the types of information visible to various parties.
• You may restrict who can view your Profile, Search, News Feed and Wall, and Applications, allowing you to block a list of work colleagues from seeing certain activities.
• Once your Friend Lists are operational, you can assign new friends to a list when accepting friend requests.
Set Facebook e-mail alerts to notify you of Wall postings and “tagged” pictures of you. You can then act quickly to remove questionable material. Unfortunately,it is impossible to have complete control over what your friends post on your online profile. However,by choosing your Facebook
“friends” wisely and by requesting that they not post questionable items, you will hopefully prevent professionalism pitfalls.
STEP FOUR: Actively manage your online persona to meet your social networking goals. Once you have performed “due diligence” on your online persona and cleaned up your existing online identity, the next step is to actively manage your online persona. Conduct a self-assessment by asking yourself what kind of student you are now and what kind of lawyer you want to be. Specifically, what do you want your public online profile to be?
Based on your goals from Step One, implement an online strategy to manage your online persona. Online reputation management is a key component of e-professionalism. While you may not be able to erase negative online personal information, you can take steps to minimize negative content. In other words, you can create positive content through strategic use of social networking.
LinkedIn
Begin by setting up a professional profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn’s high Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means it often appears at the top of search engine results. The higher on the screen positive search results appear, the lower the likelihood that the public will find negative information. A professional public profile on LinkedIn helps you establish and maintain a professional online persona. However, be sure your online information matches your offline résumé because employers may check the consistency and accuracy of both.
For tutorials on how to use LinkedIn professionally,visit the LinkedIn Learning Center at learn.linkedin.com and the LinkedIn Learning Center for Attorneys, learn.linkedin.com/attorneys/.
Facebook
As a social networking site designed to facilitate information sharing between friends, Facebook should be used exclusively for personal use to minimize instances of unprofessionalism. Lock down your Facebook privacy settings to ensure that only your personal contacts can view your Facebook activity. Like LinkedIn, Facebook has a high SEO, so failure to impose strict privacy settings runs the risk that your personal information will be publicly visible. For further guidance, see “Nine Best Practices for Attorneys Using Facebook,” www.insidefacebook.com/2009/12/22/9-best-pra
ctices-for-attorneys-using-facebook/.
Twitter
Although Twitter is designed to accommodate both personal and professional networking, you can use the site to emphasize your professional presence. Namely, you can use Twitter as a means of branding yourself as a professional in a particular area. Like LinkedIn and Facebook, Twitter has a high SEO and is a powerful tool for self-marketing. Twitter enables you to post tweets that are visible to the public (if tweets are unprotected) or your preapproved followers (if tweets are protected). Decide whether you want to use Twitter personally or professionally and do not mix the two (or set up separate personal and professional accounts).
If your goal in using Twitter is personal, “protect” your tweets so they will not appear in search engine results. However, if your goal is professional,leave your tweets public.
To get started, see “How to Use Twitter as a Lawyer,” blogforprofit.com/2008/09/11/how-to-use-twitter-as-a-lawyer-part-1/.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts) allow you to get e-mail updates of the latest Google results based on your search criteria (for example, your name and/or e-mail address). Results often include social networks, online forum postings, and captions for Flickr photos. Alerts enable you to regularly monitor your online persona. Similarly,you can search for your name and apply for automatic updates on Twitter at search.twitter.com/.
For further suggestions regarding online reputation management,see “Google Reputation Management: Tips on How to Fix Your Reputation and Remove Negative Results,” www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/10/google-reputation-management.html.
STEP FIVE: Be accountable for your online persona. Even if you implement these best practices today, an employer may still find something questionable about you online and seek an explanation. This allows you to clarify or put the material in context. It is crucial that you react professionally and accept responsibility. If it is a picture of you partying at Mardi Gras, explain that this behavior is in your past and that it was poor judgment to post the picture online. If it is a comment that you posted on an inflammatory blog as a law student,explain why you felt so passionate at the time. Mistakes are made — be prepared to be accountable when this might happen.
When answering an employer’s questions about your online materials, do not be defensive, and try to handle the questions with composure. Remember that in many cases, the employer may be trying to see how you react under pressure and whether you have learned from your mistakes. Use the opportunity to demonstrate you now have the judgment and maturity necessary for the position. Finally, if you wish to engage in social media
from your office, be sure to check whether your employer has an official social media policy governing employees’ use of social media. Legal employers are increasingly implementing such policies,and while some are lenient, others are strict and may monitor your access to social media networks from the office and your online posts. Review your employer’s policy carefully and follow it.
You now have the tools to actively manage your online persona to put your best “e-footprint” forward. This will help mitigate the risk that you will be held accountable for past online indiscretions. Become a strategic user of social media by being cognizant of your purpose for using social media. Participate in social networking in a way that enhances your online identity, so that your online activity advances — rather than impedes — your offline professional goals.
Kristen Uhl Hulse, Esq., is Associate Director, Graduate Career and Professional Development, at Georgetown University Law Center.
Marina Sarmiento Feehan, Assistant Director, Office of Career Planning at the University of San Francisco School of Law, provided editorial assistance.
A Guide to E-Professionalism for Law Students:
Five Steps to Create and Maintain a Professional Online Persona
by Kristen Uhl Hulse
What Is Social Networking?
Social networking is about making connections online,whether they are personal, professional, or a combination of both. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are the leading social networking websites, each offering a unique platform to help you share information with your personal and professional contacts.
• LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com), which allows users to make “connections” with professional contacts, has over 65 million professional users in over 200 countries.(See http://press.linkedin.com.)
• Facebook (www.facebook.com), designed to facilitate online connections between “friends,” is the most visited Internet website. (See Facebook Surpasses Google in Weekly Traffic,available at www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_14698296.)
• Twitter (www.twitter.com),a relative newcomer to social networking,is a micro-blog that allows users to communicate with “followers” in short 140-character messages (“tweets”).
Making connections online can yield favorable offline results, such as making new professional contacts or networking to find a new position. Conversely, it may also expose you to unintended risks and consequences. It is therefore important to manage the information you share online(your “online persona”)to help you achieve your professional goals. This concept is known as e-professionalism.
Any information that you share online may influence an employer’s view of you, even if the employer cannot legally consider the information in employment decisions. With that in mind, this advice is designed to assist you in promoting yourself as a professional online, offering five simple steps to help you create and maintain a professional online persona.
STEP ONE: Identify your online social networking goals and choose the social networking platform accordingly. Law students typically use social media to keep in touch with family and friends, reconnect with fellow alumni and former colleagues, make professional networking contacts, and even search for jobs. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter may all be used for those purposes, but some are better than others for maintaining a professional image. Choose a social media platform aligned with your current goals, mindful that your goals may change. Err on the side of professionalism because it can be difficult to clean up “digital dirt” in the future.
Once you have chosen an appropriate platform, manage the content you post online. Any information you post on a social networking site creates an electronic record that may be accessible for years. Because employers may be able to locate your online posts and photos in the future, take steps now to establish a professional online persona.
STEP TWO: Conduct due diligence on your online presence. Is there disconnect between your online persona and your offline persona? Find out by conducting “due diligence” on your online presence. Whether you are an active user of social media or you have chosen not to participate, chances are information about you is publicly available online. Before you can begin managing your online identity,you must first determine what your online persona is now. To do this, run a search of your name (including your maiden name if relevant) on www.google.com, www.bing.com, www.pipl.com and search.intelius.com.
Assume any information you retrieve is discoverable by an employer. Many legal employers have admitted to running searches of a candidate’s name, the results of which can influence the employment process. Remember: your online persona is part of the complete application package you submit to employers. What you post publicly online may be just as important as what you have printed on a formal résumé.
STEP THREE: Clean up your online presence to reflect a professional online persona. Start by thoroughly examining the information you have posted on social networking sites, including status updates, photographs, and even responses to friends’ comments. You do not have to be posting about illicit behavior to raise an employer’s eyebrows. For example,consider the following Facebook or Twitter status updates:
• LAWYER “is stuck on a conference call with a bunch of idiots. Calgon, take me away!”
• LAW STUDENT “just got a job offer! Selling my soul to the devil for financial stability!”
While social media make it easy to share information with friends, be careful when doing so, particularly on Facebook. Even if your personal pages are private, your friends’ pages may be publicly accessible, allowing personal information you post on friends’ pages to be discoverable. Similarly,Facebook friends have the opportunity to “tag” photos of you without your permission.When interacting with a friend online, ask yourself: Does your friend have privacy controls? Do you know your friends’ friends? Assume that if you are telling a friend something sensitive online, the whole world will know your secret.
Beyond interacting on a friend’s page, friends might post material on your page that you may not wish the public to see — for example, “Care to take a ‘sick day’ and join me at the beach on Friday?” or “What time did you get home last night? Can’t believe we drank all those tequila shots.” Think carefully about the image you convey in any status update, photograph, or blog posting. Review information you have posted online as if you are an easily offended employer and purge any questionable material.
There are additional ways to mitigate the risk that a potential employer will find personal information. First, become an expert in Facebook’s privacy settings. From your profile page,select “Settings” for an extensive list of settings to provide different access to identified groups. Note that Facebook changes its privacy settings often. Thus, “fan” the Facebook Privacy page for automatic alerts each time Facebook alters its privacy settings.
• If you have personal AND professional friends on Facebook, create “Friend Lists” to control the types of information visible to various parties.
• You may restrict who can view your Profile, Search, News Feed and Wall, and Applications, allowing you to block a list of work colleagues from seeing certain activities.
• Once your Friend Lists are operational, you can assign new friends to a list when accepting friend requests.
Set Facebook e-mail alerts to notify you of Wall postings and “tagged” pictures of you. You can then act quickly to remove questionable material. Unfortunately,it is impossible to have complete control over what your friends post on your online profile. However,by choosing your Facebook
“friends” wisely and by requesting that they not post questionable items, you will hopefully prevent professionalism pitfalls.
STEP FOUR: Actively manage your online persona to meet your social networking goals. Once you have performed “due diligence” on your online persona and cleaned up your existing online identity, the next step is to actively manage your online persona. Conduct a self-assessment by asking yourself what kind of student you are now and what kind of lawyer you want to be. Specifically, what do you want your public online profile to be?
Based on your goals from Step One, implement an online strategy to manage your online persona. Online reputation management is a key component of e-professionalism. While you may not be able to erase negative online personal information, you can take steps to minimize negative content. In other words, you can create positive content through strategic use of social networking.
Begin by setting up a professional profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn’s high Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means it often appears at the top of search engine results. The higher on the screen positive search results appear, the lower the likelihood that the public will find negative information. A professional public profile on LinkedIn helps you establish and maintain a professional online persona. However, be sure your online information matches your offline résumé because employers may check the consistency and accuracy of both.
For tutorials on how to use LinkedIn professionally,visit the LinkedIn Learning Center at learn.linkedin.com and the LinkedIn Learning Center for Attorneys, learn.linkedin.com/attorneys/.
As a social networking site designed to facilitate information sharing between friends, Facebook should be used exclusively for personal use to minimize instances of unprofessionalism. Lock down your Facebook privacy settings to ensure that only your personal contacts can view your Facebook activity. Like LinkedIn, Facebook has a high SEO, so failure to impose strict privacy settings runs the risk that your personal information will be publicly visible. For further guidance, see “Nine Best Practices for Attorneys Using Facebook,” www.insidefacebook.com/2009/12/22/9-best-pra
ctices-for-attorneys-using-facebook/.
Although Twitter is designed to accommodate both personal and professional networking, you can use the site to emphasize your professional presence. Namely, you can use Twitter as a means of branding yourself as a professional in a particular area. Like LinkedIn and Facebook, Twitter has a high SEO and is a powerful tool for self-marketing. Twitter enables you to post tweets that are visible to the public (if tweets are unprotected) or your preapproved followers (if tweets are protected). Decide whether you want to use Twitter personally or professionally and do not mix the two (or set up separate personal and professional accounts).
If your goal in using Twitter is personal, “protect” your tweets so they will not appear in search engine results. However, if your goal is professional,leave your tweets public.
To get started, see “How to Use Twitter as a Lawyer,” blogforprofit.com/2008/09/11/how-to-use-twitter-as-a-lawyer-part-1/.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts) allow you to get e-mail updates of the latest Google results based on your search criteria (for example, your name and/or e-mail address). Results often include social networks, online forum postings, and captions for Flickr photos. Alerts enable you to regularly monitor your online persona. Similarly,you can search for your name and apply for automatic updates on Twitter at search.twitter.com/.
For further suggestions regarding online reputation management,see “Google Reputation Management: Tips on How to Fix Your Reputation and Remove Negative Results,” www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/10/google-reputation-management.html.
STEP FIVE: Be accountable for your online persona. Even if you implement these best practices today, an employer may still find something questionable about you online and seek an explanation. This allows you to clarify or put the material in context. It is crucial that you react professionally and accept responsibility. If it is a picture of you partying at Mardi Gras, explain that this behavior is in your past and that it was poor judgment to post the picture online. If it is a comment that you posted on an inflammatory blog as a law student,explain why you felt so passionate at the time. Mistakes are made — be prepared to be accountable when this might happen.
When answering an employer’s questions about your online materials, do not be defensive, and try to handle the questions with composure. Remember that in many cases, the employer may be trying to see how you react under pressure and whether you have learned from your mistakes. Use the opportunity to demonstrate you now have the judgment and maturity necessary for the position. Finally, if you wish to engage in social media
from your office, be sure to check whether your employer has an official social media policy governing employees’ use of social media. Legal employers are increasingly implementing such policies,and while some are lenient, others are strict and may monitor your access to social media networks from the office and your online posts. Review your employer’s policy carefully and follow it.
You now have the tools to actively manage your online persona to put your best “e-footprint” forward. This will help mitigate the risk that you will be held accountable for past online indiscretions. Become a strategic user of social media by being cognizant of your purpose for using social media. Participate in social networking in a way that enhances your online identity, so that your online activity advances — rather than impedes — your offline professional goals.
