2L Job Search E-Advising

A significant majority of HLS graduates begin their public service careers through domestic and international fellowships offered by Harvard University and hundreds of other organizations. We provide a short roadmap for the coming months; stay tuned for more information on the post-graduate public interest job search and fellowships beginning in March, and mark your calendars for OPIA’s spring fellowship and job search events.

We hope you will be able to carve out time to reflect on your experience and identify takeaways from your summer work with respect to your interests and personal career goals. As you continue to prepare for the V-PIIP program, you should also consider these things.

Although the vast majority of public interest employers will not begin to consider applications for 2L summer internships until the fall, we wanted to alert you to a few earlier deadlines of which we are currently aware.

Some of you may be considering government work for your 2L summer. Most federal (and some state and local) agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, offer formal internship programs.

Because your 2L summer tends to be more important from a strategic standpoint than your 1L summer, one of the best things you can do before you begin your 2L public interest job search in earnest is to reflect on both your interests and your personal career goals.

Are you beginning to think about your 2L summer and weighing the decision of whether to work in the private sector or the public sector? We in OPIA want every HLS student to feel empowered to make career choices that are the best for their individual interests and circumstances – whether those choices involve work in the public or private sectors.

Despite COVID-19 likely having some reverberations for the 2020-21 entry level public interest job search, the qualities that employers are looking for will largely remain the same. While the public sector is extremely varied, most employers are looking for a core set of skills that you may already have or will develop during law school. Continue to work on these skills throughout your 3L year and meet with an OPIA advisor to discuss them.

As a 2L, we know it may seem early to start thinking about your post-graduate job search. However, now is the best time to get started with identifying positions that are a good match for your preferences, experience, and skill set.

OPIA has compiled a few key dates that may be useful as you plan your summer internships and other commitments, including the confirmed 2020 EIP dates.

Read how the 2L job search differs from the 1L job search in timeline, application strategy, networking, splitting summers, and application materials.

A successful job search starts with identifying positions that are a good match for your preferences, experience, and skill set. A balance of focus and flexibility is key.