My Q&A with Vault Law

I sat down with Mary Kate Sheridan, Vault's law editor, to discuss Spring On-Campus Interviews (OCI) and tips to landing a legal job. 

This post originally appeared on Vault's Law Blog.

How to Succeed During Spring OCI: Tips to Help You Land a Legal Job

Who cares about showers and flowers when you’ve got job interviews to tackle? Spring OCI is here or coming soon to a law school near you, and it’s time to grab yourself a legal job. Drew Carls, the On-Campus Interview Coordinator for the University of Texas School of Law took time to answer some of Vault Law’s Spring OCI questions. With UT Law’s Spring OCI just days away (the Austin-based school’s Spring OCI program will take place from February 28-March 7 this year), Mr. Carls has been busy getting ready for the on-campus interviews and resume collection. He shares some of his Spring-OCI tips below.

Vault Law: What is Spring OCI? How does Spring OCI differ from Fall OCI?
Drew Carls : The Spring On-Campus Interview (OCI) Program takes place during the Spring semester and is usually a smaller program than Fall OCI. Spring OCI is open to all students including 1Ls, while Fall OCI is open only to rising 2Ls, 3Ls and LLMs based on employers’ hiring criteria. While employers from various legal sectors participate in both Fall and Spring OCI, firms and organizations with larger summer programs primarily recruit in the fall, although they may also recruit in the spring (some schools offer employers the opportunity to choose 100 percent of their interview selections during Spring OCI, while Fall OCI trends to hybrid interview selection programs in which a certain percent of interview selections are chosen by employers, while the remaining slots are filled by lottery.)

VL: What are your top 5 tips for a successful Spring OCI?
DC :
1. Meet with your career counselor and/or attend an interviewing tips program. Learn the nuances of legal interviewing so you can be prepared.
2. Participate in a mock interview. A mock interview is an opportunity to polish your interviewing skills so you can walk away with actionable improvements for the real interview.
3. Ask a recent summer clerk/intern for advice. Seek out a fellow law student or recent alumnus who has worked at the organization that you are interviewing with. Ask them what they think makes for a successful interview and clerkship with that employer. Find out more about the organization.
4. Research the employer. Demonstrate that you’ve done your homework. Review the employer’s website and consider other tools such as the NALP Directory of Legal Employers, Vault Career Guides, Chamber Associate, LexisNexis, Martindale-Hubbell and your school’s summer clerkship evaluations. Professors and other attorneys familiar with the employer can also be helpful. And don’t forget to research your interviewer(s).
5. Become familiar with NALP’s General Standards for the Timing of Offers and Decisions. Know how quickly you should respond to an offer, how to best respond to an offer (either by phone, e-mail or letter), what split summers are and how to make that arrangement, as well as what to say when declining an offer. For specific guidance, visit with your career counselor.

VL: How does UT Law Career Services prepare its students for Spring OCI?
DC : Our office offers a variety of resources to our students participating in Spring OCI including resume and cover letter reviews, mock interviews and interviewing programs, to name a few. In addition, we offer online resources to help students research employers as well as online summer clerkship evaluations by fellow students.

VL: Has UT Law modified its approach to Spring OCI at all in this changing economy?
DC : UT Law Career Services Office continually reviews its approach to recruiting programs based on current hiring trends. We modify our programs to serve the needs of our students and recruiting employers accordingly.

VL: If a student doesn’t find the right job placement or internship during Spring OCI, what are some next steps he or she can take in his or her job search?
DC : Students should work with their career counselors to develop summer employment plans that include job search strategies beyond Spring OCI, such as reviewing their schools’ job banks, scheduling additional mock interviews and broadening their job searches either geographically, by employer type or both. There are other summer options available including clinic work through their schools and volunteering with public service organizations to gain legal experience. Students should also continue to expand their networks as many opportunities are by word of mouth. Attending a bar association or CLE event can provide great opportunities to meet legal professionals. Be sure to look for other networking opportunities, and do not forget to let your network know what type of opportunities you are seeking.

University of Texas School of Law Site

________________________

Drew Carls is the On-Campus Interview Coordinator for The University of Texas School of Law. Mr. Carls joined the Career Services Office in 2006. He manages the Mock Interview Program, the Fall On-Campus Interview Program and the Spring On-Campus Interview Program. Mr. Carls also manages UT Law Career Services’ Twitter (@UTLawCSO) and LinkedIn accounts and serves on multiple University scholarship, parking and transportation and social media committees. Previously, Drew was appointed to the University of Texas’ Task Force on Curricular Reform—its report was instrumental in significant core curriculum changes at The University of Texas at Austin, including what is now known as the School of Undergraduate Studies. Mr. Carls received a BA in Government and a minor in Communication from The University of Texas at Austin in 2005.