Kristen Uhl Hulse, Esq., is Associate Director, Graduate Career and Professional Development, at Georgetown University Law Center.
Marina Sarmiento Feehan, Assistant Director, Office of Career Planning at the University of San Francisco School of Law, provided editorial assistance.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Alternative Career Paths
Alternative Career Paths for Those With a J.D.
Katherine Frink-Hamlett
New York Law Journal
June 29, 2010
Faced with a tepid legal marketplace, law students and recent graduates (whether deferred, downsized or simply dismayed) need to rethink their career strategies to adapt to this brave new world. With significantly fewer entry-level associate positions available, now is the time to consider alternative opportunities that may not have initially appeared on your radar screen.
Many attorneys, myself included, entered law school with little to no information about the realities of practicing law or even the range of positions that are available to smart folks who hold the almighty juris doctor degree.
We simply figured that the LSAT was far more palatable than the GMAT (no math); we'd take three years to get a law degree since we basically liked school anyway (better than working, right?); and, then with a wave of the magic wand we'd start our prestigious law careers at a big, fat law firm making big, fat law dollars (mission accomplished).
Sure, a few of us had a bit more savvy and were eyeing judicial clerkships from day one. And, of course, there were the well-meaning, altruistic students who planned to change the world through public interest endeavors. But, for the most part, law students have an extremely myopic view of just how far and fast the J.D. can run.
In reality, there are several careers available to lawyers, including recent law school grads, that go beyond the so-called traditional practice of law. Here, three specific areas will be considered: procurement, compliance and legal administrative opportunities.
In addition to describing the substantive functions, suggestions will be provided on how to secure these roles as recent law graduates and whether, as a practical matter, these positions permit a transfer to traditional law practice should there be a desire to switch lanes.
While these careers are frequently referred to as "alternatives," the truth is that they simply represent the range of professional opportunities available to attorneys.
Some, like procurement and compliance, have been around for years. Others, like legal administrative roles, have recently emerged as relatively new careers primarily generated by the 21st century law firm model.
PROCUREMENT
Law students and recent grads may wonder what exactly procurement is. "Procurement is really just a term for how corporations go about the business of purchasing goods and services," explains I. Javette Hines, an attorney who is the senior vice president of supplier diversity and sustainability at Citi. Hines' primary responsibilities are to provide coaching and training to suppliers to make sure that they understand the company's business needs and overall objectives.
In doing so, her role requires that women and diverse businesses have access to corporate opportunities so that the company's suppliers mirror its diverse communities and marketplace footprint. In addition, she acts as a coach and trainer to the company's internal stakeholders to optimize their sourcing strategies.
Like so many attorneys in non-traditional practice areas, Hines stumbled into her procurement career.
After graduating from law school, she completed a short-term temporary assignment with the goal of moving to New York to write a screenplay. However, her plan changed when she landed an entry-level opportunity as a software procurement specialist with a major international corporation.
As a recent law school grad, she entered into the procurement world by drafting and negotiating software contracts. Through a series of promotions, various special projects and external career moves, Hines ultimately obtained her current position.
She emphasizes that understanding "processes and procedures" is critical to success in a procurement function, particularly as those procedures pertain to various components and categories of the company's business needs. Additionally, stellar communication skills are paramount to effectively articulate these concerns to suppliers and business leadership.
Hines encourages law students and recent grads who are interested in further information about procurement to visit the Web sites of the Institute for Supply Management and The Global Sourcing Council to obtain details about this growing and dynamic area.
And, if you're wondering whether a career in procurement prevents a return to the so-called traditional practice of law, rest assured: you can go back.
Why? Because procurement frequently includes drafting, negotiating and reviewing a wide variety of contracts so it is not a U-turn but more like a fork in the road.
In fact, procurement professionals are frequently tapped by legal departments to manage the negotiations for outsourcing transactions or serve as business and/ or government relations managers. By the way, Hines is still waiting to write that screenplay.
COMPLIANCE
Like Hines, Carol Baldwin Moody, senior vice president and chief compliance officer of a major insurance company, found her claim to fame in a so-called nontraditional practice area: financial compliance.
Recognized by Black Enterprise as one of the most powerful African- American women in America, Moody oversees a team of 175+ employees and is charged with the heady task of making sure that the company's vast insurance operations are in compliance with a multitude of ever-changing state and federal regulations applicable to their financial products.
She warns that it may sound easy, but in reality there may be 60 rules that apply to one product, covering activities ranging from regulatory approval to required disclosures. This entails meeting with business people and making sure that they are doing their jobs right.
As Moody emphasizes, "we are a business of trust" and the rules are "supposed to help our customers." As a result, process mapping and design competencies are key skills that any lawyer must have to create and implement compliance programs that make sense for their business.
"Most lawyers do not make good compliance [officers] because we are very conceptual and compliance people have to be process oriented," explains Moody.
She further emphasizes that a good compliance professional is a solution finder because at the end of the day, businesses do not sell compliance, they sell financial products.
Moody recommends that law students and recent graduates who are interested in seeking compliance opportunities take the time to learn what regulators are talking about, especially the "hot topics." And, she suggests visiting the website of the Securities and Exchange Commission to assess the risks of greatest concern to the commissioners.
Once you get your foot in the door, she encourages compliance professionals to seek out process mapping courses to improve their data analysis and processing skills.
Also, if you become associated with a broker-dealer, it is extremely advantageous to obtain extra designations like Series 7 and Series 24 licenses.
Joining a legal department from a compliance role is a no-brainer. From a recruiting perspective, a candidate's compliance experience is highly coveted and frequently a stated requirement or a strong preference.
For example, when asked whether she, as a compliance professional, could transition back to traditional legal practice, Moody responded, "I could easily become general counsel of a company."
LAW FIRM ADMINISTRATION
While law firms may have limited associate opportunities, there may be opportunities in administrative areas such as professional development and diversity.
Maja Hazell is the director of diversity and inclusion at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson and her role is broadly focused on diversity as she helps firm management chart a course of business as it relates to the firm's culture.
Hazell explains that "diversity issues show up everywhere:" human resources, recruiting, marketing, etc.
It's her primary responsibility to work in a collaborative fashion to synthesize these various firm functions around diversity and inclusion. In some cases this may entail working with the firm's diversity committee or interfacing with professional development.
Before considering a move to the administrative side, Hazell suggests developing skills to obtain an understanding of what it means to run a successful firm.
If you have practice experience, consider working with administrative, partner and recruiting committees to become involved in firm strategies and problem solving.
As a law student or recent graduate, entry-level positions like recruiting assistant or coordinator are realistic stepping stones that will allow you to transition into a manager's or director's role.
Hazell warns, however, that you may face an uphill battle in convincing a potential employer that you are genuinely committed to an administrative career.
Also, unless you have prior practice experience, returning to traditional law practice may prove difficult so you'll probably want to keep your bar licenses up to date as well as taking on pro bono opportunities.
And, as with all career moves, Hazell emphasizes that it is "all about who you know."
In addition to procurement, compliance and legal administrative opportunities, there are a host of careers that recent graduates can consider, ranging from contract administration to legal publishing.
Even in this challenging market, a law degree can provide meaningful career opportunities for law students and recent grads.
Stay flexible in your approach, be willing to look beyond the obvious, and just hang in there. There's a place for you; it's just a matter of time.
Katherine Frink-Hamlett, a graduate of New York University School of Law, is president of Frink-Hamlett Legal Solutions Inc. and can be reached at katherine@frinkhamlett.com.
Katherine Frink-Hamlett
New York Law Journal
June 29, 2010
Faced with a tepid legal marketplace, law students and recent graduates (whether deferred, downsized or simply dismayed) need to rethink their career strategies to adapt to this brave new world. With significantly fewer entry-level associate positions available, now is the time to consider alternative opportunities that may not have initially appeared on your radar screen.
Many attorneys, myself included, entered law school with little to no information about the realities of practicing law or even the range of positions that are available to smart folks who hold the almighty juris doctor degree.
We simply figured that the LSAT was far more palatable than the GMAT (no math); we'd take three years to get a law degree since we basically liked school anyway (better than working, right?); and, then with a wave of the magic wand we'd start our prestigious law careers at a big, fat law firm making big, fat law dollars (mission accomplished).
Sure, a few of us had a bit more savvy and were eyeing judicial clerkships from day one. And, of course, there were the well-meaning, altruistic students who planned to change the world through public interest endeavors. But, for the most part, law students have an extremely myopic view of just how far and fast the J.D. can run.
In reality, there are several careers available to lawyers, including recent law school grads, that go beyond the so-called traditional practice of law. Here, three specific areas will be considered: procurement, compliance and legal administrative opportunities.
In addition to describing the substantive functions, suggestions will be provided on how to secure these roles as recent law graduates and whether, as a practical matter, these positions permit a transfer to traditional law practice should there be a desire to switch lanes.
While these careers are frequently referred to as "alternatives," the truth is that they simply represent the range of professional opportunities available to attorneys.
Some, like procurement and compliance, have been around for years. Others, like legal administrative roles, have recently emerged as relatively new careers primarily generated by the 21st century law firm model.
PROCUREMENT
Law students and recent grads may wonder what exactly procurement is. "Procurement is really just a term for how corporations go about the business of purchasing goods and services," explains I. Javette Hines, an attorney who is the senior vice president of supplier diversity and sustainability at Citi. Hines' primary responsibilities are to provide coaching and training to suppliers to make sure that they understand the company's business needs and overall objectives.
In doing so, her role requires that women and diverse businesses have access to corporate opportunities so that the company's suppliers mirror its diverse communities and marketplace footprint. In addition, she acts as a coach and trainer to the company's internal stakeholders to optimize their sourcing strategies.
Like so many attorneys in non-traditional practice areas, Hines stumbled into her procurement career.
After graduating from law school, she completed a short-term temporary assignment with the goal of moving to New York to write a screenplay. However, her plan changed when she landed an entry-level opportunity as a software procurement specialist with a major international corporation.
As a recent law school grad, she entered into the procurement world by drafting and negotiating software contracts. Through a series of promotions, various special projects and external career moves, Hines ultimately obtained her current position.
She emphasizes that understanding "processes and procedures" is critical to success in a procurement function, particularly as those procedures pertain to various components and categories of the company's business needs. Additionally, stellar communication skills are paramount to effectively articulate these concerns to suppliers and business leadership.
Hines encourages law students and recent grads who are interested in further information about procurement to visit the Web sites of the Institute for Supply Management and The Global Sourcing Council to obtain details about this growing and dynamic area.
And, if you're wondering whether a career in procurement prevents a return to the so-called traditional practice of law, rest assured: you can go back.
Why? Because procurement frequently includes drafting, negotiating and reviewing a wide variety of contracts so it is not a U-turn but more like a fork in the road.
In fact, procurement professionals are frequently tapped by legal departments to manage the negotiations for outsourcing transactions or serve as business and/ or government relations managers. By the way, Hines is still waiting to write that screenplay.
COMPLIANCE
Like Hines, Carol Baldwin Moody, senior vice president and chief compliance officer of a major insurance company, found her claim to fame in a so-called nontraditional practice area: financial compliance.
Recognized by Black Enterprise as one of the most powerful African- American women in America, Moody oversees a team of 175+ employees and is charged with the heady task of making sure that the company's vast insurance operations are in compliance with a multitude of ever-changing state and federal regulations applicable to their financial products.
She warns that it may sound easy, but in reality there may be 60 rules that apply to one product, covering activities ranging from regulatory approval to required disclosures. This entails meeting with business people and making sure that they are doing their jobs right.
As Moody emphasizes, "we are a business of trust" and the rules are "supposed to help our customers." As a result, process mapping and design competencies are key skills that any lawyer must have to create and implement compliance programs that make sense for their business.
"Most lawyers do not make good compliance [officers] because we are very conceptual and compliance people have to be process oriented," explains Moody.
She further emphasizes that a good compliance professional is a solution finder because at the end of the day, businesses do not sell compliance, they sell financial products.
Moody recommends that law students and recent graduates who are interested in seeking compliance opportunities take the time to learn what regulators are talking about, especially the "hot topics." And, she suggests visiting the website of the Securities and Exchange Commission to assess the risks of greatest concern to the commissioners.
Once you get your foot in the door, she encourages compliance professionals to seek out process mapping courses to improve their data analysis and processing skills.
Also, if you become associated with a broker-dealer, it is extremely advantageous to obtain extra designations like Series 7 and Series 24 licenses.
Joining a legal department from a compliance role is a no-brainer. From a recruiting perspective, a candidate's compliance experience is highly coveted and frequently a stated requirement or a strong preference.
For example, when asked whether she, as a compliance professional, could transition back to traditional legal practice, Moody responded, "I could easily become general counsel of a company."
LAW FIRM ADMINISTRATION
While law firms may have limited associate opportunities, there may be opportunities in administrative areas such as professional development and diversity.
Maja Hazell is the director of diversity and inclusion at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson and her role is broadly focused on diversity as she helps firm management chart a course of business as it relates to the firm's culture.
Hazell explains that "diversity issues show up everywhere:" human resources, recruiting, marketing, etc.
It's her primary responsibility to work in a collaborative fashion to synthesize these various firm functions around diversity and inclusion. In some cases this may entail working with the firm's diversity committee or interfacing with professional development.
Before considering a move to the administrative side, Hazell suggests developing skills to obtain an understanding of what it means to run a successful firm.
If you have practice experience, consider working with administrative, partner and recruiting committees to become involved in firm strategies and problem solving.
As a law student or recent graduate, entry-level positions like recruiting assistant or coordinator are realistic stepping stones that will allow you to transition into a manager's or director's role.
Hazell warns, however, that you may face an uphill battle in convincing a potential employer that you are genuinely committed to an administrative career.
