Networking and the Summer Job Hunt

Networking and job hunting can absolutely be one of the most intimidating and challenging aspects of a legal education. Networking is one of those soft skills that cannot really be taught and the hunt for work is unending. I don’t claim to be a master of “working the room” or of sniffing out the premium job postings but I do feel much more confident than I did just six months ago. I owe that in large part to all the events and emails from the Career Development Office.

During the Fall semester, Career Development was actually forbidden from talking to us 1Ls! The idea is that we should focus on our studies and not even worry about employment. As soon as the Spring semester started, though, job hunting season starts in full-force. Since January, most days have been occupied by some sort of information session on various areas of law or legal research. So far, I have been to events for in-house counsel, corporate transactional law, a panel on becoming a judge, a focus group with a real estate firm, I just got home from the spring job fair, and I have an upcoming information session on the Navy JAG Corps. I also continue to organize similar events for the Real Estate Law Society and the Wine & Spirits Law Society. All the while, I’m still sending out resumes and follow up on any job opportunities I hear about. Needless to say, if I’m not studying, there is still plenty to do.

In addition to the full load of events, Career Development also sends out TONS of emails about off-campus networking events and job postings. Unfortunately, most of their emails are sent out around same time every day so it can definitely become overwhelming. Around 10:30 AM on any given day, you can count on receiving anywhere between ten to twenty emails from Career Development all at once. It doesn’t sound like a lot, especially if you’ve spent some time in an office job, but when you’re bouncing from a two-hour class in the morning right over to a noon panel, to a pair of afternoon classes, all while receiving other emails from student groups, classes, research event announcements from Lexis and Westlaw, it can certainly add up. My advice is to give each email a quick glance, look for any words or phrases that interest you, flag the ones that you want to come back to later that evening, and move on. Most events and emails honestly won’t be that interesting but you have to check anyway. No one but you will discover those hidden gems that everyone else overlooked! That is precisely how I found my clerkship with the Tenant’s Law Firm over the winter break. You just never know what sorts of interesting opportunities are out there or what connections you might make.