The Career Services
Office 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 Office of Career
Services 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 Services Resources
The 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 Office also keeps on file
hard copies of all of the job listings that are electronically
posted for students and alumni. The Office 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 Office of Career Services
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 Office of Career Services
with 15-20 copies of their resume on bond paper, which will be kept
on file in the Office. When the Office 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.
If 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 Office of
Career Services 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 Office of Career Services seeking St.
John's graduates with 2 to 5 years of practice experience. To
expedite the hiring process for both employers and candidates, the
Office of Career Services 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 Office 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 Office of Career
Services 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 Office of Career Services.
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 Office of Career Services. 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 Office of Career Services 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 Clerkship
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 Office of Career
Services 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 University 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 Office of
Career Services 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 University 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 Office of
Career Services 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 Career
Services 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 Office of Career Services
or call (718) 990-6614.