Beginning Your Search for a Career in a Non-Legal Field

By now you probably have a feeling that obtaining a non-legal position that will allow you to utilize the skills you have acquired in law school is going to require a different approach than you would use if you were seeking a position in legal practice. You are right. However, in both areas, more positions are probably lost through failure to do adequate homework than for any other reason.

Think of the hard work you have put in obtaining a legal education. Think of the financial costs involved. Isn't it worth an additional investment of your time and effort, plus money for resumes and postage, to find the type of work you want to do. Besides, it's your search and no one can do it as well as you.


There is, however, another side to the coin. Business organizations throughout the country are eagerly seeking bright new people who will make a definite contribution. They have no central clearinghouse available through which they may seek you out, so they must depend upon your contacting them concerning the qualifications you offer.

As there is no organized system for bringing you and the prospective employer together, you will most certainly need your own system if you are to conduct an effective search. The first step is, prepare yourself for a shock, deciding how you will limit your search. The reason is apparent when you contemplate the more than 100,000 business entities which are listed in a national business directory.

There are a number of possible ways by which your limitation can be imposed. If you have already decided on a general area in which you would like to work, you can limit your search to those companies likely to have substantial activity in that field. Again, you may wish to limit your search geographically. Or again, you may wish to limit your search to a particular type of business or organization, as for instance, you may prefer banks to merchandising companies, chemical companies to heavy industry, or any one of a thousand possibilities. At all times, keep in mind that you can expand or contract your search as your circumstances and the results may indicate.

When you have initially established the limits of your search, the next step is to undertake your research program. This step is of particular importance as you will be limiting your search to positions matching your needs, interests and special abilities. Thus, the goal of your research program is to compile information on the employers whom you wish to seek out and to arm yourself with information concerning the individual business institution that you decide you want to contact.

Fortunately, there are ample resource materials to which you can turn. Do not expect, however, to be spoon-fed a handy-dandy list of prospective employers that will automatically eliminate the need for a lot of hard work on your part. An individualized job search also means an individualized research program.

The end result will be worth that effort. It will provide the basis for a personalized job search that is unlikely to be duplicated by anyone else.

One of your first points of reference will probably be a research job site such as EmploymentCrossing.com or Hound.com. These job sites carry an almost unbelievable wealth of information. For example, Hound tracks the job listings of most corporations throughout the United States.

There are also tons of directories out there which provide for each of these corporations the address and phone number of the home office, corporate status whether a division or subsidiary, a listing of the directors and executives, annual revenue, products produced or nature of the business and Standard Industrial Classifications for company activities and website information.

These volumes are quite expensive to buy and online directories are often expensive to access. However, you should be able to locate them in any sizable public library, your general university library, law school libraries, placement office career libraries, or the business school library, if that is maintained separately. If all else fails, you might inquire of your local bank to see if they have a copy that you might use.

At the end of your basic research, you should not only have immediately available to you the names and addresses of specific prospective employers with whom you are interested in making contact, but also some basic background information concerning the institution. In addition, you will also be collecting from business publications, general industry information and details on current problems and similar important matters that will be invaluable to you in approaching your market most effectively.

As you develop your prospect list, you may also find yourself particularly interested in several specific companies. In many instances, you can obtain much more complete information directly from the company itself. There are two possibilities.

Because the larger companies are interested in attracting the most capable administrative and management personnel that they can, most have their jobs on their websites.

Still another source of information is the annual stockholders' report. Although this is obviously a publication intended for a wider readership, nevertheless, it can give you a wealth of background information which will be useful from the moment of your initial contact with that company.