Also, unless you have prior practice experience, returning to traditional law practice may prove difficult so you'll probably want to keep your bar licenses up to date as well as taking on pro bono opportunities.
And, as with all career moves, Hazell emphasizes that it is "all about who you know."
In addition to procurement, compliance and legal administrative opportunities, there are a host of careers that recent graduates can consider, ranging from contract administration to legal publishing.
Even in this challenging market, a law degree can provide meaningful career opportunities for law students and recent grads.
Stay flexible in your approach, be willing to look beyond the obvious, and just hang in there. There's a place for you; it's just a matter of time.
Katherine Frink-Hamlett, a graduate of New York University School of Law, is president of Frink-Hamlett Legal Solutions Inc. and can be reached at katherine@frinkhamlett.com.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Expert Opinion: Getting (and Giving) the Most in Your Summer Internship"
From the PSLawNet.org Blog:
This week’s Expert Opinion, on how to maximize your summer internship experience comes to us courtesy of Deb Ellis, Assistant Dean for Public Service at NYU School of Law, where she directs the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) and the Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship Program and oversees the Judicial Clerkship Office. Prior to heading PILC, Deb had a varied public interest career, including serving as Legal Director of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, where in 1992 she argued Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic before the U.S. Supreme Court. She also served as Legal Director of the ACLU of New Jersey, and as a Staff Attorney at the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, and at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Deb graduated from Yale College and from NYU Law where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar. She clerked for the late Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in Montgomery, Alabama.
Exams are over and you’ve begun your public interest internship! How can you be the kind of intern that employers will rave about and hopefully want to hire as an attorney someday?
From my perspective as both a public interest practitioner and now a law school counselor, I have developed eight tips based on what I look for when I hire: individuals who take initiative — who can figure out what needs to be done on their cases and projects. In short, I look for people who are proactive.
Sometimes students find that it takes a change of perspective to be proactive after a year spent in classrooms, where their role is more passive. But in the work world it is essential to take responsibility for your own learning. If you make that effort – to think through your priorities, contribute as much as you can to your employer, and be a team player – you will learn the most, and have the most fun, too.
Tip 1. Know your goals and be proactive in seeking out opportunities to accomplish them.
Early in the summer, identify what your goals are. Possible goals include:
• Creating a writing sample
• Strengthening legal research skills
• Observing court proceedings
• Developing client interview skills
• Representing a client at an administrative hearing
What should you do once you identify your goals? Because your first responsibility is to meet your employer’s needs, you have to be strategic – if you simply announce your goals, you will be viewed as self-absorbed and entitled. Many employers will make it easy by asking about your goals. But if they do not, you can still seek out opportunities to develop your skills. It may sound like a truism, but if we know our goals, we are more likely to look for ways to accomplish them. For example, if you want to create a writing sample and the employer gives you an option to write either an outline or a memo, you would choose to write the complete memo.
Identifying your priorities will give you the courage to volunteer for assignments that may seem intimidating. I recall, regretfully, how early in my career I passed up an opportunity to do a substantial argument in federal court because I thought I was too junior. Now I’ve learned that the only way to gain experience is to seize it!
Tip 2: Discuss your internship with your supervisor before or soon after your arrival.
It is best if your supervisor initiates such a meeting, but if she does not, you should be proactive and ask if you can meet briefly to discuss the office’s expectations of interns. Among the issues to discuss are:
• The office’s needs and expectations
• How to request guidance on an assignment
• Whom to go to if you need more work
• Your eagerness to do a particular kind of work (such as create a writing sample), subject to the office’s needs
• Reading that could help you contextualize your work
Tip 3: Be realistic about your expectations for feedback.
Realize that your supervising attorneys are busy people. Their job is to serve their clients, not to mentor you, although they would like to do both. It is realistic to ask for written feedback on one piece of major writing; it is unrealistic to expect feedback on every assignment you hand in. Realize that in the work world, handing in a project and receiving no feedback is par for the course. In some cases you can figure out if your supervisor found your work valuable by observing how she used it—was your research incorporated into the brief she filed with the court?
Tip 4: Honor your duty of confidentiality to clients.
Assume that all case matters and client information are confidential unless your supervisors inform you otherwise. If a matter is confidential, you may not discuss it with those outside your office, except in terms that are sufficiently vague as to protect the identity of both the client and the adversary. Be careful! Do not discuss cases or clients in elevators, on the subway, or in other public places.
Tip 5: Be professional in all conduct and prepared at all times.
• Wear appropriate dress (no tank-tops, shorts, or very short skirts). If you want to be able to observe court appearances, dress in suitable clothing on every day a court appearance is possible. For some offices, this means every day.
• Get to know the support staff by name. Always say “please” when asking for assistance and “thank you” when they have completed a task for you.
• Always carry pen and paper (and use them). As a supervising attorney, nothing irked me more than when a student came to a meeting unprepared to take notes.
• Always be on time, in the morning, and for meetings. You may observe that attorneys come in late – don’t assume that you can, too.
Tip 6: Meet with your supervisor mid-summer to evaluate your progress.
In the hundreds of intern evaluations that I read each year, I’ve noticed that students find a mid-summer evaluation much more productive than an end-of-summer one, because it gives them a chance to immediately implement the feedback they receive. Thus, I advise you to meet with your supervisor (or if you don’t have one, the attorney whom you have done the most work for) mid-way through the summer to ask how you are doing. Ideally, your supervisor will initiate this meeting. However, if she doesn’t, you can subtly “manage up,” and ask her if she would have time for a brief meeting because you would like to ensure that you are doing all you can to be an effective intern.
Tip 7: Be indispensable and take advantage of all learning opportunities.
• Attend lectures, discussions, brown bag lunches, outings or field trips. Some organizations take note of which interns attend all of the events that the office provides. The more involved you are, the more likely it is that the employer will want you back!
• Be a team player. Do your own copying and faxing, and offer to help the attorneys with these tasks as well.
• Find ways for your supervisor to depend on you. Make sure every citation is perfect. As a junior member of the team, you may know more about technology than your supervisor—this is a good way to be indispensable.
• Downtime is an opportunity—and Facebook is NOT your friend! Use downtime to observe court, look for new projects, or do background reading. No one ever became indispensable by playing Farmville.
• “How can I help?” is one of my favorite queries—whether from my son before dinner or from a colleague on a busy day.
Tip 8: Make your supervisor your mentor.
Most attorneys want to be a good mentor, but often don’t have the time for leisurely lunches or long chats. Make it easy for them to mentor you by using any time you have together to ask questions and seek their advice. For example, if they’re walking out of the office to get coffee, ask if you can join them. During a break in a meeting, don’t text – talk to your colleagues.
Conclusion: Having hired dozens of interns and attorneys in my career, I know that internships are crucial: hiring a former intern as an attorney meant that there would be no surprises—we knew in advance how sensational she or he would be! Being proactive as an intern will guarantee that you will gain the skills, knowledge, and recommendations that will help launch you in your public service career. Good Luck!
This week’s Expert Opinion, on how to maximize your summer internship experience comes to us courtesy of Deb Ellis, Assistant Dean for Public Service at NYU School of Law, where she directs the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) and the Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship Program and oversees the Judicial Clerkship Office. Prior to heading PILC, Deb had a varied public interest career, including serving as Legal Director of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, where in 1992 she argued Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic before the U.S. Supreme Court. She also served as Legal Director of the ACLU of New Jersey, and as a Staff Attorney at the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, and at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Deb graduated from Yale College and from NYU Law where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar. She clerked for the late Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in Montgomery, Alabama.
Exams are over and you’ve begun your public interest internship! How can you be the kind of intern that employers will rave about and hopefully want to hire as an attorney someday?
From my perspective as both a public interest practitioner and now a law school counselor, I have developed eight tips based on what I look for when I hire: individuals who take initiative — who can figure out what needs to be done on their cases and projects. In short, I look for people who are proactive.
Sometimes students find that it takes a change of perspective to be proactive after a year spent in classrooms, where their role is more passive. But in the work world it is essential to take responsibility for your own learning. If you make that effort – to think through your priorities, contribute as much as you can to your employer, and be a team player – you will learn the most, and have the most fun, too.
Tip 1. Know your goals and be proactive in seeking out opportunities to accomplish them.
Early in the summer, identify what your goals are. Possible goals include:
• Creating a writing sample
• Strengthening legal research skills
• Observing court proceedings
• Developing client interview skills
• Representing a client at an administrative hearing
What should you do once you identify your goals? Because your first responsibility is to meet your employer’s needs, you have to be strategic – if you simply announce your goals, you will be viewed as self-absorbed and entitled. Many employers will make it easy by asking about your goals. But if they do not, you can still seek out opportunities to develop your skills. It may sound like a truism, but if we know our goals, we are more likely to look for ways to accomplish them. For example, if you want to create a writing sample and the employer gives you an option to write either an outline or a memo, you would choose to write the complete memo.
Identifying your priorities will give you the courage to volunteer for assignments that may seem intimidating. I recall, regretfully, how early in my career I passed up an opportunity to do a substantial argument in federal court because I thought I was too junior. Now I’ve learned that the only way to gain experience is to seize it!
Tip 2: Discuss your internship with your supervisor before or soon after your arrival.
It is best if your supervisor initiates such a meeting, but if she does not, you should be proactive and ask if you can meet briefly to discuss the office’s expectations of interns. Among the issues to discuss are:
• The office’s needs and expectations
• How to request guidance on an assignment
• Whom to go to if you need more work
• Your eagerness to do a particular kind of work (such as create a writing sample), subject to the office’s needs
• Reading that could help you contextualize your work
Tip 3: Be realistic about your expectations for feedback.
Realize that your supervising attorneys are busy people. Their job is to serve their clients, not to mentor you, although they would like to do both. It is realistic to ask for written feedback on one piece of major writing; it is unrealistic to expect feedback on every assignment you hand in. Realize that in the work world, handing in a project and receiving no feedback is par for the course. In some cases you can figure out if your supervisor found your work valuable by observing how she used it—was your research incorporated into the brief she filed with the court?
Tip 4: Honor your duty of confidentiality to clients.
Assume that all case matters and client information are confidential unless your supervisors inform you otherwise. If a matter is confidential, you may not discuss it with those outside your office, except in terms that are sufficiently vague as to protect the identity of both the client and the adversary. Be careful! Do not discuss cases or clients in elevators, on the subway, or in other public places.
Tip 5: Be professional in all conduct and prepared at all times.
• Wear appropriate dress (no tank-tops, shorts, or very short skirts). If you want to be able to observe court appearances, dress in suitable clothing on every day a court appearance is possible. For some offices, this means every day.
• Get to know the support staff by name. Always say “please” when asking for assistance and “thank you” when they have completed a task for you.
• Always carry pen and paper (and use them). As a supervising attorney, nothing irked me more than when a student came to a meeting unprepared to take notes.
• Always be on time, in the morning, and for meetings. You may observe that attorneys come in late – don’t assume that you can, too.
Tip 6: Meet with your supervisor mid-summer to evaluate your progress.
In the hundreds of intern evaluations that I read each year, I’ve noticed that students find a mid-summer evaluation much more productive than an end-of-summer one, because it gives them a chance to immediately implement the feedback they receive. Thus, I advise you to meet with your supervisor (or if you don’t have one, the attorney whom you have done the most work for) mid-way through the summer to ask how you are doing. Ideally, your supervisor will initiate this meeting. However, if she doesn’t, you can subtly “manage up,” and ask her if she would have time for a brief meeting because you would like to ensure that you are doing all you can to be an effective intern.
Tip 7: Be indispensable and take advantage of all learning opportunities.
• Attend lectures, discussions, brown bag lunches, outings or field trips. Some organizations take note of which interns attend all of the events that the office provides. The more involved you are, the more likely it is that the employer will want you back!
• Be a team player. Do your own copying and faxing, and offer to help the attorneys with these tasks as well.
• Find ways for your supervisor to depend on you. Make sure every citation is perfect. As a junior member of the team, you may know more about technology than your supervisor—this is a good way to be indispensable.
• Downtime is an opportunity—and Facebook is NOT your friend! Use downtime to observe court, look for new projects, or do background reading. No one ever became indispensable by playing Farmville.
• “How can I help?” is one of my favorite queries—whether from my son before dinner or from a colleague on a busy day.
Tip 8: Make your supervisor your mentor.
Most attorneys want to be a good mentor, but often don’t have the time for leisurely lunches or long chats. Make it easy for them to mentor you by using any time you have together to ask questions and seek their advice. For example, if they’re walking out of the office to get coffee, ask if you can join them. During a break in a meeting, don’t text – talk to your colleagues.
Conclusion: Having hired dozens of interns and attorneys in my career, I know that internships are crucial: hiring a former intern as an attorney meant that there would be no surprises—we knew in advance how sensational she or he would be! Being proactive as an intern will guarantee that you will gain the skills, knowledge, and recommendations that will help launch you in your public service career. Good Luck!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Resources for Postgraduate, Public-interest Fellowship Applications
From the June 14, 2010 PSLawNet Blog
This is about the time of year that rising 3Ls start thinking seriously about crafting proposals for postgraduate, public-interest fellowships. Project-based fellowships, like the ones offered by Equal Justice Works and the Skadden Fellowship Foundation, involve a law student submitting a proposal to the funding agency at the beginning of the Fall, 3L semester. In the case of Equal Justice Works, year 2011 fellowship proposal applications will be available on July 5 and are due in on September 15, 2010. As for Skadden, the applications are now available here and are due in on October 4, 2010.
Project-based fellowships are coveted, and competition for them is fierce. Hundreds of public-interest minded law students vie for relatively few positions. For instance, at Equal Justice Works, 43 Class-of-2010 graduates were awarded fellowships. Skadden awarded 27 fellowships to Class-of-2010 grads, down from 36 in 2008.
