When new Flo Forward features started rolling out, Robin Apodaca approached them the same way many career services leaders do: with curiosity, but also practicality.
How would students actually use this?
Would it fit naturally into advising workflows?
Would it genuinely make recruiting easier to navigate?
Over time, those answers became increasingly clear. YES
As USC Gould adapted to a recruiting process that now moves earlier, faster, and across more channels than ever before, Flo Forward became a much more integrated part of how Robin’s team supports students throughout the recruiting cycle.
“I have to say, we’ve been using it a lot more than I had anticipated.” — Robin Apodaca
During Flo’s recent webinar, Robin shared how USC Gould is using Flo Forward today and why several resources have become especially valuable for both students and advisors.
One of the biggest challenges in today’s recruiting environment is simply helping students stay organized.
Students are balancing direct applications, networking events, callbacks, recruiter outreach, VIP programs, and coursework all at once. For many students, especially 1Ls, it can quickly become overwhelming.
Robin shared that Flo Forward’s application and interview tracking tools have become an important way to help students create structure around an increasingly fragmented process.
“It was really great for students to be organized.” — Robin Apodaca
At USC Gould, the application tracker is not just being used as a record keeping tool. It has also become part of how the career services office teaches students to manage the recruiting process itself.
Students use Flo Forward to:
Robin explained that the platform helps reinforce habits students will continue using well beyond law school.
"Our students are interviewing so much that they even forget who they've interviewed with…Now it's really easy for them to download this information and reach back out." — Robin Apodaca
As recruiting has shifted away from fully centralized OCI models, visibility has become much harder for career services offices to maintain.
Students are applying directly to firms more frequently, networking independently, and moving through recruiting processes that counselors may not always see in real time.
Robin shared that one of her biggest concerns during this transition was losing insight into where students were actually applying and interviewing.
“One of my biggest concerns was that we were going to have students applying everywhere and it was going to be very, very hard to track.” — Robin Apodaca
Flo Forward’s recruiting activity reporting has helped USC Gould regain some of that visibility in a way that supports more proactive advising.
Rather than relying entirely on students to remember every application or callback, counselors can better understand where students are in the process and identify where additional guidance may be helpful.
Robin emphasized that this visibility is ultimately about providing stronger student support.
“We can reach out to them for counseling appointments and say, ‘We know that you’ve applied here, have you considered applying to these different places?’” — Robin Apodaca
The recruiting data also becomes especially valuable later in the cycle when employment reporting and student outreach intensify.
By centralizing activity inside Flo Forward, students and counselors both have a more reliable source of truth throughout the recruiting process.
The Unexpected Impact of the 3L Recruiting Tracker
One of the most interesting insights Robin shared involved the 3L Recruiting Tracker.
At many schools, students who are still searching during their 3L year can begin to disengage from recruiting resources after going through multiple recruiting cycles.
Robin explained that USC Gould unexpectedly saw students begin re-engaging once the 3L tracker became available.
“It was really interesting to see 3Ls re-engage with the 3L tracker.” — Robin Apodaca
For many students, the tracker created renewed visibility into available opportunities and helped make the process feel manageable again.
Robin noted that by 3L year, students often feel more confident in themselves, their goals, and the type of opportunities they want to pursue.
“They are ready and willing to jump back into the fray.” — Robin Apodaca
The tracker helped create a clearer path forward by giving students access to visible deadlines, active opportunities, and centralized recruiting information in one place.
Preparing Earlier for the Class of 2029
Robin also discussed how USC Gould is adjusting its programming strategy as recruiting timelines continue shifting earlier.
Like many schools, USC Gould is moving a significant portion of recruiting education and programming into August, before students even fully begin law school.
The reason is simple: the fall semester has become increasingly crowded.
Student organizations, networking events, recruiting programs, and academic demands are all competing for students’ time simultaneously.
“We don’t want to take away from their class time, their study time, and also their opportunity to engage in student organizations.” — Robin Apodaca
By introducing recruiting resources earlier, USC Gould hopes to give students more time to absorb information before the intensity of the semester begins.
That approach closely mirrors broader trends discussed throughout the webinar, where schools shared that early visibility, centralized information, and proactive student engagement are becoming increasingly critical.
One of the clearest takeaways from Robin’s conversation was that Flo Forward is not just serving one purpose at USC Gould.
The same resources are supporting students, improving visibility for counselors, strengthening advising conversations, and helping career services teams operate more efficiently during a rapidly changing recruiting cycle.
Application tracking helps students stay organized while also giving counselors better insight into recruiting activity.
Recruiting data supports both student advising and employment reporting workflows.
The 3L tracker creates visibility into opportunities while also helping re-engage students who may otherwise disengage from the process.
That flexibility is what stood out most throughout the conversation.
As recruiting timelines continue evolving, schools need tools that can adapt alongside them and support the unique ways each office advises students.
If you’d like to learn more about how schools like USC Gould are using Flo Forward, the Recruiting Tracker, Firm Profiles, Event Board, and recruiting activity reporting, we’d love to connect and continue the conversation.