Making the most of your Experience: Getting the offer
o, you have the job or volunteer opportunity. Congratulations! However you got there—
through a school placement, a
connection, or the traditional application process—this section will help you to make the most of your experience. If you are reading this and you are still looking for your next opportunity consider checking out various career resources such as PSJD.org, NALP.org, EqualJusticeWorks.org, and Ms-JD.org. There are a host of opportunities available to students and determining what you want out of the experience is the first step.1
Having had more than a dozen jobs/internships/volunteer experiences, one of the most important pieces of advice I can offer is simply to observe. There will hopefully be many opportunities for you to provide your own opinions and insight over the course of the summer but taking at least the first week to really observe and take in your surroundings will pay dividends. These suggestions are applicable to full-time positions as well and the first month on a job is a crucial time to make contacts and build a network.2 For example, you can figure out what the usual lunch and coffee routines of the office are which will help you plan for offering to take your supervisors or mentors out of the office. Or, you might overhear your supervisor talking about a baseball game which you might bring up in conversation another time.
Develop Attainable Goals
Once you have settled into a routine and have a sense of the rhythm of the office it is a good idea to take stock of your goals for the summer. This can be easily created in a document or spreadsheet which you should then print and place in your workspace to remind you what you hope to accomplish. You may have come in on the first day with a set of goals but come to find that they may not be in line with the expectations of your supervisor. That is OK. But, don’t let the whole summer go by before you consider what you would like to get out of the experience and try to articulate that to your supervisor.
Your goals should include activities which will further your professional objectives but also provide value to the office. If you want to leave the job with a polished writing sample you should make sure your supervisor is aware of that and keeps you in mind when assigning projects. Additionally, if you would like to observe proceedings be sure to also include that in your goals. Just be sure that you don’t spend the entire summer doing things that are interesting and fulfilling such as watching a long trial without providing a work product that brings value to the office. Being known for good work is the only way for your supervisors to be able to help you succeed in the future.3 If at your halfway point you haven’t checked off some of your goals be sure to discuss your progress with your supervisor and ask for suggestions and advice on how to meet your remaining goals before the end of the summer.
Work like the Most Successful Lawyer in the Office
It goes without saying that the only way to succeed in any position is to work hard. Working hard can look different depending on the position and the people around you but there are a few universally recognizable signs of hard work:
(1) Showing up on time and staying as late (if not later) than you’re supposed to;
(2) Asking relevant, thoughtful questions and showing a genuine interest in the work; and,
(3) Submitting polished work before or by the assigned deadline (always ask for a due date).
Each office will be different. Try to determine what other signs of hard work is valued at your particular office.4 For example, staying late is not always required and may perhaps go unnoticed in one office while it may be required in another. Certain people in your office may have different expectations and personalities which are important to recognize and cater to when possible. If you have the opportunity, ask attorneys in the office how they define working hard in the office and what they appreciate most in their interns or junior employees.
Be the Friendliest Person In the Office (Baked Goods Help!)
Take time to get to know other people in the office when provided with the opportunity to do so. You can take a page out of my book and become everyone’s best friend by bringing in baked goods. If you’re not a skilled cookie maker you can still build relationships with people in the office by remembering names and asking about weekends, families, and holiday plans. Oftentimes, your supervisors and colleagues would much rather discuss their lives outside of the office. This also goes for any and all administrative, paralegal, or janitorial support that might
also keep the office running. As is the case in an interview situation, never underestimate the power of the support team—particularly if the office is small.
Don’t squander an opportunity to learn more about someone in the office because you are too focused on getting a
job offer. In my experience, people are happy to talk to you about their career paths if you ask specifically to take them out to coffee to do so. However, if you are just making conversation in the office you may want to steer clear of asking too often about how they got their job or what they look for in a new hire. It is a
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by: Irene Lehne, Drexel University School Of Law
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