P.A.D. Spotlight
The P.A.D. Spotlight features an exceptional member, alumnus, achievement, event, or articles of interest to our members, weekly. The P.A.D. community is so accomplished that peer recognition is well deserved.
Phi Alpha Delta members are encouraged to submit feature recommendations. Fellow P.A.D. members are eager to hear about the great things everyone is doing and what they have accomplished. Not only does it show the Executive Office what you can do, but it provides International recognition for a Chapter, person or event.
We hope this spotlight will give the P.A.D. community the opportunity to further bond by creating discussions and attending fellow Chapter events, among many other things.
To submit recommendations, please email cory@pad.org.
We look forward to hearing about all of your amazing achievements!
October 4, 2013
Spotlight on Your P.A.D. Initiation
There have been so many initiations already this year and we’d like to extend a most fraternal welcome to our thousands of new P.A.D. members!
Your initiation is an event that will create a memory to last a lifetime. For both officers and members, below the Executive Office staff (with major contributions from Pre-Law Director Byron Rupp) has put together some information on initiation ceremonies. If you have any questions or need to get in touch with your Chapter to get initiated, please contact us!
Interested in joining a committee? Officers: Include a committee sign-up sheet in the ceremony. New Members: If you want to join a committee, ask the officers at your initiation! You get out of P.A.D. what you put into it. A member who just signs up for a line on their resume gets exactly that, three letters and nothing more.
Alumni and law schools are not impressed that you belong to P.A.D. unless you can also demonstrate that you took an active role in your Chapter. A member who signs up and serves on a committee, leads a committee or serves as an officer not only has this unmatched opportunity to develop their leadership, organizational and time-management skills, but get to do so in a way that helps others (and the Fraternity) at the same time!
Tips for officers: Be prepared. Show up an hour early, set up and review your roles. Be flexible. Not everyone has access to a courtroom or a room with the perfect setup. That’s fine. Scout out the room before hand and have a plan in place.
Remember that the initiation ceremony is meant to be part of a general Chapter meeting. You don’t need to have a huge, fancy event after each initiation. If you must do something, hold just one welcome reception for all of your new members at the end of the semester or, better yet, at the end of the year. This is a great way for all of our new members to meet each other.
The portion for comments in the ceremony is the perfect time for new members to meet the rest of the members of the committees they’ve just signed onto-just for ten minutes. Learn about what the committee has been tasked with and be assigned a small manageable task with a deadline in the following week to help that committee.
Then, the initiation ceremony resumes, the President wraps it up and you leave with involved, new P.A.D. members.
TIP: Know how to pronounce the Greek words Philos (Fee-los) Adelphos (Adele-fos) Dikaios (Duh-ky-os).
Alumni attendance: Have a P.A.D. alumni attend to present the alumni portion of the ceremony. We all know that time is literally money for our alumni, so having an alum there to welcome the new members is important and impressive. The only way you’ll get an alum is by planning ahead, getting on their schedule and reminding them (gently) about the upcoming date. Be super nice to their paralegal or legal secretary as well, they are the ones who will be reminding the alum about the appointment (and in many ways coordinate their employers lives)! If you’d like help getting in touch with your alumni, email cory@pad.org.
Continue to recruit throughout the year! When Director of Pre-Law Operations, Byron Rupp was Chapter Justice, the Chapter held six initiations over the course of the year and held 45 programs. Instead of settling, they continued to recruit. While their subsequent initiations were progressively smaller, with the last initiation being one person, that one person became Chapter President the following year and did a tremendous job. The only way they held so many programs was that they got new members to help by serving on or leading committees. That way the Chapter officers were able to spend more time leading and coordinating and less time being the worker-bees trying to do everything!
Continue to recruit, be present and get your new members involved. The fraternal bond and success of the Chapter can all start at initiation!
September 9, 2013 - Spotlight on Your Online Presence
Develop Your "POP": Professional Online Presence
By Katie Borland, Alumni Operations Assistant
1) Review your online presence
Have you Googled yourself lately? Try it out right now... What did you find? Did you like what you saw? What kind of person is being portrayed to a potential employer?
Now that you know what is out there stay informed of your online presence. Set up a Google alert of at least your first and last name, your school and/or home state to make sure you get relevant results.
If you didn’t like what you saw, it’s okay. You have the power to change the perception of your online presence. No matter what, there is always room for improvement. If you didn’t have very many results you can change that too.
Recruiters, potential employers, and other professionals will look you up online. Your online presence is one more way to set you ahead in your professional career.
2) Create professional profiles
What can you do to develop your professional online presence?
First, create a professional email address to use on all social media sites and your resume. Resist the urge to use your .edu account from school. Most students will not use this account even just a year or two after graduation.
Next, take a professional photo and use the same headshot on all accounts. It might be a fun for your Chapter to sponsor a professional headshot event on campus.
Instead of hiding your Facebook and Twitter with ever changing privacy settings, set up accounts that are viewable for potential employers. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account create one now! Not only can you use LinkedIn to make and maintain connections, but you can also search for jobs. Another benefit is that recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates for job openings.
3) Stay active
Use these profiles often by commenting on articles relevant to your field, writing online reviews of books, starting discussions, asking questions, and making connections to build your network. Connect with your fellow P.A.D. brothers and sisters, faculty advisors, alumni advisors, professors, deans, friends, colleagues, classmates, organizations, and companies you might want to work for one day. A great resource to use for finding connections is the P.A.D. online directory.
