Last week we reviewed best practices in drafting cover letters and resumes for summer public interest jobs.  Today we offer interviewing tips.  Cover letters and resumes get your foot in the door.  Interviews get you jobs.  So, even if you tend to shine in interview settings, you should do as much as possible to prepare before meeting a prospective employer.

Five Tips for Summer Public Interest Job Interviews

1. Do mock interviews.  There is simply no downside to this, and no reason not to practice interviewing in a consequence-free environment before you have to do the real thing.  Mock interviews are the surest way to a) identify questions that could trip you up, and b) get useful feedback from someone who has experience on the other side of the interviewing table.  You will likely be able to arrange mock interviews through your career services office.  If not, use your classmates, friends, and contacts in the legal community to set them up.
2. Enthusiasm and confidence are palpable.  These characteristics are perceived immediately by an interviewer, and they set the stage for more fluid conversation during the interview.  It’s hard sometimes not to appear nervous, overly serious, or both during an interview.  Remember to make eye contact and to smile (at least occasionally) while answering questions.  (Smiling while talking also is enormously helpful on phone interviews because, believe it or not, smiling will change the tone of your voice so that you’ll seem more engaging and confident to the interviewer on the other end of the phone.  You’ll probably look like a weirdo, but no one will be around to see you anyway.) 
3. Be prepared for “Why do you want to work here?” or “Why are you choosing this kind of work?” questions.  Everyone knows these questions are coming – often at the beginning of an interview.  A lot of law students will begin answering with “I’ve always wanted to do this work; it’s why I came to law school.”  If that’s the truth for you, then fine, you should say it.  But let’s tease this out a little further.  We think that employers are really asking two questions:  1) Why do you want to be a lawyer?, and 2)  Why are you interested in being this kind of lawyer?  You should be prepared to answer both and to connect those answers.  For example, if you just say that you think your abilities and skills make you well suited to be a lawyer, you still need to explain why public interest is a draw for you.  On the other side of the coin, if you say you are interested in working with victims of domestic violence, a good interviewer may come back with, “Well, there are a lot ways to do that, so why do you want to help DV victims as a lawyer?”  Think ahead about what experiences and influences directed you to law school, and why you are interested in exploring public interest law.  This “why are you here?” question is one that almost all law students can hit a double on, so you should think about how to hit a home run.
4. Ask some questions of your own.  For example:
   • What does your interviewer find to be the most enjoyable and challenging aspects of their job?
   • What are the main characteristics they wish to see in summer interns?  (This is a tricky way to sell yourself even further by explaining how you possess those qualities after the employer names them.)
   • How many practice groups or other departments within the organization will you be exposed to during an internship?
   • How did your interviewer’s career path lead them to their current job?
5. Send a thank-you note or email within 48 hours of the interview.  Strike while the iron is hot, i.e. while the interviewer will still remember you.  And while the thank-you note should be brief, it could include a line that will remind the interviewer about a highlight of your meeting.  

Harvard Law School’s Office of Public Interest Advising has some terrific, detailed guidance on interviewing, which we recommend you review. 

Good luck, and feel free to offer your own tips in the comments section!

Need a job or internship? During the last week PSLawNet has posted: 29 new attorney positions, 38 new internships, and 13 new law related opportunities. Additionally, there are currently 1,190 active opportunities in our job database. To search the database visit PSLawNet.

Featured New Positions:

The Criminal Division of the Nevada Supreme Court’s Central Legal Staff is accepting applications for a staff attorney position.  Under the direction of the court and the Legal Counsel for the Criminal Division, staff attorneys in the Criminal Division assist the court in resolving motions and screening for jurisdiction in criminal appeals, advise the court regarding all types of criminal appeals and writ petitions through written memoranda or oral presentations, and prepare written dispositions for the court in criminal appeals and writ petitions.  Staff attorneys must possess superior legal research, writing, and oral presentation skills, must be flexible, and must be capable of working independently. This position is located in Carson City, Nevada.  Application Deadline:  February 25, 2011.  Visit PSLawNet for full details.

Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, Inc. (HRI) is hiring for unpaid summer internship opportunities for law students wishing to gain firsthand knowledge in immigration law and international human rights issues.  HRI strives to provide every legal intern with invaluable experience in immigration and nationality law and international human rights issues.  As such interns provide support to all members of the legal team in many different capacities.  Visit PSLawNet for full details.

Featured Public Service Career Resource:

Searching for a summer position or exploring options for a post-graduate position?  You should check out Harvard Law School’s Bernard Koteen Office of Public Interest Advising’s Networking, Interviewing, and Following-up Landing Page. The Landing Page leads you to additional information on:

• Networking
• Negotiating – Tips on Choosing a Better Job Offer
• Interviewing and Following Up

Yesterday we began a series of blog posts on public interest job application tips by covering cover letters. Today we’ll focus on résumés. Next week we’ll publish a post on interview tips.

As we noted yesterday, the first thing for 1Ls and 2Ls to do is visit your career services office.  Career advisors are going to help you with both form and substance on summer job applications.  As regards formatting, employers

reviewing dozens upon dozens of résumés want to find the most relevant information quickly.  Clean, easy-to-read formatting is essential, and your career advisors know how to help you put your résumé in the most presentable format.  But more important is substance. Your career advisors know what language will jump out at an employer while they are reading, and advisors will also know how to frame your experiences and credentials in such a way that they will match up most effectively with the qualifications sought for a particular job.

And now…

Five Tips for Public Interest Résumés

1. Like a cover letter, a résumé is a living document.  Different job listings will call upon you to emphasize different experiences and skill sets.  You should be comfortable with making tweaks to your résumé so that it highlights the things that a particular employer will want to see.  As a result, though…
2. …you must have someone else proofread a résumé before you send it out – each time.  While tweaking a résumé is a best practice, it is also one of the easiest ways to inadvertently create typos, and/or language and grammar inconsistencies.
3. Do not include an “objective” statement in a résumé.  It is a waste of space, and employers know your objective is to land a job.
4. A résumé should, as specifically as possible, list your skills and experiences.  It should be driven by action verbs and cite to numbers where possible.  E.g.: “Represented 3 minor defendants as a student-attorney while completing an intensive, one-semester juvenile justice clinic,” as opposed to, “Juvenile Justice Clinic, Fall Semester 2010.”
5. A résumé generally should not exceed one page.   This is a hard issue to give advice on because there are two separate variables at work in determining résumé length: how much relevant experience you have and how detailed (or lengthy) a job description is.  As a general matter, though, for summer jobs you should be able to capture all of your credentials and qualifications on a one-page résumé.  The folks at Harvard’s Office of Public Interest Advising (OPIA) list exceptions to the rule with which we agree: “Exceptions to this ‘one page rule’ are if you have an extensive list of publications or five or more years of work experience prior to law school.”  (We also recommend reading through the OPIA résumé tips in full.)  We can also speak from an employer’s perspective here, and the reality is that a one-page résumé just seems “cleaner” and less cumbersome to read.  If a law student sends a two-page résumé, that second page better have been necessary – i.e. filled with relevant past experience – or we’re turned off as an employer.  So our advice, to use a fancy legal term, is this: operate on the “rebuttable presumption” that your résumé should be one page.  If you come across a job listing that compels you to go over a page, talk to your career advisor about it.

Bonus Tips:

• Italicized text is generally easier to read than underlined text.
• Putting dates of employment or past experiences in the left margin makes for an easy-to-read format.

Remember to consult PSLawNet’s Job Search Fundamentals page for more tips.

Next Monday we’ll post interviewing tips. Stay tuned.  And good luck!

It’s that time of year.  1Ls and 2Ls are scurrying about looking for summer internship/clerkship listings, checking deadlines, and putting application materials together.  Here, we start a series of job application posts we’ll publish over the next several days, offering tips and best practices. Today’s post will focus on cover letters.  

Before we get to our tips list, the first, most important, universal tip is that law students should immediately schedule an appointment in their career services or public interest advising office.  Your author, about 10 years ago, fancied himself a sort of rogue public-interest student who didn’t need the help of his public interest career advisor.  This was really, really dumb.  Only after I sent the job applications out did I see the typos (amazing how they jump out at you once the original letter has already been sent), the formatting inconsistencies, etc.  These are things that a trained eye would have caught in no time.  So by all means, speak to a professional who’s helped hundreds of students in the exact position you’re in now.