UT Austin Social Media Collaborative: Facebook Bootcamp

On Wednesday, February 16, we hosted the first Facebook Bootcamp at The University of Texas at Austin. Based on feedback, my UT Austin Social Media Collaborative colleagues and I put together a four-hour bootcamp for our higher education team from all areas of campus.

The bootcamp featured a Facebook representative from the Austin office, content strategy, Facebook Insights, case studies from around campus and a student panel.

We recorded the bootcamp thanks to our friends in the Faculty Innovation Center at the Cockrell School of Engineering.  Here's a look:

Welcome and Introduction
Presentation by Facebook with Q&A
Pages Success Stories and Admin Interface with Q&A
Content Strategy
What are UT Students Looking for in UT Facebook Pages? A Panel with UT Students
Merging Social Media into Your Design/Branding Strategy
Wrap-up/Next Steps

You will need to install Microsoft Silverlight to view.

During the presentation, we asked our colleagues to post questions to Twitter using the hashtag #UTSMC and post questions to our Facebook page.  Here's the Keepstream collection we pulled from the day.

A BIG thank you to my fellow collaborative board members Lisa Crider, College of Communication; Juan Garcia, Cockrell School of Engineering; and, Nyleva Corley, Office of Public Affairs. And, a BIG thank you to all our presenters!

Austin (ATX) Snow Day

It snowed here today in Austin.  Here's a look at the photos I took today on The University of Texas at Austin campus.

For a larger view, click on the slideshow.

Using Social Media to Stay Connected During University of Texas at Austin Emergency

What a day. Today, I was working at The University of Texas at Austin when a student killed himself on-campus. There were many lessons learned from this experience but the ability to share information in real-time through social media proved invaluable.


When I arrived on campus today, I saw several UT police officers - sirens going - race past me heading south toward to the middle of campus. I felt it was unusual but did not give it much thought beyond any emergency that needed police attention. After arriving to my office, I poured myself a cup of coffee and received a text message alert from the University notifying us that there was a gunman on campus at the PCL - one of our largest libraries.


My immediate reaction was to let my family know of the situation, so I sent them a group text. And, my next thought was to alert others through my Twitter and Facebook accounts.  I knew folks would be impacted with the information if they had not received it already. We were in a lockdown. A social media firestorm began...


Retweets on Twitter started and Facebook comments were next. Many people I share my social media space are connected to the UT campus and had an interest in the updates.  


As I received updates from the school - main campus and the law school - I began sharing what information I had.  I also shared information I had from other colleagues who I was connected with on Facebook and Twitter. 


I found myself connecting with lots of people on Twitter who had concerns for loved ones on campus and sought information.  Lots of questions came in and I began to share information I had. 


Twitter makes it easy to connect quickly around an event using hashtags -- #UTshooting and #UTshooter quickly emerged as the tags folks were using.  I mainly used #UTshooting. Twitter connected the campus and its community beyond the 40 acres.  People were sharing information at rapid speed.  Shortly after I began tweeting retweets (RTs) were pouring in - after 600 I stopped keeping track. People yearned for more information at the very critical time for many on campus. 


I soon received an email from Carson Daly's producer in Los Angeles that works on his morning radio show. Soon thereafer we spoke on the phone about the events and what I was experiencing at the time.  Next came a phone call from a New York City radio station -- I still do not remember who it was. Things were moving so fast -- tweets, Facebook comments, texts to friends and family. Next came a message from a Twitter follower who wanted me to call into Fox 7 Austin.  I spoke live on their TV broadcast of the situation. People began sending tweets and Facebook messages that they were seeing me on TV. Even co-workers were seeing it offices away.  I then received a few messages that people were hearing me on the Bobby Bones morning show on 96.7 KISS-FM ... well, they weren't "hearing" me, Bobby Bones was reading my tweets to his listeners. Next came messages that Good Morning America was interested in speaking but I'm still not sure that's accurate. Lastly, tonight I was messaged by the San Antonio NBC affiliate for a TV interview on social media and its use in emergency situations.  


From radio to TV, from West coast to East coast, the power of social media is real. It's a platform that extends all boundaries and allows many people to share and learn information instantly.  It's also a platform that gives a voice to many. 


It's relieving to know that no one was injured in this shooting and hope that social media and mass communication tools; e.g. text messaging, emails and sirens UT used, played a significant role in keeping people safe and informed. Information is power.