CAREER COUNSELOR'S CORNER
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Susan Guindi, Assistant Dean for Career Services, University of Michigan Law School [8-09-04 by Mike Murphy] As a graduate of Michigan Law School herself, Susan Guindi knows what it is like for recent graduates looking for the right job. This week, we talk with her about her efforts to guide the students at one of the top law schools in the country.
Susan Guindi, Assistant Dean for Career
was paying me for,” she said. So Guindi fixed
job for them,” Guindi said. “When someone
Services at the University of Michigan Law
that. She saw an ad for a job in the Office of
hasn’t had time off, or has less of an idea
School, has a personal knowledge of the
Public Service in Michigan, interviewed for it,
of what he or she wants to do, it’s more of a
problems that face the students in her
and took it.
challenge. You have to draw that out. Some-
five years for me to figure out what I wanted
“That,” she said, “was the best decision of
handy; you find out what you like and it’s got
to do and was happy doing,” Guindi said. “I
my life. I’ve been in this job for six years and
to be on the job. That’s how you learn.”
hope I can help my students do that a little
I love it.”
times, that’s where the 1L summer comes in
charge. “After I finished law school, it took
faster.”
Guindi said her office’s toughest challenge is “There is no one way to help a student,” she
simply keeping up with the times. “Because
Guindi graduated from Michigan Law in
says. “Some need to read things, others need
of the burst in technology, firm’s expecta-
1990, and clerked for Dennis Archer (former
to talk them over. Some students come into
tions and demands are changing very fast,”
Mayor of Detroit and recent President of the
our office as 1Ls, nervous, and spend lots
she said. “It’s a challenge to keep on top of
American Bar Association) on the Michigan
of time with us. Others come in right before
those.”
Supreme Court. She then entered private
they graduate and say ‘Get me a job.’” She
practice. “When I was in law school, I was
smiled. “My job is to try to do the best I can
Also, she added, Michigan Law is a uniquely
convinced I wanted to be a litigator,” Guindi
with 1,100 different personalities,” she said.
situated school. “Michigan is truly a national
said, “but I found out that [litigating] wasn’t
school,” she said. “No more than 15% of our
really where my strengths and interests
Because of that diversity, Guindi adopted
grads go to any one market. In an East Coast
were.”
a counseling model for her office. “We do
school, 70% of graduates may go to one or
programs, we do panels, but there’s so much
two markets. Not here. So here, (a challenge)
She found work at a large law firm in Wash-
variation in our student body,” she said. “So,
is being knowledgeable about five or six
ington, D.C., but it wasn’t a good fit. “So, I
I decided the one-on-one (career counseling)
markets, instead of one or two.”
went to a smaller firm, thinking a larger level
is best. It’s not the most efficient, obviously,
of responsibility might make me enjoy work
since it takes more work, but I think it’s the
Guindi laments the fact that a relatively low
more. But that wasn’t the problem,” Guindi
most effective.”
number of recent Michigan graduates take jobs in the public sector - about 8% be-
said. “So,” she added, “I hired a career It can be frustrating, however. “Sometimes
tween public interest and government jobs
you have to tell students things they’re not
combined. “I’d like to see that bumped,” she
In her work in the private sector, Guindi
ready to hear,” Guindi said, “or work with
said. She lauded Michigan’s Office of Public
handled cases involving the breakups of law
students who realize things late in the game.
Service for creating a series of fellowships
firms - an occurrence she compared to a
But we do what we can to help. [As] anyone
and working to build relationships with gov-
divorce. “They air all the dirty laundry; it’s
who’s entered into a counseling or therapy
ernment recruiters.
really interesting.” Working on one of those
relationship knows, unless you want to be
cases with the wife of a client who had re-
there, it’s not going to help. Some students
cently passed away, Guindi realized that she
who can’t do that need us to give them extra
ing public interest work keep their idealism
was meant to be a counselor - just not one in
help, a little parenting.” “When students
intact is another challenge. “My job isn’t to
the legal sense. “I wanted to get into coun-
have been out from undergraduate work,
tell students to do A or B,” she said. “I don’t
seling mode and see how this woman was
they know their strengths, so it’s a matter
judge. I tell them the pros and cons and let
handling everything, but that’s not what she
of brainstorming with them to find the best
them make their own decision.”
counselor!”
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Helping students with an interest in low-pay-
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CAREER COUNSELOR'S CORNER
But, she warned, “I understand the temptation when someone who has a public interest career in mind takes a summer job at a firm his or her second summer and gets that offer. It’s a known entity, a sure thing, and it’s hard to turn them down, start at zero and start looking for a job,” she said. “I give [students] that caveat, especially when you have such large debt,” she added. It’s not all that bad, of course. “A Juris Doctorate is a phenomenal degree for those of us who may have short attention spans,” Guindi said. “The day of some law grad going to one firm for the rest of his or her life are over. I went to my five year reunion and almost everyone there had made at least one job switch. There’s no one track you have to get on, which makes it more relaxing.” “There’s not that much pressure, since there’s a zillion jobs in and out of the law,” Guindi said. “And,” she added, “you only need one.”
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