March – April

• Schedule appointments with an OPIA advisor to develop a personal post-graduate job search game plan. Meet with Judy Murciano, OPIA’s Fellowships Director, to develop a fellowships game plan and Catherine Pattanayak or Joan Ruttenberg to develop a Government Honors Program game plan (if relevant).
• Attend OPIA fellowship sessions and post-graduate job search events

April – May

• If you are considering applications for portable fellowships (Skadden, EJW, etc.), brainstorm potential fellowship sponsors, and begin to apply for sponsorship (sponsorship deadlines may begin as early as April)
• Apply for early fellowships, as relevant (for example, the Lindsay Fellowship and Aryeh Neier Fellowship)

• Network in the city/field you want to work in (even long-distance networking can be helpful) to identify potential fellowship sponsors and “hidden” jobs
• Draft cover letters and update your resume; send to OPIA for review
• Begin working on fall fellowship applications
• Continue to apply for early fellowships
• Apply for early government honors programs (e.g., historically, Washington Attorney General’s Office, Federal Trade Commission, State Department, Department of Justice)
• Stay in touch with OPIA by scheduling appointments to discuss your situation via phone/Skype

• Participate in the Public Interest Interview Program, MA Consortium Job Fair, and EJW Job Fair
• Keep on top of the large number of deadlines
  • Fellowship deadlines (Skadden, EJW, and other external fellowships; Public Service Venture Fund Seed Grants, many organization-based fellowships, and other internal fellowships)
  • Many government honors programs
  • DA/PD deadlines
  • Some private public interest law firm fellowship deadlines
  • Some early international fellowship deadlines (Fulbright)
• Continue to network(Wasserstein Fellows, OPIA contacts, etc.)
• Mock interview with an OPIA advisor

• Be aware of additional miscellaneous deadlines
• Continue to network