Friday, February 27, 2009

Interview Boot Camp:
Advanced Interviewing Techniques Program

Please join CSO on Tuesday, March 3, at 12:30 and 5:30, in Rom 209 for our program on "Interview Boot Camp: Advanced Interviewing Techniques." You should attend this program if you are seeking a summer or post-graduate job (that covers just about everyone, no?), particularly first-year students who have never had an interview with a legal employer.

Employers receive a huge amount of information about you during an interview, and you need to know everything you can about how best to interview. While interview preparation meetings with a CSO counselor are essential, this program will cover much more than an interview prep is designed to cover. Attend this program to really supercharge your interviewing performance, particularly in an economy in which every little advantage is important.

Recent graduates are invited, too.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

How the Current Economy will Affect
Recent Law School Graduates in 2009

The New York City Bar Association is hosting a program entitled:

How the Current Economy will Affect Recent Law School Graduates in 2009

Monday, March 2, 2009, 6 PM
House of the Association, 42 West 44th Street

A description of the program:

Has the current economy left you worried and wondering: If I have a job or job offer now, how do I keep it? What do I do if an employer has rescinded my job offer? If I don't yet have a job, how can I best position myself in this market? Is there anything I can do to enhance my skill set while I am still searching for a job? What other challenges should I expect to encounter during my job search?

Come hear our panel of experts answer these and more questions, so that you can develop your own action plan to keep you afloat and motivated in this volatile economy.

Speakers:
JILL BACKER
Associate Director for Employer Relations, Brooklyn Law School Career Center

JESSICA SILVERSTEIN
Recruitment Coordinator, Strategic Legal Solutions

MICHELE MOORMAN
Manager of Professional Development, White & Case LLP

Sponsored by:
Committee on Career Advancement and Management, Tanya Gill, Chair; Committee on Law Student Perspectives, Jodi Savage, Chair

Members of the Association, their guests and all other interested persons are invited to attend. The fee is $10 for students and recent law school graduates, $15 for members, and $25 for non-members. Registration is necessary, please register online here.

Monday, February 23, 2009

A Post-Graduate Job Search
During an Economic Crisis

Please join CSO on Tuesday, February 24, at 12:30 and 5:30, in Rom 209 for our program on "A Post-Graduate Job Search During an Economic Crisis." You should attend this program if you are graduating in May, as we will discuss search strategies, timing, contingency plans, temporary measures, and the kinds of changes that need to be made in a post-graduate job search when the economy is not good. The talk will be plain and honest, and questions will be encouraged.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Meet the Firsts of the Second

(Click on image to make it larger.)

Career Resources for Lawyers
and Law Students in a Down Economy

The New York City Bar Association presents:

Career Resources for Lawyers to Navigate the Current Economy: Finding a Job in a Down Economy (part 1 of 2)

Monday, March 9, 2009 6 PM – 8 PM

With the current state of the economy, many lawyers are looking for — or fear that they soon will be looking for — a new job. In this two-part panel series (for Part 2 see March 31) , attendees will gain valuable insight from executive recruiters, outplacement professionals and career coaches on current trends in the legal market, including who’s hiring and what skills are in demand, and receive practical tips about how to survive the financial crisis, from negotiating a severance package to transitioning into a new profession. Panelists for this program will discuss the current legal landscape, career-search resources and the job-search process.

Moderator: CONNIE VASQUEZ, Mazur Carp Rubin & Schulman PC

Panelists: DIANE COSTIGAN, Executive Coach & Consultant, Firm Leader Inc.; SHARON MAHN, Managing Director, Major, Lindsay & Africa; ZELDA OWENS, Managing Director, HireCounsel; MARCIA SHANNON, Principal, Shannon & Manch, LLP

Registration is necessary. The fee for each program is $15 for members, $25 for non-members. Please register online here (click on the "Register for this Event" button).

Career Management Services

The New York City Bar Association seeks to address the importance of Career and Professional Development for attorneys at every stage in their career. Through events, programs, their law library, and a variety of online resources, the Association tries to help members reach their career goals.

Find a Program

Throughout the year, the Association offers a wide variety of events and programs that will help you move forward in your career. They offer career planning and effective career management advice, and also hold networking and social events to help build your list of professional contacts. The Association knows that different attorneys need different programs, so they created a networking series for young attorneys, and a professional development series for attorneys.

