Evaluating and Negotiating Law Job Offers Candidates often are very excited when they finally receive an offer. It feels wonderful to know that you are wanted and that the long and sometimes frustrating job search is coming to a close. In their enthusiasm, many candidates assume that the only options available are to accept or decline the offer on the table. Many shudder at the idea of negotiating for more. (338 views)
Employment Options for New Law Grads For new law graduates, employment by someone else is certainly more secure and requires less capital investment than trying to go it alone. It also has the advantage of providing a post-graduate education in some of the practicalities and specialties of the practice of law. (30 views)
Information-Gathering for Law-Job Search The law-job search begins with information-gathering. Assemble as much information about your areas of interest as possible. Unpredictable, but useful, information sources for the general job market in a particular locale are state and city bar association directories and journals. Investigate also your college alumni journals and placement offices, as well as alumni clubs... (22 views)
The Best Methods of Approaching and Contacting Legal Employers Ongoing or complete investigation sets the stage for the approach and contact of employers. It is too difficult to tailor your background to each employer, even if the employers all practice in your field of interest. However, the other extreme - a rigid, unvarying approach - will fail to attract a particular employer's interest. (105 views)
Successful Law-Job Search The last law-school course - the job search - is usually the most difficult. This article provides tutorial assistance in that vital conclusion to the law-school career. To compete effectively with the swelling numbers of law students entering the market this year, you must prepare for the unique intricacies of the law-job search. The placement office of a law school can... (25 views)
Door-Knocking as a Tool for a Legal Professional Door-knocking involves visiting offices unannounced, de-positing your resume and, rarely, speaking to a lawyer about employment. Door-knocking is useful when you have few positive responses to letters, and when an interviewing day offers a few spare hours. In the former situation, attack downtown buildings whose lobby directories reveal an overload of law organizations. In... (133 views)
Pros and Cons of Going It Alone Most lawyers in the United States are in private practice; meaning they are self-employed, rather than in government service or house counsel. But there are several ways of engaging in private practice. A lawyer may practice alone, or he may practice with others in a partnership, or he may be employed by a firm of lawyers. Although lawyers in each of the last two groups... (41 views)
Hunting for the Right Job Job hunting can be either a catastrophe or a triumph. From long experience in dealing with a variety of job seekers, we've come to the conclusion that looking for and getting a job is a skill. It is a skill that anyone can learn easily and perhaps for that reason it is too often disregarded or discarded. Like any skill, it requires some training, careful analysis, and huge... (13 views)
Get to Know Yourself To be successful in your job search, you must know what you are looking for. Knowledge of the job market, an effective resume — introduction to a superior list of employers - all great assets in any job campaign - will not help you if you are unaware of your real interests and motivations. (2 views)
Where Do You Search for Job? A job search, like charity, begins at home. Of all the various job sources, the most convenient - and at times, the best - are your relatives, friends, and neighbors. Almost anyone you know may be the lead you've been looking for. So don't keep your job search quiet; let as many people as possible know that you are job hunting. (26 views)
How Lawyers Need to Go About Job Hunting Successful job hunting requires a set of skills which, once learnt, can be used repeatedly throughout your career. Writing a resume is an exercise in self-assessment and organization necessary for success at any level. Composing a persuasive and impressive cover letter is a good practice for all those times in the future when you will be required to present yourself or an... (144 views)
Job Offers at Law Firms and Decision Making How will you receive an offer? Will the offer be made through a phone call or letter? How much time will you be given to make a decision? It is an old maxim that offers are communicated by telephone and rejections by mail. (1859 views)
Selling Yourself for Your Next Legal Job The statement, "You are unique," may not strike you as particularly profound. Of course you are unique; you have been told so since childhood. Your many accomplishments set you apart from the crowd. (80 views)
Legal Career -- Its Contours The legal profession occupies a unique and enviable place in the American social order. Ever since our colonial forbearers booted out the British, and de Tocqueville proclaimed lawyers as the new American aristocracy, lawyers have enjoyed a certain mystique in this country. (5 views)
Employer Research and Homework As you may have gathered by now, finding a job involves a lot more effort than merely showing up for an interview on time. There is considerable behind-the-scenes homework involved. Taking shortcuts will only leave you with less control of the situation and fewer good possibilities to pursue. Researching the employer is one area where students may be tempted to take... (4 views)
