Call-back interviews happen in many different ways.  They can take place at the interviewing law firm, here at the school, or over a meal.  If your call-back interview takes place over a meal always remember, when you are eating with potential employers you are still being interviewed.  Do not let the relaxed atmosphere lull you into relaxing your guard.  Callista Gould, a certified etiquette instructor with the Culture and Manners Institute, lists ten tips to make sure your table manners are ready for the call-back meal interview.         

Tackling Table Manners

Tips for Your Team

Here are ten errors to avoid:

1. Delay of Game:  Arrive early for your business meal, whether you are the host or the guest.  Do not order alcohol while you are waiting. 
2. False Start:  Wait for the host to tell you where to sit.  Place your napkin on your lap when your host does and being eating after your host.  Order first, then talk business. 
3. Illegal Procedure:  Napkins are not for blowing your nose or spitting out unwanted objects.  Blot your lips with your napkin between food and drink.  Remove unwanted objects with thumb and index finger, cupped fingers or discreetly moving the object from your mouth to the fork or spoon. 
4. Pass Interference:  When someone asks for the salt or pepper, you may not intercept and use it for yourself.  The same goes for shared dishes, which are passed to the right (counterclockwise).  Salt and pepper are passed together, one in each hand. 
5. Illegal Use of Hands:  Do not reach for items beyond your grasp.  Say “please pass the…” and “thank you” when it arrives. 
6. Illegal Motion:  Keep your elbows in.  No elbows on the table except between courses when there is no food on the table. 
7. Unnecessary Roughness:  Be kind to the cook, especially when dining in someone’s home.  Do not say you do not like something.  Let the host/hostess know when you do.  (This is delicious!)
8. Technical Foul:  Do not lose patience with the wait staff – kill them with kindness.  Try not to send anything back, unless it is so undercooked it is crawling off the plate. 
9. Unsportsmanlike Conduct:  Do not talk or take a drink with food in your mouth.  Do not use a toothpick or chew ice.  No grooming at the table – do not use a comb, nail clippers or apply lipstick. 
10. Fumble:  If you spill something on another person, such as a glass of wine, apologize and offer to reimburse him or her for the cleaning expenses. 

When the meal is over, do not stack the dishes or push them away.  Leave your napkin slightly crumpled to the left of your place setting. 

If you need additional information on what to do or not to do during a lunch or dinner interview see Kimm Alayne Walton, Guerrilla Tactics For Getting the Legal Job of Your Dreams,  614-628 (2d ed. Thompson/West 2008)(1995), visit the Culture and Manners Institute online at www.cultureandmanners.com, or stop by the Professional Development Office.  Good luck!

Never underestimate the power of a thank you note.  Thank you notes help convey your appreciation to your interviewer for their time; they give you another opportunity to express your interesting in working for the company; and they remind the interviewer who you are.  If you are having trouble writing your thank you note or are not sure where to being here are a few suggestions to get you started.

First, handwritten thank you notes are far better than printed thank you notes, UNLESS your handwriting is atrocious.  Then printing out a thank you note and signing it is a much better option.  The purpose of your thank you note is to thank the interviewer for their time and to reiterate you interest in their company.  If the interview is unable to read your note due to your handwriting then that defeats the purpose of sending the note.

Second, snail mail is good.  We all know e-mail is a fast and convenient way to communicate, but a thank you e-mail is impersonal.  The effort it takes to pick out the paper or the card and to handwrite the thank you note helps make the note more memorable than sending an e-mail. But if a thank you e-mail is your only choice then send the e-mail.  A thank you e-mail is a much better option than sending no thank you note at all.

Lastly, choose the content of your thank you note carefully.  Here are a few things you should include in your thank you note.  First, always thank the potential employer for their time because they did not have to interview you.  Second, your note should reiterate how interested you are to work for that employer.  Third, your note should include something you discussed during the interview.  Finally, your thank you note should be sent promptly, within 24 hours of your interview, with no typos.  Typos in general are bad, but typos in your thank you note are really bad.  Remember your thank you note is also a writing sample to a potential employer.   

Need more information? See Kimm Alayne Walton, Guerrilla Tactics for Getting the Legal Job of Your Dreams, 424-655 (2d ed. Thompson/West 2008) (1995), or stop by the PDO.

