Home For The Holidays

As exams wind-up, many students have the opportunity to head home and visit family over the holidays.? It is easy to fall into a routine for the few weeks you have off of sleeping, hanging out with old friends, doing holiday shopping, and catching up on the latest gossip (both local and celebrity).? However, this can be a great opportunity to work on your career, too.

If you are interested in returning to your home city/state after graduation:

• Set-up some informational interviews with local attorneys.? Ask them for their wisdom and advice.? If they could take one more class in law school, what would it have been?? How did they get into the area of law in which they work?? What do they like about what they do?? What is the most challenging aspect of what they do?? If they knew, when they were a law student, what they know now, what would they do differently?? All of this can be useful information for you, and it can help to build your network, as well.? Don?t forget to send these kind attorneys a nice thank you note for sharing their time and wisdom with you, as well, and stay in touch with them down the line.
• Think about joining the local bar association as a student member, and attend a local bar association winter party.? Now is when they are occurring.? Can you think of a better way to meet a whole bunch of local attorneys?? Make sure you have a positive response to ?What do you want to do when you graduate? ? ?I don?t know? is a conversation killer, but ?I really enjoyed my Contracts class, so maybe something transactional,? or ?Litigation, but I?m not sure beyond that,? or ?I don?t have a specific plan, I just know that I want to return here to Sheboygan,? are perfectly fine.? Just give the person you are talking to something to work with.
• Use this opportunity, when you do run into old friends and contacts, to let them know that you are in law school and look forward to returning home someday.? If you don?t tell them, how will they know?? If they don?t know, then they won?t think of telling you when they hear about the perfect job?
• Don?t forget about your family.? Who has more of a vested interest in your success than your family? They want to help you.? Keep them informed about what your interests and plans are, and be open-minded about their feedback and ideas.
• Attend court.? Put on your suit, introduce yourself to the bailiff, and sit and watch some proceedings.? This is a great way to familiarize yourself with some aspects of courtroom procedure that you may not have been exposed to yet, and, also, you may have a chance to speak to some attorneys while there.? Make sure you have your business cards on you (and if you don?t have them yet, swing by the Office of Career Development ? we can help with that).
• Research the bar application process in your state and, if you can, go ahead and complete it.? Get it out of the way as soon as you can.? If you are in a state that doesn?t allow early completion, at least take this time to research what they will need from you down the line so you can start pulling that information together.? I promise, your future self will be very glad you took this time to get this done.? Some states require you to get a character and fitness check out of the way before you can even sit for the Bar, while some states are instituting coursework requirements that, without preparation and planning, you may not complete.? Make sure you are informed and prepared.
• Take some time to take care of yourself.? Get that haircut, get that suit tailored, change the oil in your car.? Catch up on your sleep.? Eat well.? Get refreshed and ready to return next semester.? Being your best self is a very important piece of finding the right career for you.

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Is home just a stop for the holidays and not where you intend to work and settle after law school?

Surprise ? the same advice holds true for you as for those who want to return home after law school.? Take this time to make plans, do your bar application if you can, join a bar association where you want to be, take care of yourself, and let everyone know your plans.? Meet attorneys ? if you think building a network only involves building contacts in the place you want to be, then you aren?t thinking broadly enough.? The world gets smaller as technology increases.? I personally have friends from law school all over the country, and you will, too.

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We look forward to seeing you in 2013, and don?t forget that the Office of Career Development is always here to answer your questions and assist you in shaping your personal career plans.

Source: http://www.law.stetson.edu/career/blogkit/index.php/2012/12/home-for-the-holidays/

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