Without further ado:

Five Tips for Public Interest Cover Letters

1. A cover letter is a “living document,” which means that each letter must be tailored to specific employers.  An employer is usually able to identify a form letter by the end of the first paragraph.  Then that letter is often thrown in the trash can before the second paragraph begins.
2. A cover letter should almost always be one page.  The chief exception may be if you have a wealth of experience related to a particular employment opportunity, and if the job listing for that opportunity is so fleshed out that you need more than a page to convey your qualifications.  This is not typically the case with law student positions, so try to keep it to one.  If you want a second opinion on a particular job application, ask your career advisor.
3. A cover letter is a complement to the resume, not simply a reformatted version of the resume.  The letter gives you a chance to express your passion directly to the employer in a slightly less formal manner than a resume; it gives you a chance to say not only what your credentials are, but a) why your credentials will enable to you to do that job, and b) why you want that job.  A personal commitment to an organization and/or its mission is a chief criterion used by almost all public interest employers in evaluating job candidates.  This doesn’t mean that you should go over the top, writing something like, “As a child I fell asleep dreaming of handling public benefits appeals.”  But the cover letter is your opportunity to say that you want to use your degree to “ensure that the poor and others on society’s margins can achieve real, meaningful access to the justice system” and, if you can, to illustrate past experiences that reflect this commitment.  One cover letter format to consider is as follows:
   • Paragraph One: Who I am and, in short, why I want the job;
   • Paragraph Two: What I bring to the job by way of experience, interest, and credentials;
   • Paragraph Three: Fleshed out explanation of why I want the job – an expression of my passion for the employer organization and/or the work.
4. Use the qualifications listed in the job description as prompts for points to hit about your experience/credentials. If an employer is seeking someone with an interest in juvenile justice issues, then you can write that, “My strong interest in juvenile justice issues has prompted me to gain experience researching juvenile sentencing trends for violent offenses, and to spend four weeks shadowing a legal services attorney who represents accused minors in criminal proceedings.
5. Have someone – a career counselor, classmate, friend, etc. – proofread your cover letters.  We are always our own worst editors and proofreaders, so don’t rely on yourself to do it.

Bonus Tip: Follow application instructions to the letter.  An employer may send a job description to your school, and your school may post it on Symplicity.  This does not necessarily mean that the employer wishes to receive your application via a Symplicity email – even if the employer does want the application emailed.  If they direct you to apply by email, send the email directly to them yourself.

For more tips and best practices, be sure to visit PSLawNet’s job search fundamentals page.

NEXT UP: later this week revisit the PSLawNet Blog for a post on resume tips.

When hunting for a public interest job (summer or permanent), networking is an invaluable career-building tool.  As we’ve noted before, networking is not schmoozing.  Rather, it is the process of developing relationships with individuals and organizations who operate in the professional arena that you wish to join (or advance within).   We’re thrilled to present this guest post –  10 Tips for Networking Made Easy! – by Michael Bergmann, executive director of the Chicago-based Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI).

Michael joined PILI in 2006 as Pro Bono Initiative Director and more recently served as PILI’s Director of Programs prior to being named Executive Director on December 1, 2010.  Prior to joining PILI in 2006, Michael served as the Guardian Ad Litem Program Director for Chicago Volunteer Legal Services.  An active member of the American Bar Association, he is Chair-Elect of the ABA Young Lawyers Division and Secretary of the Lawyers Conference of the Judicial Division.   