Okay, I admit it.  I am addicted to Facebook and LinkedIn, and other types of social networking sites.  They are great!  Social networking sites help keep us in touch with family and friends, reconnect us with fellow alumni and former colleagues, and on occasions, assist us in our job search.  However, as great as these sites are, they also carry with them the ability to harm our professional reputation and alleviate potential job offers.  With on-campus interviews right around the corner this seems like a perfect time to discuss ways to avoid these types of social networking pitfalls; as well as steps to help effectively communicate a professional online persona to potential employers.    

I know it is hard for some to believe, but employers honestly and truly pay attention to your Facebook page, as well as your tweets, and anything else you may have posted on the internet.  Luckily, with a little advance planning on your part, it is easy to manage the amount of electronic information available to a potential employer.  The National Association for Law Placement, Inc. published an article in their August 2010 Bulletin by Kristen UHL Hulse titled, A Guide to E-Professionalism for Law Students: Five Steps to Create and Maintain a Professional Online Persona.  This article describes five easy steps that can help clean up and maintain your social networking image to ensure that your professional persona matches your online persona. 

Step 1: Identify your online social networking goals and choose the social networking platform accordingly. 

• Be sure to err on the side of professionalism because it can be difficult to clean up “digital dirt” in the future.  Any information you post on a social networking site creates an electronic record that may be accessible for years.   

Step 2: Conduct due diligence on your online presence

• Many legal employers have admitted to running searches of a candidate’s name, the results of which can influence the employment process. 

Step 3: Clean up your online presence to reflect a professional online persona.

• Start by thoroughly examining the information you have posted on social networking sites, including status updates, photographs, and even responses to friends’ comments.
• Even if your personal pages are private, your friends’ pages may be publicly accessible, allowing personal information you post on friends’ pages to be discoverable. 
• Review information you have posted online as if you are an easily offended employer and purge any questionable material.   

Step 4: Actively manage your online persona to meet your social networking goals.

• Online reputation management is a key component of e-professionalism. 

Step 5: Be accountable for your online persona. 

If you have any questions or would like additional information on how to maintain a professional online persona, the above referenced article is available in the Professional Development Office.   Good luck! 

1. Try to use a common font when typing your documents.  Examples of common fonts are Arial, Garamond, and Times New Roman.
2. Indents should be preset.  Do not use the spacebar or multiple tabs for spacing. 
3. Use Microsoft Word Version 5.0 or higher for the best results.
4. Do not encrypt files or use password protection, locks, macros, frames, or tables. 
5. Do not force your margins.  A minimum margin of three-quarters of an inch is recommended. 
6. Do not use page breaks. 
7. Do not use headers or footers. 
8. Avoid extremely long files names.  For instance a document named My_Cover_Letter_For_Pricewaterhousecoopers_For_Fall_2010.doc should not be used. 
9. Your resume should be limited to one page.  If your resume is longer than one page, it must not exceed the maximum file upload size of 200KB (200,000 bytes.)
10. If your PDF file does not convert properly, upload it in the original file format (e.g. MS Word) and let the system complete the conversion. 

Wondering if you should move on from your first job? Check out this article first published in the KBA’s Young Lawyer’s Forum in Spring 2009.

What if Your First Job isn’t the Right Fit

PSLawNet has added a new resource to their site: State and Local Government Resources, available at www.pslawnet.org/stateandlocalgovernmentresources. This new page includes links to hundreds of state and local government agencies that hire attorneys and/or law students. It is searchable by state via an interactive map and includes listings for many major city employers as well.

This is a great article on approaching your job search and explains why not to bulk e-mail your resume, how to plan your day, how volunteering can help, the importance of building human networks, and what to avoid on the Internet.

