by Felice Martinez
Daily Lobo
The Career Services Office at the UNM School of Law offers students and graduates individualized attention because student body's small size.
The individual career counseling sessions give students the opportunity to discuss any aspect of career development. These sessions include personality assessments, developing placement plans and assistance with resumes and job search documents.
"Sometimes law students know what it is they want to achieve and they come to Career Services as means of opening up opportunities," said John Feldman, director of Career Services.
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"Other students want to have a legal education and are not entirely sure of what they want to do with it.
We try to give them a sense of what resources are available to them to help them make those decisions."
Along with the one-on-one sessions, they also offer one-hour workshops throughout the year.
Some of these workshops include information on writing resumes and cover letters, networking, career planning, job-search strategies and interviewing.
The law students have access to restricted computer-based sites for job listings.
There is also a resource room at Career Services that contains books, brochures, newsletters and other periodicals.
In addition, the staff produces electronic and print publications with information about job announcements, fellowships, writing competitions and other subjects of interest to the law students.
Each spring, the students have a chance to participate in a mock interview.
In this program, the students are interviewed by an attorney acting as a prospective employer who provides them with feedback.
UNM is the only law school in the state and has a close relationship with the state's practicing attorneys.
Career Services receives invitations for their students to submit papers, give presentations and participate in state bar events.
This provides students with the opportunities to meet and network with working professionals who have experience in their areas of interest.
Career Services also hosts guest presentations on current legal issues and different fields of law practice.
"We are always trying to make opportunities for students by inviting lawyers and judges who are willing to come to campus and speak to the students," Feldman said.
This week they have a court of appeals judge coming to discuss clerkship opportunities.
