Today’s Expert: Barbara Moulton is the Assistant Dean for Public Interest Programs at Georgetown University Law Center, from which she also graduated in 1989.  Since 1995, Dean Moulton has directed the Office of Public Interest and Community Service (OPICS) at GULC.  OPICS provides career advice to students pursuing public interest legal careers, and runs the school’s extensive pro bono program.  Dean Moulton formerly served as a staff attorney with the Alliance for Justice in Washington, DC.

New Year’s Resolutions for Your Summer Job Search:

1. I will be proactive in finding the right position for me. Public sector job searching should never be reactive!  If you wait for specific positions to be posted on PSLawNet, on your school’s internship database, or through a formal recruitment fair, you will miss hundreds of opportunities that might be better suited for you.  Remember, many public sector employers never formally advertise positions, and not being pro-active means you could miss the perfect beginning to your public sector career.
   • TIP: Do an organizational search on PSLawNet rather than an opportunity search.  Doing so will help you identify more organizations that fit your particular subject-matter and/or geographic interests.
2. I will not assume that “unpaid” means “low-quality.” Too many law students believe that unpaid internships offer less value than paid positions.  This is categorically untrue.  Ideally, all public sector summer positions would be paid, but unfortunately only a small number of them are, and many of the most competitive and prestigious ones are not.  If your plan is to pursue a public sector career – or even if you just want an excellent public sector position for a summer – you shouldn’t conduct your summer search on the basis of paid vs. unpaid.  You should be looking at how a position will help you down the road.  Will it help you break into a particular geographic location?  Will it get you a foot in the door with a specific employer?  Will you develop practical skills that will be of interest to future employers?   Financial considerations aside, these are much more important questions to consider than whether a position is paid or not.
   • TIP:  Check out PSLawNet’s Summer Funding page; many outside sources of funding exist for public interest internships.  Even if your school offers some summer funding, you can often supplement that with outside funding.
3. I will spend more time on my cover letters. Cover letters are the key to successful public sector applications.  But they take a lot of time and effort, and many law students give them far too little attention.  Employers seek candidates who are genuinely interested in them and committed to the work they do.  Your cover letter is the vehicle for convincing them that you are such a candidate.  It should address convincingly why you are interested in that organization, providing specifics about how your background, skills, and interests dovetail with its mission and work.
   • TIP:  Highlight unique skills and background.  Listing basic law school coursework or legal research and writing skills is fine, but neither will make you stand out among your peers.  Relevant language skills, work experience, or even undergraduate coursework are more likely to differentiate you from others.
4. I will be persistent. If you don’t hear back immediately from an employer, do not assume it means the employer is not interested.  Instead, follow up with a short, polite email or phone call inquiring about the status of your application.  It is perfectly appropriate to do so unless an employer has stated it does not want inquiries.  Be persistent!  Sometimes it makes all the difference.
   • TIP:  If you get a vibe from an employer that it does not want additional follow-up, trust your instinct and back off at least for a bit.  Your career services advisor can help you determine when it’s appropriate to contact the employer again.
5. I will persevere and not get discouraged. Thousands of public interest summer opportunities exist, but unfortunately there is no one-stop shopping for them.  Employers have different timing and different requirements, making the process sometimes seem drawn-out and discouraging.  If your first round of applications doesn’t yield positive results, meet with your career services advisor to come up with a plan for round two.  Many organizations do not hire until later in the spring, so perseverance is important.  Remember, it only takes one positive response to put you on the path to a rewarding and reinvigorating summer!
   
   • TIP: Have both ‘reach’ and ‘safety’ employers in your round-one applications.  If your preference is to be in a major metropolitan area for the summer, be mindful that positions in those areas are likely to be the most competitive.  You might think about also applying to some employers in less popular locations where you would be willing to spend the summer.