This is a cautionary tale. I write it so that you can learn from my mistakes. I was one who did not attend bar events as a student. I did not take advantage of the many networking opportunities available to me during my time at Washburn Law. I would send several applications for jobs, and just wait for the rejection letter that would inevitably come weeks or sometimes months later, if at all. It was not until I graduated, passed the bar and started working in the PDO that I recognized the importance of following up…it truly is the most important thing you can do after sending an application. To steal imagery from Margann Bennett, picture a busy employer with a large stack of application packets on her desk. Finding you a job is not on the top of her to do list. But finding a job is on the top of your to do list. You can make yourself stand out by simply picking up the phone and calling. All you have to say is, “Hi, this is ______, I’m calling to make sure you received my application packet and to let you know that I am still very interested in the position.” And be prepared for a phone interview on the spot (see below). Even if the employer tells you that she is still reviewing applications, undoubtedly, your packet just got pulled from the stack and placed on top. I am proof that following up with employers is worth the effort.

I sent application packets to four employers on a Thursday afternoon. Two weeks went by and true to form, I forgot to follow up. It was Friday (two weeks and one day later) at 3pm when I finally started making follow up calls. The first employer I reached asked if I was returning his call from the day before. I had missed his call! He explained that they were setting up phone interviews to decide who to invite down for an in person interview and asked if I had time right then. I did, and proceeded to have a 45 minute phone interview. At the end of our conversation, he asked if I could come down the following Monday and interview. I said yes and the interview went well. By the time I got home (after lunch and a three and a half hour drive) the day of the interview, I received an offer. I can’t help but think that if I had not followed up I would not have had another chance at this opportunity. Clearly they were ready to hire, as they offered me the job the same day as the personal interview, so I doubt they would have called again. Beyond this, I can’t help but wonder if I would have been successful in my job search sooner, had I followed up with all the potential employers I solicited.

It’s no secret that attending law school can get pretty expensive. Although Washburn Law remains one of the best values in the country, most students still incur at least some debt to help finance their education. What many students don’t consider when making decisions about the amount and type of loans they take is how those loans may affect their job prospects down the line. The amount and type of debt carried by a graduate could affect whether they can afford to take certain types of jobs and whether their loans could be eligible for federal programs reducing their payments and ultimately discharging the loans. Here are some things to remember when funding your law school education.

1) Borrow only the lowest amount necessary to fund your education and living expenses. You don’t have to take ALL the money you are awarded. Take what you need and if necessary go back for more later.

2) Limit your educational debt to federally subsidized loans. Students may be eligible for either or both federally funded loans (Stafford) or private loans. The federal government has several programs for graduates working in the public sector that allow for income-based payments and discharge of loans in certain circumstances. Most federal loans also are now eligible for income-based repayment plans for those working in lower-paying positions regardless of whether the position is or is not in the public sector. Equal Justice Works is an excellent resource for information about all these programs.

3) Consider a part-time job to help with bills and gain practical legal experience. While all law schools discourage students from working during the first year, you should consider pursuing paying positions over the summer and part-time during the second and third years to subsidize the cost of living. In addition to the benefit of being paid, finding a position that provides practical legal experience is an obvious bonus both to your education and long-range career plans. If the you can’t find a paying legal position for the summer and chose to volunteer or take classes, consider taking a non-legal job to at least contribute toward living expenses for the summer. Consider jobs at retail stores with merchandise discounts (preferably on necessities such as a professional wardrobe or groceries and personal items rather than CDs, video games, and movie rentals!) or a restaurant with great tippers and a good take-out benefit.

4) Do everything you can to live within your means. It is an unfortunate truth that if you live like a lawyer in law school, you will live like a law student as a lawyer. Check out this link for 50 ways to trim your budget.  Use this  link to see how much brand-name coffee costs over the long term.

5) Be realistic about your earning potential. Consider whether you plan a career in the public or private sector, in a large or small firm, in a large metropolitan center or in rural America, and practicing law or pursuing alternative careers. Starting salaries can vary widely but having the least amount of debt possible when you graduate leaves you more prepared to find and accept the career you really want – not just one that pays the bills!

6) Do NOT use credit cards! Repeat after me, “I won’t use credit cards in law school.” Most people have a credit card “for emergencies” which may or may not be a good idea but is nevertheless a reality for most Americans. “Emergencies” are not pizza, Starbucks, ring tones, CDs, concert tickets, Spring Break, cash advances, NCAA Tournament tickets, Thursday nights out, or spa treatments! Don’t let short-sighted “wants” affect your long-term financial stability!!