BY ANDREA SAENZ
Now that November 1st has passed, NALP guidelines allow 1Ls to get career counseling. Students may sign up for individual counseling appointments with both the Office of Career Services and the Office of Public Interest Advising, and can attend the boatload of panels and workshops both offices are hosting. Once December 1st hits, 1Ls may apply for summer jobs. But OPIA Director Alexa Shabecoff just wants students to breathe.
“I’d like to tell 1Ls not to worry about getting a ‘job’ this summer,” she says. “If they want to work in public service, they will certainly get a position given that they are ‘free’ HLS students.” Last year more than half the 1L class received funding from the Summer Public Interest Funding program, which spends an impressive $1.7 million on subsidizing student jobs in public interest.
Shabecoff also encourages students to view the job search as a time of personal reflection. “I hope [students] will use this summer to learn about themselves,” she says, “– what issues they want to work on, how they want to work in them, and what kind of setting they want to work in.”
There are still counseling appointments open with both offices. The 1L panel and workshop calendar for the rest of November is as follows. Information about individual speakers is available at the OCS and OPIA websites.
Nov. 3 OCS Job Search Strategy Session, Austin West, 10:30-11:30 am Nov. 4 OPIA Job Search Strategy Session, Pound 108, 10:30-11:30 am Nov. 7 OCS/OPIA Resume & Cover Letter Workshop, Pound 100, 1- 2 pm Nov. 7 World of Law: Public International Law, Pound 107, 7 pmNov. 8 OCS/OPIA Resume & Cover Letter Workshop, Pound 100, 1- 2 pm Nov. 10 OCS/OPIA Resume & Cover Letter Workshop, Pound 201, 10:30 – 11:30 am Nov. 14 OPIA Student to Student Public Service Job Fair, 6:30-8:30, Ropes Gray Nov. 16 World of Law: Criminal Prosecution/Defense, Pound 107, 7 pm Nov. 17 If I Only I Knew Then…Advice from 3Ls about the 1L Summer, Pound 201, 11 am-12pm Nov. 18 International Summer Funding, Langdell North, 3 pm Nov. 21 OPIA Interviewing Workshop, Pound 201, 4:30-5:30 pm