Resources for your Career Development

The City Bar and its Committee on Career Advancement and Management have compiled numerous resources including Ask the Experts, podcasts, discussion forums, the Vault Career Library (for members), and more.

Your Job Search

Their Legal Career Center can help you whether you are starting your career or making a transition. You can search job openings, post your resume, or use the legal research center to find career-related resources.

Give the City Bar a chance here.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Should I stay or should I go?

The New York State Diversity Coalition presents a panel discussion on:

“To Stay or To Go”

Please join them for a candid discussion with a panel of diverse lawyers on whether to stay in legal services or go on to private practice or government. How do you deal with the pressures of salary, law school loans, children, aging parents, difficult clients, work and the isolation of being one of only a few diverse lawyers in our offices? What can legal services managers and programs do to promote retention of diverse, new lawyers? A wine and cheese reception will follow.

February 24, 2009
4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
White & Case, LLP
1155 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY

Panelists:

Anita Chen, Law Office of Anita Chen
Rolando Gonzalez, Harlem Community Offices, Legal Aid Society
Ricja Rice, Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York
Derryl Zimmerman, Law Office of Derryl Zimmerman

RSVP to Lillian Moy or Tanya Douglas. Registration is necessary in order to provide names to White & Case, which has generously agreed to sponsor the program and reception.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Government Opportunities Program

Please join CSO on Tuesday, February 17, at 12:30 and 5:30, in Rom 209 for our “Government Opportunities Program.” If you are interested in learning about and searching for summer and post-graduate jobs in government, you should attend this program. U.S. Department of Labor lawyer Irv Miljoner will attend the 12:30 program.

Ask Not: Film Debut Today

The Career Services Office and many other administrative offices and student organizations are sponsoring today's Long Island debut of the nationally acclaimed film ASK NOT, at 12:30 and at 5:30, in the Auditorium. The public is invited to the 5:30 showing.

ASK NOT is a rare and compelling documentary film that explores the effects of the federal “don’t ask, don’t tell” law on gay and lesbian soldiers and service members. The film exposes the tangled political battles that led to the discriminatory law and examines the societal shifts that have occurred since its passage in 1993. Current and veteran gay soldiers reveal how “don’t ask, don’t tell” affects them during their tours of duty, as they struggle to maintain a double life, uncertain of whom they can trust. The film also explores how gay veterans and youth organizers are turning to forms of personal activism to overturn the policy. The film showcases a national speaking tour of conservative universities to protests at military recruitment offices, these public events question how the U.S. military can claim to represent democracy and freedom while denying one segment of the population the right to serve.

In addition, we are pleased to have Dr. Nathaniel Frank attend the 5:30 screening, and he will take questions about the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law after the screening. Dr. Frank is Senior Research Fellow at the Palm Center (affiliated with the University of California) and an adjunct professor at New York University. He first broke the story of the Army's firing of Arabic-language specialists under the ‘don't ask don't tell’ policy. He has been interviewed for national television and radio programs to discuss the topic of marriage and military service rights for gays and lesbians. Dr. Frank's writing has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, The New Republic, the Los Angeles Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the San Francisco Chronicle, Lingua Franca, and other publications. Dr. Frank received his Ph.D. in History from Brown University in the spring of 2002. Before that he earned his Masters also from Brown and his Bachelors from Northwestern University in History and American Culture. His book on the U.S. military's gay ban, Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America, will be published in 2009 by St. Martin's Press.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Danger: Facebook

We have written on the subject of online networking sites before, but here is a new twist. On its application for a post-graduate position, an employer, a state government agency, asks for the names of the online social networking sites to which the applicant belongs. Fair enough. More and more employers are conducting online research of job applicants and this request simply asks the applicant to do part of the research for them. Lazy, but not out of the ordinary.

But the application continues by claiming that the employer expects access to the applicant's networking sites. Excuse me? Access? In fact, the precise words on the application are "We demand access." It appears as though the employer will demand of the applicant the email and password used by the applicant to access his or her site, so that the employer can conduct its due diligence on the applicant unfettered by any potential privacy concerns.

