Passport to Success - Professional Development Series
Sponsored by the
University of Houston Law Center
Career Development Office

The Passport to Success - Professional Development Series (Passport to Success) is a comprehensive professional and career development program developed by the University of Houston Law Center’s Career Development Office (CDO) to achieve its mission to equip students and graduates with the resources and skills to successfully identify, generate, and navigate professional opportunities.
Passport to Success consists of four (4) mandatory 1L learning sessions, one (1) optional 1L training session, specialized sessions for Transfer, 2L, and 3L students as well as year-round advising and 30+ networking and recruiting events for all students.

1L Year: The Essentials

The four (4) mandatory 1L learning sessions focus on the essentials: exposure and access to career options, employers, and experience:

Session I: "Mapping the Many Paths to Success"
- Exploring the full map of employment opportunities available to law students; sharing the full set of legal career resources, including employment statistics and recruiting timelines specific to each employment sector, as well as perspectives from CDO staff and current law students who have maximized the CDO’s resources to the benefit of their own careers

Session II: "Communication 101, Pre-Interview Events and Application Documents" 
- Learning to identify career interests and when to apply for various positions; help students with application documents and social events

Session III: " Communication 201, Interviews"
- How to research and understand employers and their hiring processes

Session IV: "Tips for a Successful Summer "
- Tips for a successful summer legal employment experience and strategies for gaining legal experience

The Comprehensive Job Search– 1L Applications, Networking, & Interviewing

This is an optional program for 1Ls discussing the basic steps for securing a summer legal internship, including follow-up, applying to posted positions, networking, and cold calling (applying directly for a position when there is no posting).

1L Year to Graduation: Advising, Training, Networking, and Recruiting

The extended professionalism programming of Passport to Success guides students and graduates in the use of tools and strategies for successful career development from 1L year through graduation by providing advising, training, networking, and recruiting opportunities for all legal and JD Advantage employment environments:

Passport to Success – Advising: One-On-One Tailored Career Counseling

• Career and Professional Development
• Identifying/Applying to Targeted Employers
• Interview Training/Mock Interviews (year-round)
• Résumé and Cover Letter Building/Review
• Salary Negotiations

Passport to Success – Training: Mandatory Upper-Level Specialized Passport Sessions

• 2Ls: The 2L Experience
  Second-year students learn how to gain experience to ensure they are competitive candidates for permanent positions, search for positions to gain experience in their chosen field, etc.
• 3Ls: The 3L Experience
  Third-year students learn how to search and prepare for positions that could transition to post-graduate positions, negotiate summers off to study for the bar, etc.

Passport to Success – Networking: Building Professional Relationships

• Informational Interviews
• Judicial Panels
• Lunch/Dinners with a Lawyer
• Meet the OCI Employers
• Professional Mentoring Program
• Career Lunch and Learns

Passport to Success – Recruiting: Experience, Experience, Experience!

• Apprentice Program Positions
• Externships/Internships/Clinics
• GPITT
• Job Bank
• Judicial Internships
• OCI: Sessions, I, II, & III
• Small & Midsize Firm Open Houses