Keeping these different profiles up to date does take time and effort but remember, effort shows! How you portray yourself online will impact your employment opportunities and career.
4) One step further
If you already use your professional profiles regularly, you can still give your online presence a boost by creating a professional website, blog, or e-portfolio. Some experts say that one day these will replace the resume. For more information on creating a personal professional website check out this link.
Image credit: fwinteractive.com
July 23, 2013 - Spotlight on Leah Farmer
Leah Farmer (Story Chapter), a recent alumna of DePaul University College of Law, is spotlighted this week for her great contributions to P.A.D. during her three years of law school.
Sister Leah first decided to become involved in the Fraternity when she met officers of the Story Chapter during law school orientation. They discussed mock trial opportunities with her and she discovered how involved she could be even in her first year. After going to the panel, “What Can P.A.D. Do for You,” she decided to become a part of P.A.D. and has been hooked on the fraternity ever since. P.A.D.’s contributions to the community and dedication to its members were two aspects of the Fraternity she immediately admired.
After her first year in P.A.D., Sister Leah decided she wanted to become further involved in Story Chapter. She ran for an executive board position and became the Recruitment Chair in her second year. Towards the end of her second year, she ran for Justice of the Story Chapter and won. She served as Justice for the 2012-2013 year.
As Justice, Farmer worked on building relationships within the Chapter. She loved that P.A.D. offers true fraternalism, so she worked on growing it within Story Chapter. Her leadership style allowed for all officers to contribute, as she believes that leaders need to be willing to step out of the spotlight just as much as they are willing to step in. To keep the Chapter active, they ran a variety of programs. Sister Leah’s favorite programming project was called “Lost in Translation.” In this project, brothers and sisters had the opportunity to work with attorneys from the Office of the State Appellate Defender, the Public Defender, and the Guardian and Litem Offices. Together, the project cultivated a “legal dictionary” for children and families working within the Illinois Juvenile Detention Center. The project was great because it offered a practical skill building component, a mentorship aspect, and a service component for P.A.D. members.
Farmer offered a couple of tips to the Justices of other Chapters so they can work to grow their own Chapters. Farmer noted that if you are not surrounded by supportive P.A.D. communities, then look to the internet to connect with other P.A.D. members. Reach out to brothers and sisters for ideas, support, and coordination. Even if you have an active Chapter around you, reaching out is a great, general idea to share fraternal goals.
Since graduating this spring, Sister Leah took a family vacation and became certified in open water scuba diving. She is currently engaged in Bar Exam preparation to achieve a future in employment law. To stay sane and optimistic, she occasionally watches a live theatre show or an improve comedy show.
In the future, Sister Leah wants to pay forth the advantages she has gained through becoming a member of P.A.D. Her time as a law school student would not have been the same without the great leaders and mentors she met as a member of P.A.D. She plans to get involved with the local Alumni Chapters and nationally. Look out for Sister Leah as a judge in the spring during the Mock Trial Competition. We look forward to seeing her continued influence in the Fraternity for years to come. To learn more about her involvement in P.A.D., read her most recent article in The Reporter dedicated to the ‘Story Chapter Justice Chapter’.
July 10, 2013 - Spotlight on Career Mentors
By Lauren Mistretta (E.O. Intern, UMD-College Park Pre-Law)
A mentorship is defined as a one-on-one coaching relationship between two individuals. This relationship is either formal or informal depending on the commitment levels of each individual. Although finding a mentor can be difficult, the relationship can be invaluable with a job search or moving up the career ladder. A mentorship is also an effective way to pass on skills, knowledge, and insight to the next generation of workers.
There are a couple of steps one can take when looking for a mentor. To start, take the time to research a field and find out about the people in it. The research of a mentor can be done in a variety of ways. For example, some colleges and offices have formal mentorship programs available. You can also look outside your own office to find a mentor. A mentor does not have to be a co-worker, but can be someone from college or other social associations.
Some people choose to find a mentor in areas they are interested in learning more about rather than one directly related to their field. A helpful tool is the advanced search option on LinkedIn where you can view the profiles of future mentors. Based on your research, pinpoint individuals who you believe are beneficial matches. This includes not only individuals with a professional career you admire, but also individuals whose personality types fit with yours. This is important because in a mentorship, you want not only a great network but also someone who is honest and accessible.
Approaching someone to become a mentor can be intimidating, so ease your way into the relationship. Start off by asking for a piece of advice and then see where the relationship goes from there. Eventually, asking a couple of questions can evolve into lunches and more formal meetings. If you do formally ask someone to be your mentor, come across as someone who is looking to advance in their career, eager to learn, and engaged.
When talking with a mentor make sure to listen. To ensure that the relationship is not one sided, show your appreciation and help balance the relationship. Ideally, your mentor should provide advice as you move on with your career. They can also help develop future career plans. Do not overwhelm your mentor, but instead try to regularly schedule meetings and make the relationship a part of your work life.
You do not have to limit yourself to one mentor. Due to the demand exceeding the supply, there are also more non-traditional ways to gain some of the same benefits as having a mentor. Many blogs and podcasts have successful people giving great advice. Popular sites like Levo League offer Office Hours which is 30 minute video chats with various professionals across many different fields. Well written books also offer many great tidbits of advice on how to advance your career.
As a member of P.A.D., you can also use this network to connect with members and reach out to them for a possible mentorship relationship. Whether just graduating or many years into your career, a mentor can be a great benefit.
To access the online directory, login here. Email us if you need help logging in or using the directory.
Picture Credit: http://bit.ly/131Sqoc
