The most common question students have about employers

This is the first ever Baylor Law School Career Development Office (CDO) Employer Newsletter. Our goal is to be a resource for you as you make decisions related to recruitment and hiring, and in that spirit I want to encourage you to email me with topics and questions for future newsletters. We plan to send this quarterly, and look forward to communicating with you on this platform.

I thought what might make sense in this first edition, would be to share the most frequently asked question our office gets from students about individual employers. Essentially, it's "what are they looking for?"

This question can mean several different things. Sometimes, this means something as simple as they are confused by the job description (or lack thereof). For example, during the most recent on-campus interview season, there were a number of employers who recruited both 2L students for summer clerkships, and 3L students for full-time positions. The problem was, once a student got into the job posting, there was no distinction at all between the 2L and 3L positions, to the point where the students weren't sure if they were even supposed to apply. So on this point, I want to encourage you to be as detailed and specific about the type of position (e.g. clerkship, full-time), and the hiring requirements in order to get the best possible pool of candidates to choose from.

"What are they looking for?" could also mean what type of person do they need? This is related to the prior point in that the job description needs to be clear, but really goes further than that. What skill sets or traits are critical for the role? Is it just the grades? Does the candidate need to be able to generate business? How much writing will they be doing? Will billing 1700 hours be expected? 2000? 2400? Ultimately, the more information you provide, the better the odds you get the right pool of candidates to choose from that will fit what you're looking for.

Finally, "what are they looking for?" may specifically refer to practice area. Often firms with multiple practice areas aren't clear about where they need someone. That can create a situation where the first time the issue comes up is in an interview, and both you and the candidate feel like you wasted your time. Clarity regarding, if nothing else, litigation v. transactional, will be a big benefit to both you and the candidates.

Please feel free to ask for our help in drafting position descriptions, posting a job or registering for on-campus interviews. Also note that within our Symplicity system, there is an entire section called "Post a Profile" where you can add details about your organization that candidates can see. You only have to do this once (i.e. not every time you post a job or register for OCI), and I highly encourage you to take advantage of that tool. Baylor Law's CDO is happy to work with you so that no candidate can ever ask, "what are they looking for?"

Employer Quarterly is an e-newsletter created by Baylor Law School's Career Development Office. Designed for the benefit of you, the employer, we welcome story ideas and comments. Please contact Daniel Hare to submit suggestions or for any hiring questions or needs.