Pre-law and law students exist in a bubble.
These greenhorns probably have no idea what working at a law firm is like. They don’t know about the drudgery, or how long the hours are, or that it’s not like an episode of Suits.
It might be time to dispel their illusions. And it also might be time for your firm to get a breath of fresh air. Interns don’t only bring Jansport backpacks to their internships—they also bring enthusiasm, new perspectives, and a lot of energy. In other words, your firm has just as much to gain from the internship as the intern does.
With that in mind, it’s high time your firm posted for this summer’s interns. Here are some places where your future intern has already started looking.
Indeed.com
This will be one of the first places that your summer talent will be looking for internships. Indeed has been around since 2004, and it’s the highest-traffic job search site out there. Since there are so many other firms posting as well, this means that it would behoove you to make sure that your posting is well-optimized for search. At the time of publication, there are currently 4,023 postings for legal internships on Indeed. To stand out, include keywords about your specific area of law in the post, and pay special attention to your post’s title.
Indeed will allow you to post free of charge, but you can also advertise your posting on the site so that it appears in a better position in search results. These “sponsored” postings (which are a minimum of $5 per day) tend to get more clicks, so if you need to hire on an accelerated timeline, sponsored postings may be the way to go.
This seasoned 14-year-old platform isn’t just for posting resumes and endorsements—it can also be for handpicking the candidates you want to interview! If someone in your office has the time, you could consider simply searching for your ideal legal intern candidates and reaching out to them. Although this isn’t the most common tactic, it would allow you to only target candidates you are truly interested in. The upfront time cost is high, but your search may end sooner as a result of that initial investment. Best of all? It’s free.
College job boards
There’s a good chance that there’s a college or university with dozens of students thinking about becoming lawyers. So go ahead and court them directly on their university’s job board.
Current college students are more likely to adhere to application requirements than the general pool of applicants on job board sites, which could save you time when going through applications. This is because college job board sites often have document requirements that an applicant must adhere to before submitting their application, so applicants are less likely to forget to attach a cover letter or writing samples. Additionally, it could be a wonderful opportunity to connect with a current student if you’re an alumna/us of a particular school and you want to give back. Yale, Stanford, Harvard, U.Chicago, NYU, and Columbia are all great places to find your next legal intern.
WayUp
This is an up-and-coming platform that is specifically targeted to current college students, recent graduates, and millennials in general. The user base is smaller, but if your summer interns are coming from any of the aforementioned groups, WayUp could be an effective way of finding your next candidate.
At $75 a month, WayUp’s price is steeper than the other options listed, but it also offers the employer some additional features. WayUp offers advanced screening for all candidates, so you won’t have to slog through irrelevant resumes. For example, if you only want third-year law students from Seattle, you will only receive applications from third-year law students from Seattle. However, keep in mind that with advanced screening, you may lose out on candidates who don’t “fit the bill” but might be better candidates for the role.
These platforms are all fairly different from one another, so don’t hesitate to use more than one. It might be especially productive to use a free platform and a paid one to review specific candidates that you want while maintaining a large pool of backup candidates. There’s someone on those platforms that’s perfect for your firm; be sure not to miss out on them.