Why It’s Important to Report Employment — Even After Graduation

Employment Statistics: Collecting and Maintaining Data

March 15th is a date that marks law school’s 10-month post-graduation cutoff for tracking and reporting employment statistics for the previous class year.  In other words, the graduating Class of 2017 is tracked and employment data set by March 15, 2018.

At BYU Law, the Career Services & Professional Development Office (CSPD) is tasked with verifying each individual student’s employment status “at graduation” as well as “10 months post-graduation.”  Data collection is accomplished through use of an ABA Employment Verification Form “ABA Form” completed by individuals who have post-graduate employment set and a Graduate Survey Form “Graduate Survey” completed by individuals who are still deciding on post-graduate employment.

The CSPD distributes the ABA Forms and Graduate Surveys at three separate times:  1) via email at the beginning of the 3L year; 2) at the time of graduation interviews with the registrar; and, 3) during the 3L graduation meeting held each March.  Despite the redundancy in distributing and collecting these forms, by the time of graduation, typically the employment status of 40 – 45% of the class is still unreported and not known.

To ensure their employment status has been reported correctly, each 3L student should meet with their assigned employment advisor in the CSPD before graduation.  Since the collection of employment data continues after graduation and an individual’s employment status is subject to change, new law graduates must timely read and respond to employment inquiry emails sent by the CSPD, law school administrators and/or faculty.  Finally, periodic audits will reveal missing or incomplete ABA Forms and Graduate Surveys, so continued student/graduate cooperation in completing or updating these forms will assure the employment data collected is accurate.

Please help us collect and report accurate data – stay in touch!

Written by Carrie Taylor

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