This is all the more reason to craft the strongest proposal possible. Take advantage of PSLawNet’s tip-sheet, Project-based Fellowship Applications: Take Cues from Those Who Know. Among other advice offered in this handout:
•Create Your Own Fellowship Team: identify people who can help you with the application process, including career services/public interest advisors and faculty or alumni who received fellowships and/or served on fellowship selection committees.
•Build a Relationship with Your Would-be Host Organization: A relationship with your would-be host is a vital part of the successful fellowship application (and the successful fellowship). It’s best to apply with an organization that you have previously worked for. But if that is not possible, it is wise to still propose a project that relates to work you have done, so that you can demonstrate that you have the knowledge, skills, and passion to do the job.
•Focus on the Clients: It’s about the clients, not about you and your career goals. Make sure to emphasize how your project makes an impact and who the beneficiaries of your project are. Can you get client input for the proposal?
•Do Not Take Yourself out of the Proposal Driver’s Seat: A senior program manager at a funding organization notes, “Sometimes when I read an application…it reads like the host organization supervisor thought up a project and then found a fellow to fit the bill rather than a personal passion coming through in the project description.” Funders wish to support a specific project driven by a fellow, not a new staff attorney position for the host organization.
•Do Not Be Vague or Unrealistic: Avoid making the project proposal excessively grand, including too many ideas (i.e. the kitchen sink). While the goal is typically for the project to sustain itself after the fellowship term ends, the fellow should still specifically map out realistic objectives to be achieved during their term. (Note: The opposite can happen too when the application is too narrow and not capable of sustaining itself so that the reader cannot see it lasting two years and beyond.)
For additional tips and more general information, see PSLawNet’s Postgraduate Fellowships Information & Resources Page.
Please remember, too, that project-based fellowships are not the only game in town. Organization-based fellowships, which don’t involve a third-party funder in the application process, are much more plentiful and can provide equal opportunities in terms of gaining experience and developing professionally. Again, use PSLawNet’s Postgraduate Fellowships Information & Resources Page and search the hundreds of fellowship (project- and organization-based) listings in PSLawNet’s opportunities database. We are doing our annual update of fellowships listings now, so if you see one that’s out of date, just check back in a few weeks or get in touch with the employer/host organization directly.
Good luck!
This is about the time of year that rising 3Ls start thinking seriously about crafting proposals for postgraduate, public-interest fellowships. Project-based fellowships, like the ones offered by Equal Justice Works and the Skadden Fellowship Foundation, involve a law student submitting a proposal to the funding agency at the beginning of the Fall, 3L semester. In the case of Equal Justice Works, year 2011 fellowship proposal applications will be available on July 5 and are due in on September 15, 2010. As for Skadden, the applications are now available here and are due in on October 4, 2010.
Project-based fellowships are coveted, and competition for them is fierce. Hundreds of public-interest minded law students vie for relatively few positions. For instance, at Equal Justice Works, 43 Class-of-2010 graduates were awarded fellowships. Skadden awarded 27 fellowships to Class-of-2010 grads, down from 36 in 2008.
This is all the more reason to craft the strongest proposal possible. Take advantage of PSLawNet’s tip-sheet, Project-based Fellowship Applications: Take Cues from Those Who Know. Among other advice offered in this handout:
•Create Your Own Fellowship Team: identify people who can help you with the application process, including career services/public interest advisors and faculty or alumni who received fellowships and/or served on fellowship selection committees.
•Build a Relationship with Your Would-be Host Organization: A relationship with your would-be host is a vital part of the successful fellowship application (and the successful fellowship). It’s best to apply with an organization that you have previously worked for. But if that is not possible, it is wise to still propose a project that relates to work you have done, so that you can demonstrate that you have the knowledge, skills, and passion to do the job.
•Focus on the Clients: It’s about the clients, not about you and your career goals. Make sure to emphasize how your project makes an impact and who the beneficiaries of your project are. Can you get client input for the proposal?
•Do Not Take Yourself out of the Proposal Driver’s Seat: A senior program manager at a funding organization notes, “Sometimes when I read an application…it reads like the host organization supervisor thought up a project and then found a fellow to fit the bill rather than a personal passion coming through in the project description.” Funders wish to support a specific project driven by a fellow, not a new staff attorney position for the host organization.
•Do Not Be Vague or Unrealistic: Avoid making the project proposal excessively grand, including too many ideas (i.e. the kitchen sink). While the goal is typically for the project to sustain itself after the fellowship term ends, the fellow should still specifically map out realistic objectives to be achieved during their term. (Note: The opposite can happen too when the application is too narrow and not capable of sustaining itself so that the reader cannot see it lasting two years and beyond.)
For additional tips and more general information, see PSLawNet’s Postgraduate Fellowships Information & Resources Page.
Please remember, too, that project-based fellowships are not the only game in town. Organization-based fellowships, which don’t involve a third-party funder in the application process, are much more plentiful and can provide equal opportunities in terms of gaining experience and developing professionally. Again, use PSLawNet’s Postgraduate Fellowships Information & Resources Page and search the hundreds of fellowship (project- and organization-based) listings in PSLawNet’s opportunities database. We are doing our annual update of fellowships listings now, so if you see one that’s out of date, just check back in a few weeks or get in touch with the employer/host organization directly.
Good luck!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Building a Professional Network
From Mary's News Box
by Mary Crane
http://www.marycrane.com/readMaryNewsletter.jsp?newsletter_id=20
A graduate of George Washington Law School, Mary Crane lobbied in Washington D.C. for nearly ten years before pursuing her life-long interest in food and wine. Crane enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America and, upon graduation, worked at the White House as an assistant chef. During this time, Crane discovered the interplay of food, wine, and business. Her desire to share this unique knowledge yielded Mary Crane & Associates.
Today, Mary travels North America delivering high impact, high energy programs to Fortune 500 companies and more than 50% of the AmLaw100. She helps new employees quickly assimilate in today’s fast-paced work environment. She also helps managers understand how to best recruit, motivate, and retain today’s newest workers.
Mary has been featured on 60 Minutes, Fox Business News and ABC Radio. She has been quoted extensively in a variety of print and electronic media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes.com, and Fortune.com.
BUILDING A PROFESSIONAL NETWORK
The people who not only survived—but thrived—during the Great Recession of 2009 were the people who had previously invested time and effort building strong personal and professional networks. In some cases, these people had access to more information about developments in their industry, something that allowed them to prepare for the downturn. In other cases, as unemployment rose, these intrepid networkers received early information about work opportunities as they developed. And in virtually all cases, these people had a bevy of contacts upon whom they could lean for pure emotional support.
The most effective networks are the ones that are consciously constructed and carefully nurtured. To the extent that you are helping someone think through their own networking needs, consider the following general guidelines:
Networking Guidelines
1. Start by understanding who and what you currently know.
Unless you’re a recluse, odds are you interact with lots of people on a day-to-day basis. To begin building your network, create a list of the people you know personally and a separate list of the people you know professionally. Then, go through both lists and quantify how frequently you connect with these people. Make a note as to whether most of your connections are face-to-face or electronic.
Make yet another list of the organizations to which you belong. With each organization, note how frequently you attend its meetings and events. It might also be worth noting whether you always attend the same one or two organizational events, though the organization hosts others that have piqued your interest. For example, you have consistently attended the local bar association’s tax section education programs but never signed up for the association’s young lawyers monthly get-together.
Ask yourself how frequently you add new contacts to your network. Also, examine the extent to which you regularly offer to help your contacts by providing them with information or put them in touch with others.
2. Identify your goals.
People build personal and professional networks for a variety of reasons. Make sure you understand your own goals.
If you are a new graduate looking to land your first job, your networking goals might include: Acquiring loads of information about any possible job openings; gaining some visibility among adults who are not your college peers; and acquiring the opportunity to make personal connections with people who can provide advice and support.
If you are an established professional who now seeks to use your network for business development purposes, networking goals might include: Deepening your relationships with current clients; identifying prospective clients; and becoming viewed by colleagues as a trusted professional to whom they would feel comfortable referring business.
3. Look at a variety of different types of groups.
Ideally, personal and professional networks help provide access to extremely diverse skill sets. So don’t hesitate to choose groups and activities that are unrelated to your chosen career path or profession. And, in order to ensure that you regularly attend group meetings and events, choose groups and activities that you truly enjoy.
Some research suggests that among the most effective networking opportunities are those that incorporate some type of “shared activity.” These are unscripted activities organized around a common point of interest, for example, roll-up-your-sleeve events like preparing food in a soup kitchen or sorting collected clothing to be sent to a disaster relief area. According to the research, networkers at “shared activity” events are more likely to engage in genuine conversations and thereby get to know each other more thoroughly. (See B. Uzzi and S. Dunlap, “How To Build Your Network,” Harvard Business Review, December 2005).
Feel free to join groups where you’ll primarily meet people over a coffee and Danish or cocktails, but make sure you also join groups that host “shared activity” events.
4. Recognize that building a network takes time.
The most effective networks are comprised of people who know and trust each other, and trust rarely develops overnight. For this reason, make sure to reach out to members of your network regularly, at least every three to six months. Electronic updates are fine, but face-to-face connections help deepen relationships faster.
And by the way, for the same reason, get started on building your network right now. Don’t put it off until fall. And certainly, don’t put it off until the next economic downturn. You know you need a network. Start building it today.
5. Be prepared to help others.
If you think networking is all about you, you couldn’t be more wrong. Successful networkers make sure they give to others as well as take. Every time someone helps you (points you to a job opening, suggests how you can improve your résumé, refers some business to you), make sure you quickly follow-up with your thanks. Then, look for ways that you can return the favor.
Before you...attend a networking event, make sure (you) are aware of the following five practical networking tips:
Networking Tips:
1. Before attending the event, prepare your introduction. This should include your name and one or two sentences that tell the other person something about who you are and what you do. Make your introduction memorable. In fact, view this as your own 30-second commercial.
2. Eat something before attending a networking event. Throughout the event, your focus should stay on making new contacts, not satisfying hunger pangs. And whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of grabbing a drink and a plateful of nibbles at the same time.
3. Everyone attends networking events with the understanding that they have a responsibility to mingle. Use the business card exchange to bring conversations to an end. After a brief conversation, simply say, “I enjoyed talking with you and would like to stay in touch. Do you have a business card?”
4. As soon as you leave the event, review the business cards that you have collected and make notes regarding specific conversations. Then, in the days, weeks and months that follow, use this information to constantly reconnect with people in your network.
5. Follow-up. Attending a networking event is the first step to building a relationship. Follow-up with people regularly, making sure that you give just as much information, assistance, and support as you receive.
by Mary Crane
http://www.marycrane.com/readMaryNewsletter.jsp?newsletter_id=20
A graduate of George Washington Law School, Mary Crane lobbied in Washington D.C. for nearly ten years before pursuing her life-long interest in food and wine. Crane enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America and, upon graduation, worked at the White House as an assistant chef. During this time, Crane discovered the interplay of food, wine, and business. Her desire to share this unique knowledge yielded Mary Crane & Associates.
Today, Mary travels North America delivering high impact, high energy programs to Fortune 500 companies and more than 50% of the AmLaw100. She helps new employees quickly assimilate in today’s fast-paced work environment. She also helps managers understand how to best recruit, motivate, and retain today’s newest workers.
Mary has been featured on 60 Minutes, Fox Business News and ABC Radio. She has been quoted extensively in a variety of print and electronic media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes.com, and Fortune.com.
BUILDING A PROFESSIONAL NETWORK
The people who not only survived—but thrived—during the Great Recession of 2009 were the people who had previously invested time and effort building strong personal and professional networks. In some cases, these people had access to more information about developments in their industry, something that allowed them to prepare for the downturn. In other cases, as unemployment rose, these intrepid networkers received early information about work opportunities as they developed. And in virtually all cases, these people had a bevy of contacts upon whom they could lean for pure emotional support.
The most effective networks are the ones that are consciously constructed and carefully nurtured. To the extent that you are helping someone think through their own networking needs, consider the following general guidelines:
Networking Guidelines
1. Start by understanding who and what you currently know.
Unless you’re a recluse, odds are you interact with lots of people on a day-to-day basis. To begin building your network, create a list of the people you know personally and a separate list of the people you know professionally. Then, go through both lists and quantify how frequently you connect with these people. Make a note as to whether most of your connections are face-to-face or electronic.
Make yet another list of the organizations to which you belong. With each organization, note how frequently you attend its meetings and events. It might also be worth noting whether you always attend the same one or two organizational events, though the organization hosts others that have piqued your interest. For example, you have consistently attended the local bar association’s tax section education programs but never signed up for the association’s young lawyers monthly get-together.
Ask yourself how frequently you add new contacts to your network. Also, examine the extent to which you regularly offer to help your contacts by providing them with information or put them in touch with others.
2. Identify your goals.
People build personal and professional networks for a variety of reasons. Make sure you understand your own goals.
If you are a new graduate looking to land your first job, your networking goals might include: Acquiring loads of information about any possible job openings; gaining some visibility among adults who are not your college peers; and acquiring the opportunity to make personal connections with people who can provide advice and support.
If you are an established professional who now seeks to use your network for business development purposes, networking goals might include: Deepening your relationships with current clients; identifying prospective clients; and becoming viewed by colleagues as a trusted professional to whom they would feel comfortable referring business.
3. Look at a variety of different types of groups.
Ideally, personal and professional networks help provide access to extremely diverse skill sets. So don’t hesitate to choose groups and activities that are unrelated to your chosen career path or profession. And, in order to ensure that you regularly attend group meetings and events, choose groups and activities that you truly enjoy.
Some research suggests that among the most effective networking opportunities are those that incorporate some type of “shared activity.” These are unscripted activities organized around a common point of interest, for example, roll-up-your-sleeve events like preparing food in a soup kitchen or sorting collected clothing to be sent to a disaster relief area. According to the research, networkers at “shared activity” events are more likely to engage in genuine conversations and thereby get to know each other more thoroughly. (See B. Uzzi and S. Dunlap, “How To Build Your Network,” Harvard Business Review, December 2005).
