3. 法学院建立社交关系的讲座
建立社交关系、找工作的讲座一般会在中午12到下午1点时间段比较常见，我极力推荐参加此类活动，目的是可以在美国找工作的市场有一个基本的了解。援引明尼苏达大学法学院就业指导中心网站中所提供的数据，60～80%的工作都是通过社交关系建立的活动，那些看起来并不“正式”的方式得到工作机会。这意味着在美国找到工作需要情商去了解美国的雇主的思维方式。要想找到工作，你需要知道雇主想要从你身上得到的是什么。如果想象一下你是雇主，在寻找一个未来几年或更久一段时间，每周至少要一起度过40小时的工作时间的一个雇员，答案就明了了（答案是雇主想要寻找的是在茫茫人海中－也许是很多中国法学毕业生中、国际法学毕业生中或者是从广泛的美国法学院毕业的所有人中，找寻合适的雇员，在学历背景类似的前提下，最重要的一定是一个另人舒服开心的一起共事的人）。举例子来说，在建立社交关系的场合，如何自然欢快的开启一段对话（不要觉得这个事情对于国际学生或中国学生来说难，所有美国法学院学生都觉得难，但美国的学生深知这件事情的重要性，于是很多不擅长交际的学生们都会硬着头皮去努力学会“有趣、轻松、欢快”地和人聊天）。举另外一个例子，发邮件用尊称，邮件题目和开头重点突出，整体内容逻辑清晰、简洁明了，结尾永远礼貌说Have a good day! Thank you! 等等都会成为潜在雇主对你印象的加分项。
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Part 1
WHY University of Minnesota LLM for Chinese Students: Extra-curricular activities
Before I start talking about my experiences, I would like to introduce myself first. My name is Meiling An, I was U of M LLM student between 2015 to 2016. I graduated on May 14th, 2016 and got a job at Washington DC on May 17th, 2016. The company that I am working for is Enhesa, an environmental law consultant company that including consultants from all over the world. We analyze local regulations about environment, health and safety from using local languages to English for 500 Fortune companies in the world. I am working as a Chinese Regulatory Consultant in this company. There are so many possible reasons that I got this job, but the most important reason is, my experience as a LLM student in University of Minnesota Law School. The following is the experiences that I received from this LLM program which lead me here.
1. Communication with classmates
Since I graduated, I realized communicating with my classmates in class or outside of the class, is the most precious gift for me. It helps me to have broad and deep understanding of different cultures, to provide me the opportunities to understand my own culture and identity deeper, to have more patience and use precise language to express myself (talking with your classmates means you are both using non-native language to understand each other, patience is the most important and challenging part). This experience is specifically for the LLM students, the whole world is around you, the more you spend time with your classmates, the better you can deal with your global jobs in the future.
2. Career Center
This is a significant place that led me to get this job and trained me to be professional, especially the career center staff Hallie Prest helped me along the way. Hallie was with me all the six rounds of interviews and writing assessments until I got my job offer. Every time I went to visit Hallie, after the office hour, she would send me emails that include summaries of important information during the meeting.
3. Networking events in law school
Networking events, job searching lectures mostly present during lunch time, I highly recommend participated in these activities just to have an idea about job market in the US. Statistically 60~80% (this statistic could be found in University of Minnesota career center website) of the jobs you get are from doing the “networking”, which seems very “informal”. This means you must improve EQ (emotional intelligence) to understand how employers in the US think to get job offers. In order to get jobs, you must know what they want from you. Imagine you are an employer and consider what kind of person you want to work with 40 hours a week for the next several years or longer, the answer is clear. I am not suggesting you to give up your studying in library, or never mention your strong work and academic experiences in China, it’s the important and fundamental. However, what makes you stand out from other competitors, and also you can improve in a short amount of time, is getting to know about cultural differences, especially about how to start a conversation with potential employers, or the person who might introduce you to the employers who needs your skills. Additionally, how to write an email with courtesy and with the highlights to make people interested in you.
4. Minnesota Justice Foundation
Minnesota Justice Foundation provides various volunteer opportunities, maybe sometimes it’s one day, two days or only two hours, but in those short amount of time, you might learn so much than just reading textbooks. I was a volunteer at high school moot court as a witness, this experience provided me with a visual lesson in evidence area. Therefore, when the second semester in evidence class, I was able to understand the professor easier than other LLM students.
