Networking and job hunting wait for no pandemic. The annual cycle of career exploration, interviewing, and hiring that launches legal careers marches on—albeit online. Despite some awkwardness related to interacting virtually, both students and potential employers have found much to like about the Career Center's online initiatives in this brave new world. 

Employers from Greater Minnesota and outside the state have been able to join sessions virtually rather than having to incur travel costs and battling winter weather. Students haven’t had to take time away from classwork to journey to interviews. Many have appreciated the more intimate networking settings and one-on-one conversations made possible through technology platforms.

Carlton Hemphill, 2L, took advantage of many of the Career Center’s virtual services, including interview prep sessions, one-on-one advising with a career counselor, and on-campus interviewing. Thanks to a Meet the Market event, which gave students the opportunity to network virtually with potential employers, he secured two interviews for summer associate positions—a boost during the pandemic when opportunities are more limited. Career Center staff also helped Hemphill prepare for Loyola Chicago’s patent law job fair. Through that virtual event, he landed a summer associate position at McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff, an intellectual property firm in Chicago. 

Hemphill, an aerospace engineer who brings work (and interviewing) experience from positions at NASA and the Department of Defense, maintains that while the virtual formats have certainly been different, his career development experience has been quite positive. “You get out of it what you put into it,” he says. “The Law School and Career Center haven’t missed a beat with anything once it went virtual. I think they’re doing a great job.”  

Full Roster of Events

The Career Center offered its normal menu of events in spring and summer 2020, as well as this academic year, but virtually. Its Meet the Bar event, where students network and gain career and job-hunting advice, had nearly 100 bar members and students. Meet the Market for the public sector welcomed nearly 200 employers and students, while Meet the Market for the private sector connected more than 250 employers and students. Since spring 2020, the center’s online Professional Essentials Milestone workshops have attracted 60 to 80 students per session. There, students engage in topics like choosing a practice area, developing leadership skills, and working in diverse environments. 

“With the virtual format, we actually had more employers participating in Meet the Market this year than we did in 2019,” says Alison Plavin, Career Center assistant director of employer relations. “It allowed for a different kind of interaction. Historically, the Meet the Bar and Meet the Market events have been hosted throughout the first floor of the Law School—a busy, loud, bustling experience that allows some students to take more of a listener role or move around in groups. The virtual format requires every participating student to be actively interacting with employers in a very intentional way.”  

At its events, Minnesota Law used the platform Symplicity’s Career Fair module. Employers set up virtual booths that students visited for one-to-one or group video chats. Students could “get in line” by selecting which employers they wanted to interact with. Then employers would send them links for chats in separate virtual meeting rooms.  

Lauren O’Donnell, 2L, has found it challenging to network and job hunt virtually. It can be difficult to build connections with people, especially with a lack of visual cues available during an in-person meeting. Given the circumstances, though, she thinks students and professionals are doing the best they can to overcome the strangeness. 

Seeking a summer job at a nonprofit or a small immigration law firm, O’Donnell attended the virtual Meet the Market event for the public sector and participated in online on-campus interviewing. At Meet the Market, she visited breakout rooms for different employers and enjoyed being able to converse with individuals instead of only listening to presentations. “You could go and talk to one employer and then leave and go talk to a different one. That was nice,” she says. “Things can also be scheduled closer together because there is no travel time involved, so you can meet more people and learn about more employers.” 

Minnesota Law students all receive individual virtual counseling with members of the Career Center staff. From August 2020 through January 2021, the Career Center hosted 6,442 counseling appointments with students.

Employer Perspective

Meet the Market for the private sector exceeded expectations for Kelly Conrardy, legal talent director at Godfrey & Kahn in Milwaukee. She and her co-worker had some trepidation about meeting people virtually, but the apprehension eased once they started talking with students. She credits Meet the Market with the firm’s success in hiring two Minnesota Law 2Ls as summer associates.

“We quickly found out that five minutes was not enough time and were glad we could extend the meeting length,” Conrardy says. “Since we are in a smaller market, it can be hard to know how beneficial these programs will be, as there are a limited number of students who want to end up in our geographic area. But we had many good conversations to make it worthwhile.” 

Chang Lau ’12, assistant public defender in the Office of the Minnesota Appellate Public Defender, found the virtual career programs effective for connecting with students who are interested in public defense work. “The virtual platform used this year was seamless, and it provided the added perk of allowing us to speak to students from the convenience of our homes,” Lau says. 

The Career Center received generally positive feedback from employers and students, despite some technical hiccups that were solved. Employers liked having a safe, online venue and were impressed with students’ preparation and enthusiasm, Plavin says. Students appreciated the lawyers’ advice, the diversity of the employers, and the opportunities for one-on-one conversations. 

Overall Experience Postive

The Career Center received generally positive feedback from employers and students, despite some technical hiccups that were solved. Employers liked having a safe, online venue and were impressed with students’ preparation and enthusiasm, Plavin says. Students appreciated the lawyers’ advice, the diversity of the employers, and the opportunities for one-on-one conversations. 

Since summer 2020, the Career Center has continued its on- and off-campus interviewing programs. Normally, students would do interviews on campus and travel to New York, Washington D.C., Houston, and Chicago for off-campus interviews. All of these interviews were held, but online.

“Overall, we feel really good about the programs,” Plavin says. “Switching to a virtual format for these events—because of the focus on individual connections—was challenging, and we learned a lot in the process about what works and doesn’t work. We are grateful for the flexibility and enthusiasm of both students and employers, whose willingness to try the new format resulted in so many meaningful connections.”

—Suzy Frisch is a Twin Cities-based freelance writer.