Feel free to join groups where you’ll primarily meet people over a coffee and Danish or cocktails, but make sure you also join groups that host “shared activity” events.
4. Recognize that building a network takes time.
The most effective networks are comprised of people who know and trust each other, and trust rarely develops overnight. For this reason, make sure to reach out to members of your network regularly, at least every three to six months. Electronic updates are fine, but face-to-face connections help deepen relationships faster.
And by the way, for the same reason, get started on building your network right now. Don’t put it off until fall. And certainly, don’t put it off until the next economic downturn. You know you need a network. Start building it today.
5. Be prepared to help others.
If you think networking is all about you, you couldn’t be more wrong. Successful networkers make sure they give to others as well as take. Every time someone helps you (points you to a job opening, suggests how you can improve your résumé, refers some business to you), make sure you quickly follow-up with your thanks. Then, look for ways that you can return the favor.
Before you...attend a networking event, make sure (you) are aware of the following five practical networking tips:
Networking Tips:
1. Before attending the event, prepare your introduction. This should include your name and one or two sentences that tell the other person something about who you are and what you do. Make your introduction memorable. In fact, view this as your own 30-second commercial.
2. Eat something before attending a networking event. Throughout the event, your focus should stay on making new contacts, not satisfying hunger pangs. And whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of grabbing a drink and a plateful of nibbles at the same time.
3. Everyone attends networking events with the understanding that they have a responsibility to mingle. Use the business card exchange to bring conversations to an end. After a brief conversation, simply say, “I enjoyed talking with you and would like to stay in touch. Do you have a business card?”
4. As soon as you leave the event, review the business cards that you have collected and make notes regarding specific conversations. Then, in the days, weeks and months that follow, use this information to constantly reconnect with people in your network.
5. Follow-up. Attending a networking event is the first step to building a relationship. Follow-up with people regularly, making sure that you give just as much information, assistance, and support as you receive.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
How to Work for the UN or other IGOs
HOW TO WORK FOR THE UN OR OTHER IGOS
May 27, 2010 at 1:05 pm •
http://pslawnet.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/how-to-work-for-the-united-nations-or-other-inter-governmental-organizations/
Today’s post on possible career routes into Inter-Governmental Organizations like the United Nations comes from Sara Rakita, Associate Director of the Public Interest Law Center at New York University School of Law. Sara has worked extensively on human rights and the rule of law, primarily in Africa. Before joining PILC in 2006, she served as a long-term consultant to the Ford Foundation, where she was responsible for piloting and setting up TrustAfrica, a new African grant-making foundation that is now based in Senegal. Sara spent five years as an Africa Researcher at Human Rights Watch, including two years as the organization’s representative in Rwanda. Sara has also consulted for Amnesty International, Global Rights, USAID, and the Austrian development agency. Sara holds a J.D. from NYU, an M.I.A. from Columbia University, and a B.A. in international studies from The American University. She is fluent in French and has a working knowledge of Spanish and Russian.
Lots of people would love to work for the United Nations or other Inter-Governmental Organizations (IGOs), but it’s not always apparent how to get there. Indeed, there is no single path. In an effort to demystify a process that is not always transparent, this post will explain some of the main channels into IGOs.
As a baseline, it helps to have a background in international law, foreign language skills, and experience working and living abroad. But, even with all of this, this is still a VERY challenging sector to break into. Getting a job at IGOs or the UN takes a whole lot of networking, persistence, and creativity – with a measure of luck and being in the right place (and often knowing the right people) at the right time.
Internships
Most agencies recruit interns – see http://www.state.gov/p/io/empl/ for a list. These internships can provide great opportunities, skills, and connections you can use in future IGO/UN job searches. One rather important caveat: IGOs typically have a rule that interns cannot be hired as employees in the six months following completion of their internships. Still, internships can help position you to get a paid job later. Furthermore, the prohibition only applies to the specific agency; you are eligible to apply immediately at many other agencies – so if you intern, for example, at the International Criminal Court you could apply for jobs with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia which is also in The Hague. Interning is a great way to get your foot in the door, get to know an agency, prove yourself to potential employers, build your resume, and make contacts!
Entry-Level Programs
Many UN agencies and IGOs have organized entry-level programs for “young” and “junior” professionals. These include programs for young lawyers and others for law-related positions that focus on development, human rights, refugee protection, etc.
• The best way to get hired by the UN Secretariat (the main UN Headquarters) is through the Competitive Recruitment Exam. People hired through this channel get permanent employment contracts. The exam is offered annually in certain fields for nationals of certain countries – but the nationalities and fields change each year. In recent years, Americans have occasionally been eligible to sit for the exam in Legal Affairs, Political Affairs, Human Rights, and Economic Affairs. The process was put on hold in 2009-2010 while the UN tried to clean up its roster of candidates, but is set to resume next winter. For details see http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/exam.htm. Getting hired this way can take at least a year, so it’s not always the best option for your first job after law school but it is good to get the process started. Also note that some other agencies have separate examination programs; the UN High Commission for Refugees is at http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c497.html.
• A number of governments also sponsor two-year JPO Programs for young professionals from their countries (or in some cases developing countries) to work with certain agencies; information about JPO programs is available from sponsoring governments is at http://www.jposc.org/content/programme/other_programmes-en.html. Opportunities for US citizens are limited, but can be found at http://www.state.gov/g/prm/c25774.htm.
• In addition, the UN sponsors a UN Volunteer (UNV) program that often hires young lawyers for positions with peacekeeping missions and other offices in developing countries. Don’t be fooled by the word volunteer – UNVs typically receive stipends and generous per diems. This program can be a great way to get experience and get a foot in the door. See http://unv.org/ for more details.
A few points to keep in mind:
1. Entry level programs at IGOs are highly competitive and many require a minimum of two years prior experience. To boot, they often have age limits of 30-35.
2. Some agencies, like the World Bank, prefer students with LL.M.s.
3. Passports matter. It helps to be from a country that is “underrepresented” in that agency. Good news: the United States is currently underrepresented in the UN and, after years of resentment against Americans for not paying our dues, we are all paid up. But other nationalities may still get preference in some offices.
4. Networking is always helpful in getting these positions.
5. Application processes can be very lengthy – it can take up to a year, sometimes much longer, from the time of application to starting a job.
Application Tip: When applying, it is best to go through formal channels listed on the organization’s website and also to use personal channels (networking) to make sure they actually consider your application.
Full-Time Positions
Many positions are listed on the main UN job site, http://careers.un.org, and at http://www.unsystem.org/jobs/job_opportunities.htm. The State Department publishes a bi-weekly list of international vacancy announcements http://www.state.gov/p/io/empl/.
But don’t stop there! Every agency from the African Development Bank to the International Criminal Court to the World Trade Organization has its own website and its own employment page (a good list of links can be found at http://www.state.gov/p/io/empl/125507.htm). Most of these organizations have satellite offices based in other countries, some of which have region or country-specific websites – e.g. UNHCR mission in Sri Lanka or the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Bosnia, of which the US is a member – where they may post jobs that do not appear on the central websites. Not all positions are posted publicly and some may only be posted internally.
Confused? The UN job system used to be (aptly) named Galaxy – it often felt that applications went into a black hole. In my many years of doing international work, I can count on one hand the number of people I know who just applied for a position from the website without contacts and actually got the job, though they do exist. While the UN has made efforts to improve the process, perhaps this is another good time to mention that networking will usually be the best way to not only find out about job opportunities, but also to make sure that your application is looked at.
A word on job categories: professional positions at the UN are labeled with P: P-2 positions are considered entry level, though they really require at least 2 years experience, and with more experience you can progress to a P-3, P-4, etc.
Contract and Consulting Work
Outside of these formal channels, IGOs often hire professionals on a fixed-term or short-term contract basis. They may become available when a staff person goes on maternity leave or on mission overseas. These jobs may also materialize if there is a big new project that an office needs help with. Postings may be labeled “Consultancies,” “Consultants,” “Short Term Contracts,” Experts,” “Project Vacancies,” etc. Networking is the best way to find out about these opportunities, as contract and consultant positions are not always posted.
It can be stressful to take these short-term positions (believe me, I know), but if you really want to get there these can be your best option. Why is it worth it? You will start to make good contacts, giving your networking a huge boost. And you can often apply for other positions as an internal candidate once you are in. I have known many people who started on a short contract but are still there years later. The UN can be sort of like the Hotel California in that sense, once you check in you can never leave…
About that Networking
So, as you have gathered, it really helps to have contacts on the inside! But how can you find these contacts? Internships of course are a great way. Also be sure to ask your international law professors who they know. Bar and other professional associations can also be helpful – International Law Weekend at the New York City Bar (held every year in October) or the American Society for International Law’s annual April meeting in Washington, DC are both excellent. You may also consider joining the UN Association of the USA.
In conclusion, the UN is not an easy nut to crack. But for those of you who are determined to get there, I hope this serves as a useful roadmap to a highly sought after destination. I don’t necessarily recommend that you focus a job search solely on IGOs, but it is definitely worth pursuing along with other options. Good luck!
May 27, 2010 at 1:05 pm •
http://pslawnet.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/how-to-work-for-the-united-nations-or-other-inter-governmental-organizations/
Today’s post on possible career routes into Inter-Governmental Organizations like the United Nations comes from Sara Rakita, Associate Director of the Public Interest Law Center at New York University School of Law. Sara has worked extensively on human rights and the rule of law, primarily in Africa. Before joining PILC in 2006, she served as a long-term consultant to the Ford Foundation, where she was responsible for piloting and setting up TrustAfrica, a new African grant-making foundation that is now based in Senegal. Sara spent five years as an Africa Researcher at Human Rights Watch, including two years as the organization’s representative in Rwanda. Sara has also consulted for Amnesty International, Global Rights, USAID, and the Austrian development agency. Sara holds a J.D. from NYU, an M.I.A. from Columbia University, and a B.A. in international studies from The American University. She is fluent in French and has a working knowledge of Spanish and Russian.
Lots of people would love to work for the United Nations or other Inter-Governmental Organizations (IGOs), but it’s not always apparent how to get there. Indeed, there is no single path. In an effort to demystify a process that is not always transparent, this post will explain some of the main channels into IGOs.
As a baseline, it helps to have a background in international law, foreign language skills, and experience working and living abroad. But, even with all of this, this is still a VERY challenging sector to break into. Getting a job at IGOs or the UN takes a whole lot of networking, persistence, and creativity – with a measure of luck and being in the right place (and often knowing the right people) at the right time.
Internships
Most agencies recruit interns – see http://www.state.gov/p/io/empl/ for a list. These internships can provide great opportunities, skills, and connections you can use in future IGO/UN job searches. One rather important caveat: IGOs typically have a rule that interns cannot be hired as employees in the six months following completion of their internships. Still, internships can help position you to get a paid job later. Furthermore, the prohibition only applies to the specific agency; you are eligible to apply immediately at many other agencies – so if you intern, for example, at the International Criminal Court you could apply for jobs with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia which is also in The Hague. Interning is a great way to get your foot in the door, get to know an agency, prove yourself to potential employers, build your resume, and make contacts!
Entry-Level Programs
Many UN agencies and IGOs have organized entry-level programs for “young” and “junior” professionals. These include programs for young lawyers and others for law-related positions that focus on development, human rights, refugee protection, etc.
• The best way to get hired by the UN Secretariat (the main UN Headquarters) is through the Competitive Recruitment Exam. People hired through this channel get permanent employment contracts. The exam is offered annually in certain fields for nationals of certain countries – but the nationalities and fields change each year. In recent years, Americans have occasionally been eligible to sit for the exam in Legal Affairs, Political Affairs, Human Rights, and Economic Affairs. The process was put on hold in 2009-2010 while the UN tried to clean up its roster of candidates, but is set to resume next winter. For details see http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/exam.htm. Getting hired this way can take at least a year, so it’s not always the best option for your first job after law school but it is good to get the process started. Also note that some other agencies have separate examination programs; the UN High Commission for Refugees is at http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c497.html.
• A number of governments also sponsor two-year JPO Programs for young professionals from their countries (or in some cases developing countries) to work with certain agencies; information about JPO programs is available from sponsoring governments is at http://www.jposc.org/content/programme/other_programmes-en.html. Opportunities for US citizens are limited, but can be found at http://www.state.gov/g/prm/c25774.htm.
• In addition, the UN sponsors a UN Volunteer (UNV) program that often hires young lawyers for positions with peacekeeping missions and other offices in developing countries. Don’t be fooled by the word volunteer – UNVs typically receive stipends and generous per diems. This program can be a great way to get experience and get a foot in the door. See http://unv.org/ for more details.
A few points to keep in mind:
1. Entry level programs at IGOs are highly competitive and many require a minimum of two years prior experience. To boot, they often have age limits of 30-35.
2. Some agencies, like the World Bank, prefer students with LL.M.s.
3. Passports matter. It helps to be from a country that is “underrepresented” in that agency. Good news: the United States is currently underrepresented in the UN and, after years of resentment against Americans for not paying our dues, we are all paid up. But other nationalities may still get preference in some offices.
4. Networking is always helpful in getting these positions.
5. Application processes can be very lengthy – it can take up to a year, sometimes much longer, from the time of application to starting a job.
Application Tip: When applying, it is best to go through formal channels listed on the organization’s website and also to use personal channels (networking) to make sure they actually consider your application.
Full-Time Positions
Many positions are listed on the main UN job site, http://careers.un.org, and at http://www.unsystem.org/jobs/job_opportunities.htm. The State Department publishes a bi-weekly list of international vacancy announcements http://www.state.gov/p/io/empl/.
But don’t stop there! Every agency from the African Development Bank to the International Criminal Court to the World Trade Organization has its own website and its own employment page (a good list of links can be found at http://www.state.gov/p/io/empl/125507.htm). Most of these organizations have satellite offices based in other countries, some of which have region or country-specific websites – e.g. UNHCR mission in Sri Lanka or the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Bosnia, of which the US is a member – where they may post jobs that do not appear on the central websites. Not all positions are posted publicly and some may only be posted internally.
