The Law School's Career Development Office
(CDO) provides assistance for alumni seeking job and career
transition. Resources available to graduates include:
Counseling and
Critiquing
One of the most important resources offered by the Career
Development Office is the opportunity to meet with a career
counselor to discuss resume and cover letter writing, interviewing
techniques, areas of potential practice, career opportunities and
any other concerns regarding one’s legal career. Individual Career
Counseling is provided by appointment or on a walk-in basis by all
four counselors. Counselors are also available to critique cover
letters and resumes.
Career Development
Resources
The Career Development Office has an extensive library, which
includes books, periodicals, newspapers, directories, and handouts
to assist students and graduates in developing their career path
and to prepare them for their job search. The CDO also keeps on
file hard copies of all of the job listings that are electronically
posted for students and alumni. It also maintains an on-line
library of many career-related handbooks and directories, as well
as a video-library of career panels and workshops presented by the
Office. The Rittenberg Law Library
also has a variety of reference materials to assist students with
their career planning.
Resume
Referral
Resume Referral is a service that the Career Development Office
provides to the last two graduating classes. If you are seeking
employment at the time of graduation, you can notify the office of
the type of position you are seeking (e.g. the practice areas,
location) by completing and submitting a resume referral form.
Graduates must also provide the CDO with 15-20 copies of their
resume on bond paper, which will be kept on file in the Office.When
the CDO receives a job listing for a recent graduate, our Alumni
Services Coordinator will review the resumes on file and match the
resumes with the job listing. f the resume matches the
criteria specified by the employer, the graduate’s resume will be
forwarded to the employer. If the employer is interested in meeting
the graduate, the employer will contact the candidate directly for
an interview. The Career Development Office can supply you with a
copy of the job listing prior to the meeting.
For more information on the Resume Referral service, contact our
Alumni Services Coordinator at careerservices@stjohns.edu.
Many employers contact the Career Development Office seeking St.
John's graduates with 2 to 5 years of practice experience. To
expedite the hiring process for both employers and candidates, the
CDO keeps resumes on file of graduates with 2 to 5 years of
experience who are seeking new employment opportunities. When an
employer who needs a candidate immediately, and does not want to
post their job listing, contacts the CDO with a request for
resumes, those candidates with the appropriate experience level and
type are contacted to see if they would like us to forward their
resume to that particular employer.
If you would like your resume on file with the Career
Development Office for this purpose, please forward it with a
notation that it is for the "Alumni Resume File" to our Alumni
Services Coordinator at careerservices@stjohns.edu.
Job listings are available to alumni on a password-protected
database at www.eAttorney.com on the same
day that they are posted by the CDO. St. John’s receives job
listings from law firms, corporations, public interest
organizations, government agencies, and other organizations seeking
St. John’s graduates. Past job listings are kept in binders in the
Career Development Office. Alumni are also provided with passwords
to access the career related portions of Lexis and Westlaw
Reciprocity
St. John’s is part of a network that permits students and alumni to
utilize the Career Services facilities of other law schools,
outside the New York City metropolitan area, from approximately
November through July. The Career Development Office can obtain
reciprocity for students and alumni from one law school within the
network in any geographic location/city. Queries regarding this
policy should be directed to the Career Services Office at careerservices@stjohns.edu.
Judicial
Clerkships
A judicial clerkship is a post-graduate, full-time, paid position
working for an individual judge or a group of judges in a federal
or state court. Students entering their last year of law
school and graduates may apply for judicial clerkships.
To facilitate the application process, the Career Development
Office provides students and recent alumni with a mail merge disk
containing the names and addresses of federal and highest state
court judges that can be used to prepare cover letters, assistance
obtaining and processing faculty recommendations, and mailing
services for a number of applications.
Alumni Lawyers
Network
Alumni Lawyers Network is a group of St. John’s School of Law
graduates that assist St. John’s students and alumni with career
guidance. St. John’s law graduates provide contact information and
practice area is kept on file in the Career Development Office
which may be viewed by students and alumi. If you are interested in
becoming a part of the Alumni Lawyers Network, please contact careerservices@stjohns.edu.
Loan Repayment Assistance
Program
The St. John’s School of Law Loan Repayment Assistance Program
provides financial assistance to qualified graduates beginning with
the Class of 2003 by paying a portion of their law school
educational loan debt. The Program seeks to achieve two goals. The
first goal is to enable graduates to select their employment
without being precluded from public interest options because of
financial impossibility. The second goal is to encourage St. John’s
law graduates to choose public interest careers. Awards will be in
the form of a loan of up to $4,000 per participant, per year, for
up to three years, to assist in the repayment of the participant’s
law school educational loans.
On-Campus Interview
Programs
The traditional Fall On-Campus Interviewing (OCI) Program
brings legal employers to St. John’s during the late summer and
early fall to interview second year day students and third year
evening students for summer positions, as well as third year day
students and fourth year evening students for permanent positions
after graduation. The program attracts national law firms, federal,
state, and local government agencies, and corporations. A smaller,
less formally organized on-campus interviewing program is held in
the spring for mid-sized and small law firms, and additional
government agencies.
For employers who are unable to interview at the law school, but
are willing to interview students at their office, the Career
Development Office also provides resume collections (“Resume
Submit”). Another sizable group of employers ask that
students contact them directly by sending a cover letter and resume
(“Resume Send”).
How to Participate in St. John's Fall
or Spring OCI Programs
St. John’s Fall OCI Program generally begins with an Early
Interview Week in mid-August. Employers may choose to come
on-campus to interview that week or thereafter. As part of our
services, we give employers the opportunity to review in advance
the resumes of prospective summer and permanent associates, and to
select those individuals with whom they wish to meet. The resumes
of interested students are forwarded to employers three weeks prior
to the date of their visit. Employers are asked to select up to
twenty students per schedule as well as several alternates. We can
accommodate multiple schedules in a single day or schedules spread
over a period of days. Interviews will take place in the CDO
Interview Suite on the third floor of the School of Law.
Refreshments and a buffet lunch will be provided. If the employer
desires, a Hospitality Suite can also be provided for informal
meetings with students before or after their interviews.The Spring
OCI Program follows the same logistics as the Fall OCI Program, but
runs from February through April.
Employers that wish to participate in either the Fall OCI
Program or the Spring OCI Program should complete an On-Campus
Interview Request Form and return it to the attention of Helena
Rojas, our Recruitment Coordinator, at rojash@stjohns.edu.
Employers may register online via the OCI Plus program if they
are eAttorney members.
Employers that cannot participate in the Fall or Spring
On-Campus Interview Programs, but would like to receive resumes of
St. John’s students for their summer or first year associate
programs, should complete the Resume
Referral Form, and return the form to the attention of Helena
Rojas, Recruitment Coordinator, at rojash@stjohns.edu.
How to List Job Opportunities for
Graduates
Employers who wish post part-time, full-time, summer, paid or
unpaid positions for St. John’s University School of Law students
should complete a Student Job
Posting Form and return it to our Student Services Coordinator,
at careerservices@stjohns.edu.
For further information visit the Career Development Office
or call (718) 990-6614.