Transcript 3L Job Search Strategies October 2014 University of Wisconsin Law School Office of Career and Professional Development (OCPD)

3L Job Search Strategies
October 2014
University of Wisconsin Law School
Office of Career and Professional Development (OCPD)
Four Components
•Clarify your Objectives
•Look for Job Postings
•How to Network
•Keeping your materials
updated and ready to go
Clarifying your Objectives
“I just want a legal job, any legal job,” is not an objective that
will inspire others to help you. Identify the one or two
geographic markets, and one or two practice
areas, in which you’d like to work. More than that will dilute
your efforts, and make it hard to tell a convincing story when
you are interviewing.
• - Katherine Erwin, Beyond on Campus Interviews.
How to Clarify your Objectives
• Make an appointment with us!
• Take online personality tests and learn about your strengths
and weaknesses
• http://www.quistic.com/personality-type/test - Myers Briggs
• Think about your values. Look at Major, Lindsay, and Africa’s
Ten Questions:
http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/CDO_Public/10_Qu
estions_Yale_2013_-_FINAL.pdf
Clarifying Objectives: Geography
• Think about your geographic area
• Where do you want to live and why?
• Where are your family, friend connections?
• Do you have to be in a geographic area? If so, why? TELL PEOPLE
THAT!
• What things are important to you? Do you want a car? Do you
want to be able to own a house?
• Cost of living calculator: http://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-livingcalculator/
Thinking about rural practice?
• ABA Article:
http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/too_many_law
yers_not_here._in_rural_america_lawyers_are_few_and_far_
between/?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_c
ampaign=weekly_email
• Nearly 20 percent of Americans live in rural areas, but the
New York Times says just 2 percent of small law practices are
in those areas.
• South Dakota Rural Attorney Recruitment Program:
http://ujs.sd.gov/Information/rarprogram.aspx
Other rural opportunities
• Solo Succession opportunities
• Small firms
• http://www.wssfc.org/
• $20 for law students!
Job Postings
• Symplicity
• Check often!
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Do not rely too heavily on
postings! 70-80%
positions not formally
advertised – they are
uncovered through
networking!
USA Jobs
Indeed
PSJD.org
Governmentjobs.org
www.law.arizona.edu/career/honorshandbook.cfm
• OCPD has the username and password!
• http://law.wisc.edu/career/draft/jobpostings-research.html
How to Network as a Job
Searching 3L
• UW LAW ALUMS!
• Martindale: http://www.martindale.com/
• Westlaw and Lexis
• West Legal Directory
• WisBar: http://www.wisbar.org/Pages/default.aspx
• Symplicity Reciprocity
• LinkedIn
Who else is in your Network?
Friends
Family
Professional Affiliations
Classmates
Faculty
Alumni/Advancement
Office
Neighbors
Co-workers
Undergraduate
Alumni
OCPD
Social Affiliations
So you’ve found people you want to meet, now what?
Reach out!
How to follow up…
• If you have not heard from the person to whom you sent an
email, follow up either right before you leave for the location
or when you get there.
• Forward the last email and confirm he or she received it.
So you’ve scheduled an informational coffee, now
what?
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Be prepared!
Look professional (business casual).
Show up with targeted questions.
Ask for a business card and FOLLOW UP.
Remember to ask if there is anyone else they would
recommend you meet.
Networking success stories
• An alum on our transactional Pizza with Professionals panel
told us that he met with alums after moving to L.A. without a
job. Once such meeting led him to consider a state court
clerkship, which he later secured
• An alum recently told us at an event that she found out about
a job without a posting through an informational interview.
She later got the job.
• Personal List Servs
• You don’t have to be a natural from the start
• 1996. This was the last time Dean Keller received a position
that was not the result of networking. He has had four
positions since 1996.
Keeping your materials updated and ready to go
• Frequently review your resume and cover letters
• Have multiple cover letters ready to go
• Make sure you target your cover letter to the specific
job/geographic area/both
• MAKE AN APPOINTMENT WITH US TO REVIEW YOUR
MATERIALS!
Remember….
• First jobs are often a stepping stone
• The average worker today stays at each of his or her jobs
for 4.4 years, according to the most recent available data
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but the expected
tenure of the workforce’s youngest employees is about
half that.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2012/08/14/jobhopping-is-the-new-normal-for-millennials-three-ways-toprevent-a-human-resource-nightmare/
Conclusion
• Do your research and pay attention to
application deadlines.
• Have materials reviewed by OCPD /
come talk to an advisor.
• Reach out to contacts and continue
building your network.