Vanderbilt Career Dean Elizabeth Workman

As the calendar year begins to wrap up, Elizabeth Workman's focus these last couple of months is squarely on the International Student Interview Program held in New York each January as well as the Equal Justice Works Job Fair in Conference, held in Washington, D.C. each October. With more than 130 employers from around the world, each with an opportunity to interview select students based on their resumes, this golden opportunity in New York City comes around once a year and it's crucial in this job market for those who've committed a chunk of their lives to earning their law degrees. The two events will hopefully garner more than a few job offers for Vanderbilt graduates.

Even as she works to coordinate these two events, she is also hiring as many Vanderbilt University

Law School graduates as possible in an effort to help them help themselves as they struggle in the not yet recovered economy. Vanderbilt pays its new part time employees for work done in the community, while keeping their schedules flexible enough to pursue full time legal careers. She's also coordinated with a Nashville firm, Waller, Lansden, Dortch & Davis, a fall apprenticeship program that will provide for those students whose summer internships fell through without a job offer. Hopefully, the double internships will help fill a significant gap between the job offers and number of graduates.

The Vanderbilt Career Services staff is a small group, each committed to their roles, and each dedicated to ensuring the best and most opportunities for the graduating seniors. Led by Workman, she and her staff have earned the trust of these students, year after year. Overseeing the offices of the career advisor, the on campus recruiting manager and the recruiting coordinator, the goal is to provide a streamlined offering for those in need of their services. Acknowledging that the job market is “scary”, Workman's group is also proud of the 97 percent placement rate of last year's seniors who are now working, either in a full time role as a practicing attorney or in the university on a part time basis. Encouraged that the job market is on the mend, her energy is spent keeping the spirits up of those who've endured difficulties finding a job. Other promising statistics:

• 33 graduates in the Class of 2010 accepted judicial clerkships
• The Class of 2010 is scattered across 37 states and 2 foreign countries after they accepted positions
• The vast majority of graduates are employed with six months after graduation

Even as Workman and her staff continue to coordinate for the big New York event and the Washington D.C. event, they certainly keep the importance of their jobs and the realization that so many are relying on them in the forefront of their minds. They remain one of the most dedicated university career placement staff in the nation.

Elizabeth Workman is married to Dr. Claude H. Workman, III, a Memphis area urologist. She and Dr. Workman have three daughters and one granddaughter.