Confused? The UN job system used to be (aptly) named Galaxy – it often felt that applications went into a black hole. In my many years of doing international work, I can count on one hand the number of people I know who just applied for a position from the website without contacts and actually got the job, though they do exist. While the UN has made efforts to improve the process, perhaps this is another good time to mention that networking will usually be the best way to not only find out about job opportunities, but also to make sure that your application is looked at.
A word on job categories: professional positions at the UN are labeled with P: P-2 positions are considered entry level, though they really require at least 2 years experience, and with more experience you can progress to a P-3, P-4, etc.
Contract and Consulting Work
Outside of these formal channels, IGOs often hire professionals on a fixed-term or short-term contract basis. They may become available when a staff person goes on maternity leave or on mission overseas. These jobs may also materialize if there is a big new project that an office needs help with. Postings may be labeled “Consultancies,” “Consultants,” “Short Term Contracts,” Experts,” “Project Vacancies,” etc. Networking is the best way to find out about these opportunities, as contract and consultant positions are not always posted.
It can be stressful to take these short-term positions (believe me, I know), but if you really want to get there these can be your best option. Why is it worth it? You will start to make good contacts, giving your networking a huge boost. And you can often apply for other positions as an internal candidate once you are in. I have known many people who started on a short contract but are still there years later. The UN can be sort of like the Hotel California in that sense, once you check in you can never leave…
About that Networking
So, as you have gathered, it really helps to have contacts on the inside! But how can you find these contacts? Internships of course are a great way. Also be sure to ask your international law professors who they know. Bar and other professional associations can also be helpful – International Law Weekend at the New York City Bar (held every year in October) or the American Society for International Law’s annual April meeting in Washington, DC are both excellent. You may also consider joining the UN Association of the USA.
In conclusion, the UN is not an easy nut to crack. But for those of you who are determined to get there, I hope this serves as a useful roadmap to a highly sought after destination. I don’t necessarily recommend that you focus a job search solely on IGOs, but it is definitely worth pursuing along with other options. Good luck!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Never Send A Generic Cover Letter
NEVER SEND GENERIC COVER LETTERS.
http://abovethelaw.com/- April 16, 2010
The following is an excerpt from a posting on AbovetheLaw.com by an attorney who received a letter from an applicant addressed to “Dear Sir or Madam.”
“I just received a resume and cover letter from a young attorney seeking employment in my firm. I honestly don’t notice things like spelling errors because I can’t spell myself, but I’m sure the letter and resume were flawless technically. I didn’t even read it that closely because the cover letter was addressed “Dear Sir or Madam:”
Here’s my response to the job seeker. Yes, I addressed it to him personally, but I’ll keep that private for his sake.”
I recently received your resume & cover letter. While I’m not hiring right now, I thought I’d give you some feedback that might help in your approach.
1. Take the three minutes or so that it requires to research each firm to at least get a name to address your letter to someone. I don’t like being called “Dear Sir or Madam.” Especially when it would only take about 30 seconds to find my name online. This shows that you did NO research into my firm to see if you might be a fit for what we do. You are trying to push the match onto me. I don’t need you to make more work for me. I only hire people who make my life easier.
2. Your cover letter was all about you, and frankly, none of your experience has anything to do with my firm’s work. Again, if you had taken just a few minutes to search online, you would have found out what we do. Then you could make a decision. You could either write a cover letter that tells me how you’ll make my life easier, or you could save a stamp.
You have an interesting background – especially the National Outdoor Leadership School training. In Colorado, leading with that might be more effective than leading some of the legal experience you’ve had that really doesn’t translate to the local legal market.
I wish you the best in your job search.
http://abovethelaw.com/- April 16, 2010
The following is an excerpt from a posting on AbovetheLaw.com by an attorney who received a letter from an applicant addressed to “Dear Sir or Madam.”
“I just received a resume and cover letter from a young attorney seeking employment in my firm. I honestly don’t notice things like spelling errors because I can’t spell myself, but I’m sure the letter and resume were flawless technically. I didn’t even read it that closely because the cover letter was addressed “Dear Sir or Madam:”
Here’s my response to the job seeker. Yes, I addressed it to him personally, but I’ll keep that private for his sake.”
I recently received your resume & cover letter. While I’m not hiring right now, I thought I’d give you some feedback that might help in your approach.
1. Take the three minutes or so that it requires to research each firm to at least get a name to address your letter to someone. I don’t like being called “Dear Sir or Madam.” Especially when it would only take about 30 seconds to find my name online. This shows that you did NO research into my firm to see if you might be a fit for what we do. You are trying to push the match onto me. I don’t need you to make more work for me. I only hire people who make my life easier.
2. Your cover letter was all about you, and frankly, none of your experience has anything to do with my firm’s work. Again, if you had taken just a few minutes to search online, you would have found out what we do. Then you could make a decision. You could either write a cover letter that tells me how you’ll make my life easier, or you could save a stamp.
You have an interesting background – especially the National Outdoor Leadership School training. In Colorado, leading with that might be more effective than leading some of the legal experience you’ve had that really doesn’t translate to the local legal market.
I wish you the best in your job search.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
LinkedIn is More Than Just Your Profile
LinkedIn is More Than Just Your Profile
by Allison Shields on April 7, 2010
I just returned from ABA Techshow 2010 and noticed that more and more lawyers are embracing social media. The general consensus among lawyers seems to be that LinkedIn is the most ‘professional’ of the networks, but in my experience in speaking with lawyers about social media, I’ve found that lawyers are “on” LinkedIn, but they are not using it effectively. Many don’t know what to do other than posting a profile, responding to invitations and occasionally inviting others to link. But they take no other action and rarely follow up.
You would not go to a networking event, collect business cards, do nothing with them, never follow up and expect to get business. You would not join a networking group, put your name on the membership rolls and then never show up and expect to get business. In the same way, you cannot expect to get business from LinkedIn without participation, follow up and engaging your connections.
First, as with any other undertaking, you need to know why you’re joining LinkedIn. What are you hoping to get out of it and who do you want to connect with? To learn more about purpose and social media, see this post on the Legal Ease Blog: http://legalease.blogs.com/legal_ease_blog/2009/12/social-media-for-lawyers-whats-your-purpose.html
Some quick tips for using LinkedIn:
■Upload your contacts and invite others to link with you
■Personalize your invitations; let the contact know how you know them
■Customize your profile page url: include your name, firm name or brand
■Join Groups and follow what’s happening in your area(s) of interest and in your clients’ industries
■Update your profile periodically; make sure it reflects how you help your clients and how you are different
■Let your personality shine through
■Keep your status current
■Join discussions to share your expertise and learn from others
■Post events and invite others to participate or attend
■Consider recommendations; even if you don’t want to ask for them, be generous about giving them to others
■Use the Questions and Answers section to share information and build your expert status
■Use search features to find people in industries or businesses you’re interested in
■Look at your connections to see who they are connected to and ask for introductions
■Follow up and take your LinkedIn relationships offline; pick up the telephone or meet for coffee
Allison Shields is a law practice coach and consultant with Legal Ease Consulting, Inc. She writes the Legal Ease blog and the Lawyer Meltdown e-newsletter
by Allison Shields on April 7, 2010
I just returned from ABA Techshow 2010 and noticed that more and more lawyers are embracing social media. The general consensus among lawyers seems to be that LinkedIn is the most ‘professional’ of the networks, but in my experience in speaking with lawyers about social media, I’ve found that lawyers are “on” LinkedIn, but they are not using it effectively. Many don’t know what to do other than posting a profile, responding to invitations and occasionally inviting others to link. But they take no other action and rarely follow up.
You would not go to a networking event, collect business cards, do nothing with them, never follow up and expect to get business. You would not join a networking group, put your name on the membership rolls and then never show up and expect to get business. In the same way, you cannot expect to get business from LinkedIn without participation, follow up and engaging your connections.
First, as with any other undertaking, you need to know why you’re joining LinkedIn. What are you hoping to get out of it and who do you want to connect with? To learn more about purpose and social media, see this post on the Legal Ease Blog: http://legalease.blogs.com/legal_ease_blog/2009/12/social-media-for-lawyers-whats-your-purpose.html
Some quick tips for using LinkedIn:
■Upload your contacts and invite others to link with you
■Personalize your invitations; let the contact know how you know them
■Customize your profile page url: include your name, firm name or brand
■Join Groups and follow what’s happening in your area(s) of interest and in your clients’ industries
■Update your profile periodically; make sure it reflects how you help your clients and how you are different
■Let your personality shine through
■Keep your status current
■Join discussions to share your expertise and learn from others
■Post events and invite others to participate or attend
■Consider recommendations; even if you don’t want to ask for them, be generous about giving them to others
■Use the Questions and Answers section to share information and build your expert status
■Use search features to find people in industries or businesses you’re interested in
■Look at your connections to see who they are connected to and ask for introductions
■Follow up and take your LinkedIn relationships offline; pick up the telephone or meet for coffee
Allison Shields is a law practice coach and consultant with Legal Ease Consulting, Inc. She writes the Legal Ease blog and the Lawyer Meltdown e-newsletter
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Six Tips for Developing Leadership Skills in Law School
Author Todd Belcore is a third-year law student at the Northwestern University School of Law. He is the president of the Student Bar Association, and was awarded the 2009 PSLawNet Pro Bono Publico Award in recognition of his outstanding commitment to promoting public service in his law school community. After graduation, Todd will serve as an Equal Justice Works Fellow with the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.
Six Tips for Developing Leadership Skills in Law School
1.Listen. Leaders help others to solve problems. As a leader you must be able to discern the needs and interest of your audience – whether it’s clients, coworkers, or others - as quickly as possible. The good news is that people usually tell you what their needs and interests are. The bad news is that we advocates are sometimes too busy to really hear them. Listening is a perennially underrated skill that informs or implicates nearly all others. In law school, just like any other setting, you have the opportunity to learn more about interests, personalities, opinions and perspectives of others. Listening does three invaluable things: 1) it will broaden your perspective; 2) make you communicate in a more responsive and responsible manner; and 3) help inform how to approach an issue in a way that addresses others’ needs rather than simply your perception of their needs.
2.Make ideas come to life. Everyone has ideas. Fewer can turn ideas into real programs, events, classes or policies. Leaders get those results. This phenomenon is actually a developable skill. If there is something your law school doesn’t offer, a program that hasn’t been implemented, an event that hasn’t been made available, an organization that hasn’t been formed, don’t be afraid to come up with some ideas and mobilize around changing that. This process alone will require you to plan, gather resources, build a base of contacts, and determine the audience you must convince to make that idea come to fruition. This process will essentially be mimicked no matter the level of the project you take on so the more experience you get with it, the better.
3.Make yourself uncomfortable. A leader has to be in touch with his or her limitations. However, in order to learn precisely what those are, you must challenge any assumptions you have of yourself. What are you uncomfortable doing? Do you perceive that to be a weakness? Can it change? There is no better opportunity to answer those questions than in law school where there are a plethora of curricular and extracurricular opportunities. I have friends who came to school “knowing” they would never be oral advocates who are now on the trial team because they challenged their assumptions.
4.Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Leaders know they may have done something well, but they can always do better. Don’t be afraid to admit and learn from mistakes. There is often no better way to grow and learn than to make a mistake and ask for constructive criticism. Fortunately, law school is typically a good place to receive feedback but in the event you are not getting any or enough feedback, seek it out. You can’t fix areas that could use improvement unless you know about them, so ask for feedback.
5.Learn to manage personalities. All leaders need help, and good leaders know how to get it. As society becomes more diverse and complex, it becomes more vital than ever to be able to work with – and influence – people with varying personality types, backgrounds and power. (Even amongst people with similar backgrounds and personality types, differences in work style will emerge; you should learn to notice those and learn how to work with all people based on their individual characteristics.) Law school provides you with an opportunity to recognize personality traits and work styles of your peers and coworkers, and to learn how to work efficiently with them. Take advantage of this opportunity as frequently as possible.
6.Find your voice. Leaders are true to themselves. Law school is the ultimate place to not just learn about case law, but to learn more about yourself. However, it is also a place where you can lose yourself amidst the briefs, reading and argument. Therefore, it is critical to think about who you are, who you want to become and how law school will help you get there. Don’t just engage the law, but consider the law in light of your personal history and experiences. Don’t just take a side, but let that side be informed by loved ones and people you have met along the way. Finding your voice is not only personally fulfilling; it makes everything easier to communicate. It also reflects a level of comfort with oneself that makes a favorable impression on those around you. Every law school experience is a chance for you to find your voice, and to use it.
Six Tips for Developing Leadership Skills in Law School
1.Listen. Leaders help others to solve problems. As a leader you must be able to discern the needs and interest of your audience – whether it’s clients, coworkers, or others - as quickly as possible. The good news is that people usually tell you what their needs and interests are. The bad news is that we advocates are sometimes too busy to really hear them. Listening is a perennially underrated skill that informs or implicates nearly all others. In law school, just like any other setting, you have the opportunity to learn more about interests, personalities, opinions and perspectives of others. Listening does three invaluable things: 1) it will broaden your perspective; 2) make you communicate in a more responsive and responsible manner; and 3) help inform how to approach an issue in a way that addresses others’ needs rather than simply your perception of their needs.
2.Make ideas come to life. Everyone has ideas. Fewer can turn ideas into real programs, events, classes or policies. Leaders get those results. This phenomenon is actually a developable skill. If there is something your law school doesn’t offer, a program that hasn’t been implemented, an event that hasn’t been made available, an organization that hasn’t been formed, don’t be afraid to come up with some ideas and mobilize around changing that. This process alone will require you to plan, gather resources, build a base of contacts, and determine the audience you must convince to make that idea come to fruition. This process will essentially be mimicked no matter the level of the project you take on so the more experience you get with it, the better.