Legal Job Hunting Strategies Much of the literature in the career planning and placement field fails to offer alternatives to traditional job hunting techniques. Creative approaches to the process are seldom suggested even by experienced career counselors. But the truth is that not everyone will succeed following the traditional paths. (167 views)
The Role of Geographic Choice in Your Legal Career For some individuals, geographic choice may be the most important element in the career planning process. Many law students are tied to a particular geographic area. They own a house or other property there. They have a working spouse. They have family and contacts in the community. They have an interest or avocation that can be pursued most easily in a particular... (591 views)
Writing Letters to Potential Employers Whenever possible, call rather than write to prospective employers. The telephone offers many advantages: it lets you arrange an interview immediately (letters involve delays of many days); it involves less time, less effort, and, it is in line with the personal orientation of the Job Club program, the phone permits a two-way conversation that promotes more familiarity. (689 views)
The Origin and History of Job Clubs In a study in the 60s done by H.R. Sheppard, along with Robert Jones, a psychologist people were asked how they had gotten their jobs. The results were a surprise: 66% of the job leads had come from friends, relatives and acquaintances; in 63% of the cases, the contacts provided information on specific job openings. Few of the job leads came through conventional channels:... (343 views)
Preparing for a Full-scale Job Search Before you start looking offline for a job, there are several things you can do that can get you off to a good start. This article deals with things that can help you at the preliminary stage of beginning hunting for jobs. These steps can be essential, depending upon your resources and preparedness, because going to war without a plan or supplies can be disastrous. (82 views)
Using a Job Club to Find a New Job or Career Certainly, it is harder to find work in a depressed economy. But even when inflation is raging, interest rates are high, and a recession is present, there are jobs available. Employees retire, go to school, become ill, die, move away, and change jobs. Within a single company, one division may be hiring while another is laying people off. (148 views)
The Basics of a Full-Time Job Search The very idea of job hunting may elicit a variety of negative reactions, ranging from fatigue to grim determination to despair. After all, if your only alternative were to pound the pavement, classified ads in (clenched) hand, to compete with countless other equally grim or desperate souls, you'd have a right to feel bad. However, the job-searching process doesn't have to... (23 views)
Understanding and Responding to Job Postings and Job Ads When you are looking for a job, your first duty is to ensure you are getting updated about every new job that comes online or appears in a newspaper ad ASAP. You can ensure this by checking the newspaper or job posting sources including online job boards on a regular basis and as early in the day or late at night as possible. However, there are certain misconceptions... (69 views)
Creating a Classified Ad for Seeking Employment The classified job-wanted ad is yet a traditional way to obtain job leads. In this type of ad, you place a notice in the local newspaper, or local websites or forums stating that you desire a position. This method tends to be used by only a very small percentage of job seekers—fewer than 2 percent, yet its effectiveness can be fairly high. Job-wanted ads were the avenue... (460 views)
How to Use Open Letters of Recommendation to Secure a Job Most employment application forms have a space for listing people whom the employer can contact to learn more about the applicant. (You already provided this information in your sample employment application form and in your job resume.) (9255 views)
Overcomng Inhibitions Preventing Friends From Helping in Our Job Search One reason why job seekers may be reluctant to ask friends or acquaintances for assistance is the feeling that the other person can't help and that asking would do no good. The following statements typify this attitude: (64 views)
Preparing Yourself for a Future Job Search No job is guaranteed to be permanent. In fact, very few people remain in the same job for the same employer for their entire lifetime. Factories may close down, and even government departments and facilities may be discontinued or moved. In addition, your interests may change, your current salary may become insufficient, you may want a job change because of additional... (8 views)
Using the Job Club Approach to Find a New Job The Job-Club approach to finding a job works for a broad range of jobs, including unskilled, semiskilled, skilled, managerial, and professional. However, looking for a professional job is somewhat different from looking for most nonprofessional jobs. These differences are a matter of degree rather than of change in procedure, but they do deserve some attention. (31 views)
Friends Helping Friends Find Jobs and Advance Careers The usual method: out of work but self-reliant Most job seekers avoid using friends, feeling prodded by the Merit Principle to obtain jobs solely based on ability, not personal factors. Indeed, job seekers often feel embarrassed at the mere thought of asking friends to help. At most, they may mention their need for a job only casually, or only if they happen to run into... (15 views)