Is this the wave of the future? Who knows. Of course, the applicant could give the employer an expletive-laden retort to such a request. But if the applicant really, really, really wants to work for that employer, he or she may have no choice but to turn over the goods.

What this disturbing example of employer hubris provides students and alums is one more reason to conduct oneself appropriately (however that is measured) online.

These are Times
Which Demand Your Attention

Every now and then, we post an article about the difficulties people are experiencing in the job market. These articles are not meant to scare students - or scare you a lot, at least - but are meant to motivate you to do everything you can to build your resume now, while in law school, so you are as prepared as you can be when you look for a post-graduate job.

In the most recent edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education, in the Student Section, Steve Kolowich penned an article entitled Career Centers See More Students and Fewer Recruiters in Tight Job Market: Counselors advise seniors to make connections with alumni and be satisfied with offers that fall short of their dreams. While the article deals with undergraduate students, law students, too, should heed the message in it. A few snippets of the article are below:

At the university [New York University], on-campus recruiting is down 10 percent to 15 percent across the board from last year. Meanwhile, the average number of students attending one of the two-hour walk-in sessions held daily at the career center has soared from around 20 to almost 100. Ms. Steinfeld says her staff is routinely working 12-hour days, and she has asked the provost's office for additional staff to help deal with the extraordinarily high volume of students.

According to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, these are common symptoms in the downturn.

* * *

Networking, a tactic that centers have promoted for years, has become the watchword of recession-era career counseling. As the applicant pools deepen, career counselors are encouraging students to circumvent the regular channels by searching for side doors.

* * *

Adjusting Expectations

Despite their best efforts, career-center officials cannot fully curb the impact of a recession on their students' job prospects. So they're carefully warning students against unrealistic expectations.

"They've been in a seller's market, employers competing over them, rather than them competing among themselves for jobs," says Mr. Koc, the association researcher. "It's going to be something they'll have to adjust to."


To read the entire article, go here.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Looking for a Summer Job?

CSO will host a program, How to Find and Fund a Summer Job When Times are Tough, on Tuesday, February 10, 2009, at both 12:30 and 5:30, in Room 209. This is a command performance for students looking for summer jobs.

We will discuss the mechanics of finding a summer job, including many of the job search sites available, and the timing of when employers tend to hire. In addition, Tom Maligno and Michelle Kaminski will discuss the details and application procedures for both the federal work-study program and Touro summer fellowships.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Deconstructing the Bar Exam

If you are taking the July 2009 New York State Bar Examination, you should attend this program:

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What is your Greatest Weakness?

In the Career Journal of the Wall Street Journal online, an article by Joann S. Lublin, entitled A Question to Make a Monkey of You, focuses on correct and incorrect answers to the classic interview question: "What is your greatest weakness?" A small portion of the article is here:

Worldwide Panel LLC, a small market-research firm, is getting flooded with résumés for four vacancies in sales and information technology.

However, officials expect to reject numerous applicants after asking them: "What is your greatest weakness?" Candidates often respond "with something that is not a weakness," say Christopher Morrow, senior vice president of the Calabasas, Calif., concern. "It is a deal breaker."

The weakness question represents the most common and most stressful one posed during interviews. Yet in today's weak job market, the wrong answer weakens your chances of winning employment.

Some people offer replies they mistakenly assume that bosses love, such as "I am a perfectionist." That response "will be used against you" because you appear incapable of delegating, warns Joshua Ehrlich, dean of a master's program in executive coaching sponsored by BeamPines Inc., a New York coaching firm and Middlesex University in London.

* * *

The key? Thorough preparation. Career specialists suggest you take stock of your weaknesses, focusing on job-related ones that won't impede your ability to perform your duties. Tony Santora, an executive vice president for Right Management, a major outplacement firm in Philadelphia, says an information-technology manager flubbed a 2007 interview by choosing a personal foible as his reply: "My true weakness is that I am a terrible cook."

Rehearse your responses aloud, role play with a friend or videotape yourself -- but don't memorize your words. As you review the video, look for aspects "you would like to change so you can continue to get better as you practice," says Peggy Klaus, a leadership coach in Berkeley, Calif.


To read the rest of the article, go here.

For additional interviewing tips from a great site from the University of Southern California School of Law, go here (and check out other links on the blogroll to the right).