Career Services Offices all want students to remain engaged, communicative, and to reliably seek advice throughout their time in law school.

While fall semester excitement and initial 1L meetings may start you off on the right foot, winter break can create an out-of-sight, out-of-mind mindset that stalls what was beginning to be a strong relationship! After all, winter break lasts a full month – most students want to collapse, get some sleep, celebrate the holidays and — NOT think about law school for a while.

How can you ensure that the career search and your Career Office stay on students’ radar during the holiday break? How can you pave the way for a strong relationship in spring?

Sending short, personalized email communications will show you are there to advise and help — but are not calling students to action during break. The last thing you want is for your students to get the perception that your office thinks that they should leap full-time into their job searches without taking time off to rest and rejuvenate. Instead, you can send an email asking how the student is doing, wishing them an enjoyable holiday break, and reminding them that your team is available to help, as needed.

Personalized emails get read more frequently and get more responses! Try to incorporate something you talked about in the initial 1L meeting, i.e. “Are you back in Cincinnati? The last time we talked, you said that you were going to meet with your parents’ friend, who is a family law lawyer. Did you connect? Do you have questions as you prepare?”

These thoughtful, short emails accomplish three important things:

1. Show the student that your office is thinking about them and is helpful, approachable, and a reliable resource

2. Remind the student that their job search is something they need to begin thinking about — without being pushy or demanding

3. Create more familiarity, paving the way for the student to feel comfortable meeting with you when they come back in the spring

During winter break, some of your students, regardless of whether they are 1Ls, 2Ls, or 3Ls, may find themselves not knowing where to begin in their job searches. Often times, this is because they don’t know what kind of law they want to practice and do not even know how to start figuring it out.

Your office can send a clear signal that is it ‘OK not to know!’ You can send your students an offer to complete the LawFit Career Assessment when they have time, over break! Students who would otherwise be intimidated or embarrassed that they don’t know what they want to do often come out of their shell and start communicating with you, once they get the chance to complete this personalized assessment.

We at LawFit hope that you and your students have a happy and restful holiday break – with some long-overdue time to recharge.

Please ask us to share success stories about students and the schools who have successfully been using LawFit!