10 Tips for Networking Made Easy

1. It’s always better to give than receive!  Networking isn’t about getting a job or business development; it’s about developing relationships and making connections.  Networking is about meeting others to learn about what their needs are, how you can help and what connections you can make.  If you approach it from this angle, you’ll be successful and receive your rewards.  If not, you’ll be labeled a schmoozer, ‘pol’ or worse.
2. RSVP when asked, and do what you said!  They wouldn’t ask if they didn’t care.  If a host is asking for responses, be sure to let them know if you’re coming and if you say you are, be there.
3. Turn your cell phone/PDA/pager off!  I know it’s hard, but try it.  Hiding in a corner checking messages or on a call doesn’t go unnoticed.   And, answering the phone or checking e-mail while you’re talking, well, need I say more?
4. Listen more than you talk!  This is critical to a good networking session.  Take the time to learn about the person.  But, no one wants to carry the weight of the whole conversation, so talk responsibly.
5. Learn the person’s name and use it!  This is important during the conversation and for afterwards.  Doing so will show your sincerity and interest in the person and will help you remember their name later.
6. Know who you are and what you are!  Be able to explain who you are and to tell a little about yourself.  No one wants to hear the highlights of you resume or feel like their being sold something.  Explain who you are and what you do in a short but thorough way and relate to what you’ve learned about them.
7. Put your best face forward!  If you’re that mad/sad/angry/sick, don’t go.  No one wants to hear your whining or sob story when they first meet you and your less than sunny disposition will impede your ability to make connections.
8. Always have business cards on you!  Nothing kills a great networking opportunity like not having a way to connect again in the future.  And, be sure the one you give it is really yours!  You might jot down some important facts about the person or your conversation on the back of the card for later use.
9. Don’t shoulder surf!  You may think no one notices, but they do.  When talking with someone be sure to give them your full attention.  If you’re not enjoying the conversation, then politely move on.
10. Follow up with the contacts you make!  Whenever possible, you should follow-up within a week of meeting a new contact.  Include some highlights from your discussion to help them remember you.  And, if they follow-up with you first, be sure to respond.

Need a job or internship? During the  last week PSLawNet has posted:   34 new attorney positions,   17 new internships, and  4 new law related opportunities.  Additionally, there are currently 1,031 active opportunities in our job database.  To search the database visit PSLawNet.

Featured New Positions:

The Legal Aid Society – Employment Law Center (LAS-ELC) in San Francisco is hiring for an attorney to direct and supervise its Claims Project, which provides low-income and unemployed workers with information, counseling and representation in wage/hour claims and unemployment insurance appeals.   To implement the project, the staff attorney trains and supervises law student counselors to represent clients in administrative hearings, corresponds with claimants, employers, judges, the Labor Commissioner and representatives of the EDD/CUIB, and follows up on behalf of clients.  The staff attorney will provide technical support and possible co-counsel to LAS-ELC litigation staff; will conduct periodic trainings on UI and wage/hour and other issues to sister organizations and other groups; and will seek to influence policy through legislative or agency policy-making processes or amicus work.  Additionally, the staff attorney will periodically supervise the LAS-ELC’s Workers’ Rights Clinic, will conduct extensive community outreach, and will evaluate potential claims on behalf of the organization.  As an integral member of the Community Legal Services program, the staff attorney works with the program director, language access coordinator, and program assistant to provide direct legal services to several thousand clients throughout California each year.  Application Deadline:  January 21, 2011.  Visit PSLawNet for full details.

The Illinois Migrant Legal Assistance Project is seeking summer interns to work with Spanish-speaking migrant and seasonal farmworkers in Illinois.   IMLAP has been at the forefront of farmworker advocacy for decades providing legal representation to farmworkers harvesting crops, detasseling corn, working in packing sheds, or cultivating nursery products throughout Illinois.  Interns will be assigned to one of three satellite offices and be responsible for its daily operations (Mendota, Champaign/Rantoul, or Carbondale).  Paid internships begin May 31st and end August 14, 2011.  Application Deadline:  April 15, 2011. Check PSLawNet for additional details and application instructions.

Featured Public Service Career Resource:

Searching for a summer or post-graduate positions?  Don’t forget to maximize the effectiveness of your application materials by taking advantage of the resume tips and cover letter samples on our Job Search Fundamentals page.  Also, check our blog regularly in the upcoming months because we will be featuring a variety of posts on resume/cover letter drafting, interviewing, and more.  Check out this post from last week on strategic planning for your post-graduate job search.

Learn more about getting a PSLawNet job seeker or employer account . . .

