Transcript Effective Job Search Strategies for Lawyers Be Warm, Active & Interactive • Warm means some connection to your contact • Active not passive • Interactive-know someone in.

Effective Job Search
Strategies for
Lawyers
Be Warm, Active &
Interactive
• Warm means some connection to
your contact
• Active not passive
• Interactive-know someone in the
organization
• Most jobs are secured by warm
contact
• Don’t rely solely on published ads
Lawyer Specific issues
• Resistance to warm techniques
• Feeling of being “special or
different”
• Marketing can be solo, one on
one, group or leadership
• Usually one on one is the most
productive
Published ads
• Not always about a job opening
• Could be about a union
requirement to advertise
• Often job is already filled by
interim candidate
• Headhunters are useful in special
cases
• Career counselor very useful
Group Techniques
• Job fairs
• Volunteering-Increases your
connection with the organization –
Creates networking possibilities
• LAP events
• Attend seminars or lectures
One on One
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AKA-Networking
75% of all jobs found this way
This is the hidden job market
People will hire someone they
know over someone who is better
qualified
• No connection is too remote
Networking
• A process of community building
• Don’t ask people “if they know of
a job for you”
• Ask for something that they can
do-How would you go about
getting a job in your field?
Resistance to Networking
• What gets in the way of your
networking?
• Usually some form of fear
• i.e..-I am embarrassed
• The reason I’m not making the
call is…..
• Complete the sentence with 5or 6
endings
Resumes and Cover
Letters
• Should answer the questionsWhat can you do for my business?
and why should I interview you?
• Focus on employers needs more
than your credentials or goals
• What skills are needed-Do my
skills match?
Resumes
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Do your own
Rewrite as required
Emphasize your strongest points
Show results-not just titles
Be accessible and very easy to
find
• Be the person with the right skills,
the right knowledge base,
motivation and results
Resumes-2
• Be descriptive of your skills,
experience and credentials
• Content has only one purpose-to
prove you are well qualified to do
the job
• Chronological resume-used for
similar jobs up the ladder
• Most common form of Resume in
Law
Resumes-3
• Functional resume-used if your
background is varied-ie. law and
management
• Organizes by category
• Targeted resume-used for a
specific job-or when you are off in
a new direction
• Show your qualifications-describe
actual achievements rather than
listing job titles and dates
Resumes-4
• Be descriptive-not flowery
• Describe tangible, measurable,
results ie.got 500k award for
client
• Always mention law degree,even
for non law jobs-it is an
impressive credential
• If more than 5 years-lead with
accomplishments
Special Situations
• Gov’t jobs-describe education and
training using exact words in job
description
• “disconnect your natural
intelligence and creativity and
break up your education and
employment history into a large
number of tedious redundant
paragraphs”
Special Situations
• Scannable resumes-focus on key
words, use industry jargon and
nouns
• Use key action wordsdeveloped,delivered,negotiated,m
anaged etc.
• Use basic fonts, avoid
italics,bullets,underlining,graphics
etc.
• Use one side only
Professional Profile
• See example
• Story style format
• Some consultants say this is more
effective than traditional resumes
Internet Approaches
• Search engines-general i.e..
Google. COM or Dogpile.com
• Legal technology research centerlawtechnology.org
• About specific law firmsMartindale. COM
• Job Boardsrileyguide.com/jobs.html
• Careermosaic.com
• Monster.com
Internet Approaches-2
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Top lawyer sites;
Eattorney.com
Emplawyernet.com
Law.com
Lawmatch.com
Legalstaff.com
For academic-chronicle.com
For Salary Comparisonscareers.yahoo.com or jobstar.org
Posting your resume
• Allows employers to seek you out
• Some sites charge for this
• Your personal data is out there,
which could pose a problem
• Safer if to a corporate web site
• Get a separate email address,ie.
Not your work email
Electronic Resumes
• Personal web sites are useful
• Send attachments by PDF or RTF
• Chat lines are good for insider
information
• Greedyassociates.com
• Blogs are good-Lawyer blogs are
found at
radio.weblogs.com/0104634
• List serves are good