Welcome back from the holidays! We at LawFit hope you enjoyed a wonderful holiday season. Now that you’re back, we are sure you are greeted with anxious 1Ls who have one semester under their belts and are getting offers for summer jobs. 1Ls are especially engaged with career services this time of year because by the time they return from winter break, most of them are deep into their summer job searches and this is the first time in the school year when the job search, rather than navigating law school and grades, is their primary focus.

For law students who came to law school straight through from undergrad, 1L summer job offers are most likely the first professional job offers they are receiving so career counselors are used to January being the season of talking about juggling, accepting, and declining job offers.

So how do you have conversations with 1Ls about navigating job offers? Join in as LawFit addresses three common issues that arise.

1. Wanting to take the path of least resistance

Some 1L jobs take very little effort to get. Professors hire Research Assistants exclusively out of their own law school’s student body, some judges hire students who attended their law school without even reading their resume, and family connections are eager to help. But sometimes the easy-to-get job will not put the 1L on track to accomplish their career goals.

This is a time to remind the student why they went to law school, encourage them to reconnect with their initial passion, and take a second look at their LawFit assessment results.

2. Having a job offer in hand but still waiting on their “dream job”

It is impossible to go through January without hearing a 1L explain that they have one offer but their dream job is interviewing them next week. What should they do!? In times like these, it is helpful to remind 1Ls that it is not terribly difficult to get a 1L summer job because the vast majority of them are unpaid. If the student is waiting on a job offer from an employer that will set them up to reach their goals, they owe it to themselves to pursue it.

3. Having no idea where they want to go

Inevitably, some 1Ls are wide open about geography and willing to go “anywhere” over the summer. In the end, however, they will have to make a decision and choose one or maybe two places.

One way to help them narrow their field of geographic interests is to talk about the practice areas that interest them and to consult the LawFit assessment. LawFit’s practice area guide comes with every assessment and provides helpful information such as where a certain practice area is predominately active. For instance, if a student is committed to antitrust law, they will definitely have to be in a city.