Here’s a message from the folks organizing this year’s RebLaw gathering:

Come to the 17th Annual Rebellious Lawyering Conference!
Yale Law School
February 18-20, 2011

Hello Rebel!  

You are invited to the 17th Annual Rebellious Lawyering Conference, which will take place on the weekend of February 18-20, 2011.  Last year, we brought over 700 practitioners, law students, and community activists to New Haven to discuss progressive strategies for social change within and without the law, and we’re excited to do it again! We have posted descriptions of panels and workshops on our website and will continue to update with speakers and schedule information as it becomes available.  Please visit: http://www.yale.edu/reblaw/  to register, and for more information–PLEASE REGISTER BEFORE FEBRUARY FIRST IF YOU WOULD LIKE FREE HOUSING!

Questions?  contact rebellious.law.questions@gmail.com

Our “Expert Opinion” series moves into 2011 with a post on job search strategery from our friend Nicole Ayala…

Nicole Ayala is the Assistant Director, Public Interest & Fellowships at the University of Connecticut School of Law’s Career Planning Center.  Nicole’s extensive experience in the public service field includes having worked for a legal services organization, the federal government, unions and nonprofits.  She received her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law, a Master of Divinity from Harvard and a BA in political science from the University of Iowa.

Now, more than ever, landing that public-interest dream job right out of law school is a daunting task.  As a result, you should be thinking strategically about how to position yourself to get the job you want when hiring picks back up.  What follows is a five-part outline to use in developing a strategic plan that will move you closer to your career objectives. 

1. Describe your immediate employment goal(s) as precisely as possible.  Think in terms of both outcomes and skills.  For example, an outcome-based statement would be “I want to work in my home state as a legal services attorney, focusing on immigration and domestic violence issues.”  A skills-based statement would be, “I want to do a combination of litigation and policy advocacy work, with a substantial amount of client interaction.”  Specificity is important, as it not only helps you to articulate a concrete goal, but it also serves as the foundation for building your strategic plan. 
2. List obstacles/challenges.  This section should also address outcomes and skills.  Building off the example above, the challenges could include the following: “The legal services organization in my home state just did layoffs, I have yet to argue a motion in court, and I only speak English.”  Other categories of possible obstacles could include logistics (e.g. “I need to have an income now,”) attitude (e.g. “I refuse to look for a non-legal job,”) and networking (e.g. “What’s an informational interview?”).
3. Brainstorm potential strategies for addressing challenges.  Like any brainstorming session, no idea should be left unexplored, no matter how idealistic or obvious.  Often this is how truly innovative strategies are formed.  For example, only speaking English definitely presents a challenge to getting hired to do immigration work for a legal services organization.  Possible solutions for remedying this problem could range from the extreme of moving to another country for a language immersion experience to the relative ease of buying the Rosetta Stone program of your choice.
4. Prioritize strategies based on feasibility and marketability.  You should be able to prioritize the strategies that are feasible for you based on your personal circumstances (e.g. cash flow, geographic restrictions, family responsibilities), but you may want to talk to your law school’s public interest career advisor for input on determining which strategies to pursue based on marketability.  Your advisor will have knowledge of the hiring criteria and skills that public interest organizations value most.  By addressing both internal and external factors, hopefully you will be able to create a list that is both realistic and well-suited to your targeted position or organization.
5. Develop an action plan.  Once you have identified your priority strategies, think through the specifics of how to make them happen.  Generally, an action plan should include the following three components: tasks (what), resources (what / how / who) and timeline (when).  Returning once again to our example, let’s assume you decide to make the bold move of going to South America for six months to learn Spanish.  Your action plan might look like this: 

•  
  • Tasks:  Research language immersion programs and costs.  Find out if there are any visa requirements or travel restrictions.  Make sure I can sublet my apartment.  Check with my student loans lender to see if deferment is a possibility. 
  • Resources:  Family members (cost).  Fellow classmates (program recommendations).  Mentor (encouragement).  Landlord (finding a subletter).  Personal savings account (cost).  Temporary job (cost).    
  • Timeline:  One month from now: Complete research on programs.  Two months from now:  Speak to at least two graduates of the program and figure out travel logistics.  Three months from now:  Decide on program.  Four months from now: Arrange to have domestic issues taken care of, including apartment sublet and loan deferment.  Five to six months from now:  Move and start program.