3.Make yourself uncomfortable. A leader has to be in touch with his or her limitations. However, in order to learn precisely what those are, you must challenge any assumptions you have of yourself. What are you uncomfortable doing? Do you perceive that to be a weakness? Can it change? There is no better opportunity to answer those questions than in law school where there are a plethora of curricular and extracurricular opportunities. I have friends who came to school “knowing” they would never be oral advocates who are now on the trial team because they challenged their assumptions.
4.Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Leaders know they may have done something well, but they can always do better. Don’t be afraid to admit and learn from mistakes. There is often no better way to grow and learn than to make a mistake and ask for constructive criticism. Fortunately, law school is typically a good place to receive feedback but in the event you are not getting any or enough feedback, seek it out. You can’t fix areas that could use improvement unless you know about them, so ask for feedback.
5.Learn to manage personalities. All leaders need help, and good leaders know how to get it. As society becomes more diverse and complex, it becomes more vital than ever to be able to work with – and influence – people with varying personality types, backgrounds and power. (Even amongst people with similar backgrounds and personality types, differences in work style will emerge; you should learn to notice those and learn how to work with all people based on their individual characteristics.) Law school provides you with an opportunity to recognize personality traits and work styles of your peers and coworkers, and to learn how to work efficiently with them. Take advantage of this opportunity as frequently as possible.
6.Find your voice. Leaders are true to themselves. Law school is the ultimate place to not just learn about case law, but to learn more about yourself. However, it is also a place where you can lose yourself amidst the briefs, reading and argument. Therefore, it is critical to think about who you are, who you want to become and how law school will help you get there. Don’t just engage the law, but consider the law in light of your personal history and experiences. Don’t just take a side, but let that side be informed by loved ones and people you have met along the way. Finding your voice is not only personally fulfilling; it makes everything easier to communicate. It also reflects a level of comfort with oneself that makes a favorable impression on those around you. Every law school experience is a chance for you to find your voice, and to use it.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Public Interest Interviewing Tips
February 7, 2010
For many public-interest minded law students, whether they are hunting for summer or postgraduate work, winter and early spring constitute interview season. Harvard Law School’s Office of Public Interest Advising maintains a very helpful interviewing resource webpage, which includes lists of questions to expect from interviewers. And PSLawNet offers a concise, bullet-pointed interview tips guide. Some key points:
- Take advantage of mock interview opportunities. Explore with your career services office the possibility of setting up mock interviews so that you can work out the kinks and develop a comfort level with the formality of interviews. Ideally, the (mock) interviewer will be an attorney with some experience in the area of work that you are trying to break into. Even if you feel you are a strong interviewer, there is absolutely no downside to practicing. For instance, you may be asked a question in the mock interview that challenges you. By thinking through it and developing an answer in a no-consequences environment, you can hit it out of the park during a real interview.
- Be able to explain your motivation. Public interest employers look for students who have a genuine interest in their organizations’ missions. If you have past work experience in an area related to the job you are seeking, that demonstrates a personal commitment. By all means, you should highlight this experience during the interview. Even if you do not – and many law students do not have a lot of public interest experience under their belt when they begin school – you must prepare to explain what motivated you to apply for the specific job.
- Don’t just prepare to answer questions; prepare to ask them. A good interview is a conversation, and you risk seeming disinterested if a potential employer offers you an opportunity to ask questions and you take a pass. You should prepare a short list of questions based upon your pre-interview research about the organization, and perhaps even a question for the interviewer personally, such as, “How did your career path lead you to your current position?”
For many public-interest minded law students, whether they are hunting for summer or postgraduate work, winter and early spring constitute interview season. Harvard Law School’s Office of Public Interest Advising maintains a very helpful interviewing resource webpage, which includes lists of questions to expect from interviewers. And PSLawNet offers a concise, bullet-pointed interview tips guide. Some key points:
- Take advantage of mock interview opportunities. Explore with your career services office the possibility of setting up mock interviews so that you can work out the kinks and develop a comfort level with the formality of interviews. Ideally, the (mock) interviewer will be an attorney with some experience in the area of work that you are trying to break into. Even if you feel you are a strong interviewer, there is absolutely no downside to practicing. For instance, you may be asked a question in the mock interview that challenges you. By thinking through it and developing an answer in a no-consequences environment, you can hit it out of the park during a real interview.
- Be able to explain your motivation. Public interest employers look for students who have a genuine interest in their organizations’ missions. If you have past work experience in an area related to the job you are seeking, that demonstrates a personal commitment. By all means, you should highlight this experience during the interview. Even if you do not – and many law students do not have a lot of public interest experience under their belt when they begin school – you must prepare to explain what motivated you to apply for the specific job.
- Don’t just prepare to answer questions; prepare to ask them. A good interview is a conversation, and you risk seeming disinterested if a potential employer offers you an opportunity to ask questions and you take a pass. You should prepare a short list of questions based upon your pre-interview research about the organization, and perhaps even a question for the interviewer personally, such as, “How did your career path lead you to your current position?”
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Five Things I Wish I'd Known in Law School
The following was written by Andy Cowan. Andy graduated cum laude from the Cornell Law School in 2008. He summered at the Pro Bono Project of New Orleans and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, and now works as a public defender at the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Lowell, MA. Andy is an editor of the Public Defender Blog “Incorrigible Dicta” at http://www.dictablog.net.
Some of these “five things that I wish I had known” come with advice that I did in fact follow, but in many cases I did so out of stubbornness more than any specific knowledge that they might be good things to do. I didn’t load up my schedule with criminal law and say no-thanks to corporations in my third semester because I thought it would get me a job, I did it because I liked criminal law and thought corporations would be boring!
1. The “Standard” Curriculum and Career Services Advice May Not Fit Your Needs.
Depending on where you go to school, much of the career services and professional development infrastructure (including advice you get on course selection) may be designed to set you on track for a job you don’t want. If you have a public interest career services office, take advantage of it! Also, ask the advice of other public interest law students. Why should you take corporations, taxation, and securities regulation in your third semester if you want to be a public defender? You shouldn’t! I’m not saying you should never take those classes (see #4, below), but remember that the beginning of your second year is when you need to be thinking about setting yourself up for a second-summer job. If that’s not going to be in the same field as your first-summer job, you’re going to need to convince interviewers that you’re serious about it–and one way to do that is to take classes related to what you really want to do. When I interviewed for my second-summer job at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, I had just finished a first-summer job in New Orleans doing civil work. When Jen Thomas interviewed me, her first question was, “I see you spent your first summer doing civil legal services. You know we do criminal work, right?” I was fortunate that I was not only able to say “oh yes, that’s where my heart really is!” but also that I was taking criminal procedure and a number of capital defense classes (including clinic) that semester to prepare myself for a career in criminal defense. Put your tuition money where your mouth is! And if you’re not entirely sure what you’re going to do with that second summer, cover your bases.
2. Moot, moot moot for the home team!
In a similar vein, you hear a lot of emphasis placed on being editor-in-chief of law review as the key to a good job. If you’re looking to go to a Vault 100 firm, this may be vitally important. Law review gets a lot of emphasis, but consider moot court or mock trial, too! When you’re going to start your career in a courtroom, it helps immensely to have courtroom experience–even if it’s make-believe. I would not be nearly as fluent with case law nor as able to withstand grilling by an unfriendly judge, had I not mooted my heart out in law school. I took nearly every moot court opportunity available to me, and by the time I graduated I was entirely accustomed to hearing strangers in black robes batter me with irrelevant questions. I wish I had known at the time how important it would be; I might have done even more!
Also, if you are going to do a journal, consider a public-interest-focused journal over the “top” journal at your school. In our business commitment can be a lot weightier than prestige. I worked on the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, and never regretted my choice not to enter the competition for Law Review. Likewise, PSLN’s Katie Dilks worked on the Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, and I cannot imagine that anybody here looked down their nose at that experience!
3. Relocating is Hard
I grew up in an academic family. Relocating was part of the experience. For as much as the legal market stresses geographical connections, I was raised on the notion that one goes where the job is, and that might be thousands of miles. As I conducted my nation-wide job search for a public defender job, I found my flexibility to be both an asset and a liability. The asset part is simple: being able to say “I want to be a public defender more than I want to live in any particular place” shows commitment like nothing else–so long as you sound sincere and are sincere. On the flip side, when I interviewed for my current job at CPCS, the director of the Northampton office (where I was interested in going) suggested that I might have heard thus-and-such about Northampton. I had to admit that I had, in fact, heard nothing at all about Northampton. On a good day, I’d be able to point it out on a map. I also told the hiring committee to place me as far away from Boston as they could, because (having spent no time in Boston), I assumed that Boston was like New York, and I did not want to spend time there. I now commute from Boston. Oops.
Relocating is hard for another reason. If you’re moving someplace just for a job, you may be walking into an environment where you don’t know anybody except your coworkers. That may be more or less of a problem depending on how social you are and how easily you make friends, but remember that you may not be moving with an instant network of similarly-situated people like you may have done if you relocated for college or law school.
4. You should take classes that aren’t directly relevant to your intended career.
I eventually took corporations, and I’m glad I did. Less than three months into my job as a public defender, we had to figure out how we could serve a discovery subpoena on a foreign corporation, and I would have been totally lost without that background. Once you’ve established a foundation with classes relevant to your career pursuit, take a wide variety of other classes, because you never know what will be useful in practice. Have some intellectual curiosity, and don’t be so snooty about the “public interest track” versus the “corporate track.”
5. Cover letters are important, and not hard.
I know, I know–you hate writing cover letters, it’s like pulling teeth, you have twenty million things to do and who’s going to read them anyway? Nobody, if that’s your attitude. And they’re not going to hire you, either. I felt very much in the dark about cover letters until we had a support staff vacancy in my office and I started helping out with screening resumes. The difference between a good cover letter and a bad one is startling, and important. Your resume says a bit about who you are, but it probably doesn’t say why you want the job or why the job should want you. It’s not rocket science. Write a bit about what you bring the table, why you’re an asset. If it’s not obvious how your experience prepared you for the job you’re applying for, explain that. And do not address your cover letter “to whom it may concern” or “dear sir or ma’am.” Addressing your cover letter to the person who makes hiring decisions shows interest and attention to detail. If it’s not obvious from the vacancy announcement, call and ask “to whose attention may I address my application?” It also shows that you’re applying for this job on purpose. A form cover letter or a one-line “find attached my resume” suggests that you are not serious about this and need to get out the door before the bar tab runs out. If you’re still feeling lost about how to write a good cover letter, ask the internet–or better, your career counselor.
While we’re on the topic, skip the “objective” section on your resume. It’s an unpersuasive waste of ink; at best it duplicates your cover letter. At worst somebody looks at it and says “too bad that’s not what we’re hiring for.”
Some of these “five things that I wish I had known” come with advice that I did in fact follow, but in many cases I did so out of stubbornness more than any specific knowledge that they might be good things to do. I didn’t load up my schedule with criminal law and say no-thanks to corporations in my third semester because I thought it would get me a job, I did it because I liked criminal law and thought corporations would be boring!
1. The “Standard” Curriculum and Career Services Advice May Not Fit Your Needs.
Depending on where you go to school, much of the career services and professional development infrastructure (including advice you get on course selection) may be designed to set you on track for a job you don’t want. If you have a public interest career services office, take advantage of it! Also, ask the advice of other public interest law students. Why should you take corporations, taxation, and securities regulation in your third semester if you want to be a public defender? You shouldn’t! I’m not saying you should never take those classes (see #4, below), but remember that the beginning of your second year is when you need to be thinking about setting yourself up for a second-summer job. If that’s not going to be in the same field as your first-summer job, you’re going to need to convince interviewers that you’re serious about it–and one way to do that is to take classes related to what you really want to do. When I interviewed for my second-summer job at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, I had just finished a first-summer job in New Orleans doing civil work. When Jen Thomas interviewed me, her first question was, “I see you spent your first summer doing civil legal services. You know we do criminal work, right?” I was fortunate that I was not only able to say “oh yes, that’s where my heart really is!” but also that I was taking criminal procedure and a number of capital defense classes (including clinic) that semester to prepare myself for a career in criminal defense. Put your tuition money where your mouth is! And if you’re not entirely sure what you’re going to do with that second summer, cover your bases.
2. Moot, moot moot for the home team!
In a similar vein, you hear a lot of emphasis placed on being editor-in-chief of law review as the key to a good job. If you’re looking to go to a Vault 100 firm, this may be vitally important. Law review gets a lot of emphasis, but consider moot court or mock trial, too! When you’re going to start your career in a courtroom, it helps immensely to have courtroom experience–even if it’s make-believe. I would not be nearly as fluent with case law nor as able to withstand grilling by an unfriendly judge, had I not mooted my heart out in law school. I took nearly every moot court opportunity available to me, and by the time I graduated I was entirely accustomed to hearing strangers in black robes batter me with irrelevant questions. I wish I had known at the time how important it would be; I might have done even more!
Also, if you are going to do a journal, consider a public-interest-focused journal over the “top” journal at your school. In our business commitment can be a lot weightier than prestige. I worked on the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, and never regretted my choice not to enter the competition for Law Review. Likewise, PSLN’s Katie Dilks worked on the Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, and I cannot imagine that anybody here looked down their nose at that experience!
3. Relocating is Hard
I grew up in an academic family. Relocating was part of the experience. For as much as the legal market stresses geographical connections, I was raised on the notion that one goes where the job is, and that might be thousands of miles. As I conducted my nation-wide job search for a public defender job, I found my flexibility to be both an asset and a liability. The asset part is simple: being able to say “I want to be a public defender more than I want to live in any particular place” shows commitment like nothing else–so long as you sound sincere and are sincere. On the flip side, when I interviewed for my current job at CPCS, the director of the Northampton office (where I was interested in going) suggested that I might have heard thus-and-such about Northampton. I had to admit that I had, in fact, heard nothing at all about Northampton. On a good day, I’d be able to point it out on a map. I also told the hiring committee to place me as far away from Boston as they could, because (having spent no time in Boston), I assumed that Boston was like New York, and I did not want to spend time there. I now commute from Boston. Oops.
