News and Announcements
More About the Upcoming Recruiting Season
Bidding opens in just 13 days from today -- Monday, July 23rd.
This announcement contains info about some additional mock interviews prior to EIW and how to obtain your transcript for EIW.
Before we get to all that, we wanted to give you a quick report on where things currently stand. As of now, the number of employers (and the overall number of interviews) for this upcoming recruiting season is right around where it was last year. While there are significant variations from firm to firm and region to region, generally speaking, business at large law firms appears to have picked up a bit from last year. As a result, some firms have expressed their intent to modestly increase the size of their summer programs for 2013. We are hopeful this will translate into at least a slight increase in the amount of hiring through OCI, but it's impossible to know with certainty at this point. Firms do not ultimately have to make this decision until they begin making offers.
The takeaway from all this is not to rely solely on EIW/FIP. We encourage you to take full advantage of the program, but we also encourage you to do some thinking about all of your options for next summer (and beyond). As you have heard us say before, flexibility (in terms of geography and practice areas) and networking are going to be absolutely key to your ultimate success. All of us in the CDO stand ready to help you.
This Friday (7/13) is the official deadline for guaranteeing that we would be able to review your resume and get it back to you in time for EIW. Just send it to the career email box (career@law.berkeley.edu). You should also feel free to send us any cover letters you intend to use outside the EIW process (NOTE: you will generally NOT be preparing or submitting cover letters to EIW employers; only a very small number of employers -- generally government or public interest employers -- request them; such a request would appear in the additional requests/information section of an employer's schedule details in the b-Line).
Because of the volume of requests, we can't honor requests to review your resume a second time. We hope you will understand that, if a counselor has already reviewed your resume and gotten back to you, you should not resubmit it.
The OCI section of the b-Line contains the most up-to-date information on the employers coming to EIW (remember you will only see those employers interviewing for your class year). It is the place where you will be conducting your employer research (some of it, at least), submitting your bids, viewing/modifying interview schedules and carrying out all other online EIW activities. If you are unsure about an employer's status, feel free to contact Marty Grenhart at mgrenhart@law.berkeley.edu. Marty is the CDO's Recruitment Program Manager and handles all of the logistics relating to EIW.
We strongly encourage employers who are interested in Berkeley Law students, but for whatever reason are not coming to EIW, to post a job announcement in the jobs section of the b-Line, so be sure to check that regularly. NOTE: The job posting mechanism is functionally equivalent to the "resume drop" option that some Schools offer employers.
Research
All of the information you need about EIW can be found on the 2011 EIW/FIP homepage and the EIW Mechanics webpage.
Summer Employment Survey
Once bidding goes "live" (on July 23), you are going to need to complete a brief online summer employer evaluation before you will be able to access the OCI section of b-Line. (As of July 23rd, if you try to access the OCI section before filling out the evaluation, you will be automatically redirected to the Evaluations section of b-Line until you fill in at least the few required fields). Filling out the evaluation will only take a few minutes and will be of enormous assistance to current and future Boalt students.
Note: b-Line permits you to respond anonymously (by selecting “no” in response to the required question “May students contact you for further information about your summer experience?” towards the bottom of the evaluation form).
The evaluations are for the exclusive use of Berkeley Law students; employers do not have access to them. You will be able to view other students' evaluations from this past summer and from the previous five summers by clicking on the "Search" Tab in the "Evaluations" section of b-Line (to access the "Evaluations" section, click on the “Summer Evaluations" link on the b-Line homepage -- under "Career Tools and Advising").
Further Note: you can help your fellow students (and future students) most by taking just a little extra time to thoughtfully complete the questions at the end of the survey that call for a "narrative" type response (as opposed to just a 1 through 5 rating).
Mock Interviews
We are proceeding with our plan to offer one last opportunity for you to do a mock interview prior to EIW interviews. Several practicing attorneys who are alumni and friends of Berkeley Law have committed to participate between 6PM and 8PM on Wednesday and Thursday, August 1st and 2nd. If you are interested, send Sarah Cunniff an email (via scunniff@law.berkeley.edu) before the end of the day Monday, July 16th. Space is limited. Interviews will be assigned on a first-com, first-served basis. NOTE: You will need to have your updated resume uploaded to b-Line by Friday, July 20th in order for your request to be valid.
Transcripts
You do not need to order transcripts. The registrar will print out one official transcript for each 2L and 3L and deliver them to the CDO (you will need to give photocopies of your official transcript to EIW employers at the time of your interviews). We will make them available for pickup beginning Wednesday, August 1st in Room 238, which is the space we are using to process judicial clerkship applications. Room 238 is located in the former Library. (If you are standing in the Main Reading Room facing the now closed circulation desk, it is to your right in the northeast corner of the former Library space) Signs will be posted to assist you.
You'll need to show your student i.d. to us at the time of pickup.
For those of you who are working through Friday August 3, the CDO will be open on both Saturday and Sunday, August 4th and 5th, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Once you pick up your transcript, you will need to make enough photocopies to distribute to each of your interviewers during EIW, so be sure to build in sufficient time to do this before Monday (you will not have the ability to make photocopies at the Hotel Shattuck Plaza during EIW). You should also have extra copies in case an employer asks you for one during one of your visits to a hospitality suite.
Keep in mind that EIW employers are interested in reviewing your transcript essentially for the purpose of determining how well you did in the courses that you have completed. By and large, they are not interested in the classes in which you are enrolling (or have enrolled) for the coming semester. Accordingly, you should not be concerned about going into an EIW interview with a transcript that may not reflect last-minute changes/additions/deletions in your course enrollment. The key data that must be accurate for them are your grades.
You should take full advantage of Phase II of the TeleBEARS process to complete your enrollment and insure the accuracy of all your information (e.g., that your name and grades are correct) before July 27th.