             [On a related note, the PSLawNet Blog recently posted about Spanish language immersion programs.]

***

There is no question that the current employment climate is difficult for public interest law students and graduates.  But jobs are out there, and you will do yourself a tremendous service by taking a methodical approach to finding the right position for you.  Good luck!

If you are a law student or practicing attorney considering a federal clerkship or working as a staff attorney in the federal appellate courts you should get to know OSCAR.  No not that adorable grouch from Sesame Street, but the federal Judiciary’s online system for clerkship application and review.

Who is using OSCAR?

OSCAR has recently celebrated its sixth birthday and in 2010 was used by 1,501 federal judges (= 2/3 of all federal judges) to handle their clerkship application process.  The system allows judges to post open positions and choose to accept applications online or paper applications.  By 2010, 82% of judges were accepting online applications.

In 2010, 50% of the applicants were 3Ls and 50% were law school alumni.  This was a slight deviation from 2009, when 52% of the 10,722 applicants were alumni.

Another change in 2010 was the system’s expansion to allow staff attorney office’s in the federal appellate courts to post open positions.

The staff attorney module was introduced last May, and 10 positions were posted between that month and the end of September. The positions posted by staff attorney offices accepting online applications attracted 2,598 applications.

What does the future hold for OSCAR?

The OSCAR Working Group has “endorsed a proposal to add a module for pro se, death penalty, and bankruptcy appellate panel law clerk hiring.”

Learn more about how to utilize OSCAR to apply for federal clerkships and appellate staff attorney positions.

Happy New Year!  The PSLawNet Jobs Report is back after the holidays and ready to share updates on new job opportunities and career advice.

Need a job or internship? During the  last week PSLawNet has posted:   29 new attorney positions,   20 new internships, and  9 new law related opportunities.  Additionally, there are currently 1,015 active opportunities in our job database.  To search the database visit PSLawNet. 

Featured New Positions:

The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) is seeking an experienced professional for the role of Legal Advisor in ABA ROLI’s response to a USAID Request for Applications. The Legal Advisor will be responsible for advising Liberian justice sector institutions and officials, professional judicial and attorney associations, civil society partner organizations, legislators, government officials, and international domestic NGOs on the Liberian criminal justice system, pre-trail practices and procedures and Federal Rules of Civil and Criminal Procedure.  Deadline to Apply:  January 18, 2011.  Visit PSLawNet for full details.

The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NIRP) is seeking summer interns for their Tacoma office.  The NIRP provides legal services to immigrant detainees at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC), which holds up to 1500 detainees, 90% of whom are unrepresented.  Both the Tacoma office and the NWDC are a 35-minute commute from downtown Seattle.  Summer interns will directly represent detainees under the supervision of the attorneys in removal proceedings.   This includes appearing in immigration court hearings, preparing clients for court, preparing witnesses, drafting a number of legal briefs and making oral arguments in court.  In addition to their direct caseload, intern responsibilities include:  conducting “Know Your Rights” presentations at the NWDC to groups of detainees; conducting intakes with individual detainees; conducting workshops to assist detainees with applying for relief; identifying legal issues and potential forms of relief for detainees; drafting pro se briefs for detainees; and performing a variety of administrative tasks.  Deadline to Apply:  February 28, 2011.  Check PSLawNet for additional details and application instructions.

Featured Public Service Career Resource:

Looking for attorney positions with the federal government? As we shared last Friday in the Public Interest News Bulletin, a federal jobs expert shared some job-seeking wisdom in the Washington Post:

In each budget justification submitted to Congress, you get to see what an agency says it needs, as well any additional hiring requests to carry out its work … For the Justice Department to strengthen national security and counter the threat of terrorism the 2011 budget requests $300.6 million. The request includes 440 additional positions, including 126 agents and 15 attorneys. To enforce immigration laws the department is requesting an $11 million program increase, including 125 positions – 31 of them attorneys.  You can read an agency’s budget proposal on its Web site.

Learn more about getting a PSLawNet job seeker or employer account . . .