Relocating is hard for another reason. If you’re moving someplace just for a job, you may be walking into an environment where you don’t know anybody except your coworkers. That may be more or less of a problem depending on how social you are and how easily you make friends, but remember that you may not be moving with an instant network of similarly-situated people like you may have done if you relocated for college or law school.
4. You should take classes that aren’t directly relevant to your intended career.
I eventually took corporations, and I’m glad I did. Less than three months into my job as a public defender, we had to figure out how we could serve a discovery subpoena on a foreign corporation, and I would have been totally lost without that background. Once you’ve established a foundation with classes relevant to your career pursuit, take a wide variety of other classes, because you never know what will be useful in practice. Have some intellectual curiosity, and don’t be so snooty about the “public interest track” versus the “corporate track.”
5. Cover letters are important, and not hard.
I know, I know–you hate writing cover letters, it’s like pulling teeth, you have twenty million things to do and who’s going to read them anyway? Nobody, if that’s your attitude. And they’re not going to hire you, either. I felt very much in the dark about cover letters until we had a support staff vacancy in my office and I started helping out with screening resumes. The difference between a good cover letter and a bad one is startling, and important. Your resume says a bit about who you are, but it probably doesn’t say why you want the job or why the job should want you. It’s not rocket science. Write a bit about what you bring the table, why you’re an asset. If it’s not obvious how your experience prepared you for the job you’re applying for, explain that. And do not address your cover letter “to whom it may concern” or “dear sir or ma’am.” Addressing your cover letter to the person who makes hiring decisions shows interest and attention to detail. If it’s not obvious from the vacancy announcement, call and ask “to whose attention may I address my application?” It also shows that you’re applying for this job on purpose. A form cover letter or a one-line “find attached my resume” suggests that you are not serious about this and need to get out the door before the bar tab runs out. If you’re still feeling lost about how to write a good cover letter, ask the internet–or better, your career counselor.
While we’re on the topic, skip the “objective” section on your resume. It’s an unpersuasive waste of ink; at best it duplicates your cover letter. At worst somebody looks at it and says “too bad that’s not what we’re hiring for.”
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Income-Based Repayment plan Q&A
The Department of Education has published a comprehensive list of Questions and Answers regarding the Income-Based Repayment plan.
Questions 4, 5 and 6 address eligibility.
http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/IBRQ&A_template_123109_FINAL.pdf
Questions 4, 5 and 6 address eligibility.
http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/IBRQ&A_template_123109_FINAL.pdf
Friday, January 8, 2010
Seven Ways to Flunk a Job Interview
Seven Ways to Flunk a Job Interview
by Adriana Gardella
Mistake #1: Drop your guard in front of “the help.”
Interviewing is stressful. Sometimes you just want to explode. But don’t. At least not in front of anyone who could influence the hiring decision.
Ron Panaggio, regional HR manager for security systems provider SimplexGrinnell recalls one candidate who took himself out of the running when he thought no one was looking. After meeting with Mr. X, a strong contender, Panaggio, who was then working for Emery Worldwide in New York, asked the receptionist who greeted the candidate to share her impressions. Turns out, Mr. X had launched into a profanity-laced tirade about the company’s lack of visitor parking spaces.
Panaggio notes that although the guy may have had a point — the parking situation wasn’t ideal — his delivery, and his questionable decision to attack his would-be employer set off warning signals. “If he was that critical about parking, we could only imagine how he was going to react to substantive policies that he disliked,” says Panaggio.
Employers know that job seekers interact with receptionists and other support staffers — often with their guards down. “They don’t see those people as decision makers, so they tend to be more genuine in their interactions with them,” says Panaggio. But employers routinely ask these employees for feedback. “We like to see whether the interview persona matches the unscripted persona that walks through the door,” says Panaggio. Consider that the next time you’re waiting for a tardy interviewer (who’s probably busy and making do with a reduced staff).
Mistake #2: Over share.
Candidates worried about explaining employment gaps on their resumes have been getting way too personal, says Wanda Cole-Frieman, an executive recruiter for Blue Shield of California. While she enjoys building rapport with the applicants she meets, certain topics are off-limits — or should be. They include descriptions of your medical conditions and information about your sick parents or childcare woes.
It’s not just a matter of propriety. Chatty candidates put interviewers in an awkward position when they raise issues that could identify them as members of a legally protected class. Cole-Frieman recalls that one of her colleagues was forced to contact the legal department for guidance after a candidate announced that he used marijuana for medical purposes. The legal drug use wasn’t a dealbreaker, but raising such issues won’t endear you to interviewers. “We’re trained to say, ‘Thanks for sharing, but Blue Shield doesn’t consider those factors in its hiring decisions,’” says Cole-Frieman.
Mistake #3: Assume your resume speaks for itself.
Your resume may have helped you get the interview, but it won’t get you hired. Susan Strayer, a career coach who also works in corporate HR for a Fortune 500 company, urges job seekers to go out of their way to connect the dots for interviewers, highlighting their work experiences with stories that clearly describe what they accomplished in each role and how it relates to the position they are seeking. Don’t assume that your interviewer is familiar with obscure acronyms and non-intuitive job titles that have no significance outside the organizations that use them.
Strayer recalls meeting with an unsuccessful candidate who breezed through his resume, touting his “A-76 experience,” a term that meant nothing to her at the time, and never pausing to explain it. Strayer says he would have been better-served by taking a moment to add, “If you’re not familiar with A-76, it’s a government mandate to ensure tasks are performed in the most cost-efficient way. My role on the A-76 project was to...”
Mistake #4: Show the interviewer how important you are.
You’ve got places to go and people to see — we get it, you’re a big deal. But when an employer has taken the time to meet with you, your undivided attention is a must. “You’d think it was a joke, but employers tell us about candidates who check voicemail and e-mail, text, and even take phone calls during the interview,” says Corinne Gregory, president of Social Smarts, a program that teaches social skills, primarily to young people.
Note to Gen-Yers (and iPhone addicts of all ages): Acing the interview is your primary mission. If you lack the impulse control to keep your hands off your phone, leave it behind.
Mistake #5: Talk the employer out of hiring you.
Especially in this tight job market, you may find yourself interviewing for positions you would ordinarily consider beneath you. That’s what happened to Russ Merbeth, now an attorney with Integra Telecom when he applied for an in-house counsel position with another company. During two days of interviews, Merbeth says he expressed his doubts about the position, which he viewed as poorly conceived and not perfectly suited to his talents. “I basically rewrote the job description for them,” he says. Not surprisingly, they hired someone else.
While Merbeth’s story ended happily — eventually — he would have been wiser to keep his options open. “Always close strong, and get the job,” he says. “You can reject it later.” It’s advice you likely won’t hear from recruiters, but then they’ve already got a job.
Mistake #6: Stalk your recruiter.
There’s a fine line between enthusiastic and desperate, and you don’t want to cross it. Human resources consultant Jessica Miller-Merrell was impressed following her interview of a VP-level candidate for a position with OfficeMax, where she worked at the time. The guy was one of two finalists for the job — until the phone calls.
Two days after the interview, Miller-Merrell was out of the office, attending an all-day training. She had forwarded her office calls to her cell phone and noticed 15 hang-ups, all from the once promising candidate. Though he finally left a message (about a matter so trivial that Miller-Merrell can’t remember its substance) the obsessive hang-ups left a negative impression on her. “Someone at this level should be able to maintain composure and professionalism at all times,” she says.
Mistake #7: Treat social media communications casually.
These days, many employment relationships begin — or end — with social media. To ensure that yours falls into the former category, heed this tale.
Mark Sullivan, director of talent acquisition for Time Warner Cable in Austin, Texas, posted a link to a Senior VP-level job description that he needed to fill on LinkedIn. Among the candidates who responded, was a woman who wrote, “Dear Mark, That link don’t[sic] work.” Her next sentence began with a lowercase letter and was missing a crucial “the.”
“Whether you’re using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or instant or text messaging, you still have to be professional in every communication related to your job search,” says Sullivan. So, keep yourself in the running by proofreading before you hit “send.”
by Adriana Gardella
Mistake #1: Drop your guard in front of “the help.”
Interviewing is stressful. Sometimes you just want to explode. But don’t. At least not in front of anyone who could influence the hiring decision.
Ron Panaggio, regional HR manager for security systems provider SimplexGrinnell recalls one candidate who took himself out of the running when he thought no one was looking. After meeting with Mr. X, a strong contender, Panaggio, who was then working for Emery Worldwide in New York, asked the receptionist who greeted the candidate to share her impressions. Turns out, Mr. X had launched into a profanity-laced tirade about the company’s lack of visitor parking spaces.
Panaggio notes that although the guy may have had a point — the parking situation wasn’t ideal — his delivery, and his questionable decision to attack his would-be employer set off warning signals. “If he was that critical about parking, we could only imagine how he was going to react to substantive policies that he disliked,” says Panaggio.
Employers know that job seekers interact with receptionists and other support staffers — often with their guards down. “They don’t see those people as decision makers, so they tend to be more genuine in their interactions with them,” says Panaggio. But employers routinely ask these employees for feedback. “We like to see whether the interview persona matches the unscripted persona that walks through the door,” says Panaggio. Consider that the next time you’re waiting for a tardy interviewer (who’s probably busy and making do with a reduced staff).
Mistake #2: Over share.
Candidates worried about explaining employment gaps on their resumes have been getting way too personal, says Wanda Cole-Frieman, an executive recruiter for Blue Shield of California. While she enjoys building rapport with the applicants she meets, certain topics are off-limits — or should be. They include descriptions of your medical conditions and information about your sick parents or childcare woes.
It’s not just a matter of propriety. Chatty candidates put interviewers in an awkward position when they raise issues that could identify them as members of a legally protected class. Cole-Frieman recalls that one of her colleagues was forced to contact the legal department for guidance after a candidate announced that he used marijuana for medical purposes. The legal drug use wasn’t a dealbreaker, but raising such issues won’t endear you to interviewers. “We’re trained to say, ‘Thanks for sharing, but Blue Shield doesn’t consider those factors in its hiring decisions,’” says Cole-Frieman.
Mistake #3: Assume your resume speaks for itself.
Your resume may have helped you get the interview, but it won’t get you hired. Susan Strayer, a career coach who also works in corporate HR for a Fortune 500 company, urges job seekers to go out of their way to connect the dots for interviewers, highlighting their work experiences with stories that clearly describe what they accomplished in each role and how it relates to the position they are seeking. Don’t assume that your interviewer is familiar with obscure acronyms and non-intuitive job titles that have no significance outside the organizations that use them.
Strayer recalls meeting with an unsuccessful candidate who breezed through his resume, touting his “A-76 experience,” a term that meant nothing to her at the time, and never pausing to explain it. Strayer says he would have been better-served by taking a moment to add, “If you’re not familiar with A-76, it’s a government mandate to ensure tasks are performed in the most cost-efficient way. My role on the A-76 project was to...”
Mistake #4: Show the interviewer how important you are.
You’ve got places to go and people to see — we get it, you’re a big deal. But when an employer has taken the time to meet with you, your undivided attention is a must. “You’d think it was a joke, but employers tell us about candidates who check voicemail and e-mail, text, and even take phone calls during the interview,” says Corinne Gregory, president of Social Smarts, a program that teaches social skills, primarily to young people.
Note to Gen-Yers (and iPhone addicts of all ages): Acing the interview is your primary mission. If you lack the impulse control to keep your hands off your phone, leave it behind.
Mistake #5: Talk the employer out of hiring you.
Especially in this tight job market, you may find yourself interviewing for positions you would ordinarily consider beneath you. That’s what happened to Russ Merbeth, now an attorney with Integra Telecom when he applied for an in-house counsel position with another company. During two days of interviews, Merbeth says he expressed his doubts about the position, which he viewed as poorly conceived and not perfectly suited to his talents. “I basically rewrote the job description for them,” he says. Not surprisingly, they hired someone else.
While Merbeth’s story ended happily — eventually — he would have been wiser to keep his options open. “Always close strong, and get the job,” he says. “You can reject it later.” It’s advice you likely won’t hear from recruiters, but then they’ve already got a job.
Mistake #6: Stalk your recruiter.
There’s a fine line between enthusiastic and desperate, and you don’t want to cross it. Human resources consultant Jessica Miller-Merrell was impressed following her interview of a VP-level candidate for a position with OfficeMax, where she worked at the time. The guy was one of two finalists for the job — until the phone calls.
Two days after the interview, Miller-Merrell was out of the office, attending an all-day training. She had forwarded her office calls to her cell phone and noticed 15 hang-ups, all from the once promising candidate. Though he finally left a message (about a matter so trivial that Miller-Merrell can’t remember its substance) the obsessive hang-ups left a negative impression on her. “Someone at this level should be able to maintain composure and professionalism at all times,” she says.
Mistake #7: Treat social media communications casually.
These days, many employment relationships begin — or end — with social media. To ensure that yours falls into the former category, heed this tale.
Mark Sullivan, director of talent acquisition for Time Warner Cable in Austin, Texas, posted a link to a Senior VP-level job description that he needed to fill on LinkedIn. Among the candidates who responded, was a woman who wrote, “Dear Mark, That link don’t[sic] work.” Her next sentence began with a lowercase letter and was missing a crucial “the.”
“Whether you’re using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or instant or text messaging, you still have to be professional in every communication related to your job search,” says Sullivan. So, keep yourself in the running by proofreading before you hit “send.”
Monday, January 4, 2010
New PSLawNet Blog
I’m very pleased to report that PSLawNet has launched a blog at http://pslawnet.wordpress.com/.
We hope that the blog will be a valuable resource for you.
We hope that the blog will be a valuable resource for you.
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