Using the Holidays to Jump Start Your Job Search.

With parties and vacations coming up, the holiday season is an ideal time to conduct job search activities. Get a jump start on your job search by getting your resume and cover letter into shape, networking and reconnecting with colleagues, family and friends, conducting informational interviews, shadowing an attorney for a day or researching potential employers.

Here are a few things you can do:

RECONNECT: Send holiday and/or New Year cards/e-mails to former supervisors, colleagues, faculty or anyone else with whom you’ve been out of touch. Bring them up to date on your life, school and the job search. Ask if they can keep their eyes out for you or share referrals. Consider asking for short meetings to re-connect.

CELEBRATE: Attend holiday parties and make new friends. Many bar associations hold holiday parties, typically free of charge or at a nominal cost. These parties are also great places to meet attorneys who do the work that interests you.

RESEARCH: Find USF alumni in practice areas that interest you by running an advanced search on Martindale.com. Reach out to those attorneys for informational meetings to learn more about that field and what you can be doing to make yourself more attractive to employers in that practice area.

SHADOW: Take up offers from attorneys to shadow them for a day. If you don’t know any attorneys, come by the Office of Career Planning and we may be able to connect with you alumni in your fields of interest. If you are leaving the Bay Area, send out letters in advance to attorneys from your home town letting them know of your interest in shadowing.

UPDATE: Revise and update your resume and cover letter. Many upcoming employment deadlines will arise in January such as Public Interest Public Sector Day and the Bay Area Minority Scholarship Program requiring resume, cover letter and writing sample submissions.

Our office is open until Wednesday December 25, 2010 and will reopen on Monday, January 3, 2011. You can make appointments online or by calling our office at (415) 422-6757. Have a Wonderful Holiday Season!