Before getting to the deadlines, we just want to give you a quick market update: while there has been incremental improvement in some areas of the legal employment market, much of it remains relatively flat. Currently, we have about the same number of employers (and about the same number of interviews) as last year. Our advice in light of this remains: Don’t rely solely on EIW/FIP. Take full advantage of these programs, but do some thinking about all of your options for next summer (and beyond). Flexibility (in terms of geography and practice areas) and networking are going to be absolutely essential to your ultimate success. All of us in the CDO stand ready to help you.
EIW Bidding and the FIP-Phase 1 Application Period Opens in Just 2 Weeks — Monday, July 20th! Bidding for firm interviews (and for the small numbers of public interest and government employers in EIW) opens in 13 days, as does the FIP-Phase 1 application period. EIW is mostly about large law firms whereas FIP is mostly small firms, government and public interest employers.
Once bidding opens on July 20th, you will be required to complete a brief online summer employer evaluation before you will be able to access the OCI section of b-Line. (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 Berkeley Law 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 six 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).
Transcripts
You will need to bring a photocopy of your original transcript to each of your EIW interviews (the first one of which will take place on August 4th). Transfers: you will bring copies of your original transcript from the school you are transferring from.
As we mentioned in an earlier email (on 7/1), you will need to order one original transcript from the Registrar by July 13th in order to insure you receive it in time. Order online and have it mailed to a designated address (click on “Order Online” from the Registrar’s Forms webpage) so you have it in time to make the photocopies you will need for each of your interviews, including those that happen on the first day of EIW (8/3).
You should also have several extra photocopies in case an employer asks you for one during one of your visits to a hospitality suite (for more info on hospitality suites, including a list of firms that will have them, see the homepage of b-Line — The Announcements Section).
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 using the transcript to determine the classes in which you are enrolling (or have enrolled) for the coming semester, though they may well ask you that during an interview or you may well want to volunteer the classes you are signed up for to signal your interest in a particular practice area. Accordingly, don’t put off ordering your transcript because you are concerned that the very latest changes/additions/deletions in your course enrollment do not appear on it. The key data that must be accurate for employers are your grades.
Research
All of the information you need about EIW/FIP can be found on the 2015 EIW/FIP homepage and the EIW Mechanics webpage. The OCI section of the b-Line contains the most up-to-date information on the employers coming to EIW/FIP (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.
Resume Review
This past Friday was the official deadline for guaranteeing that we will be able to review your resume and get it back to you in time for EIW. We will still review those that come in after the deadline and do our very best to get you comments in time for them to be useful in EIW. If you haven’t sent yours yet, please do so now to 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’re sorry that we are unable to honor requests to review your resume a second time.
We look forward to continuing to work with you as you prepare for the upcoming recruitment season.