- Do you have a client base and how diversified is it?
- Are you knowledgeable in more than one area of the law?
- Have you sent out your resume in the past year to road test your marketability? Is your resume up to date?
- Are you keeping up with political trends to see how upcoming legislation and elections could affect your practice?
- Are you watching market projections to be aware of where the next hot practice area will be?
- Is the area of the country that you live in growing, with expanded sources for opportunity?
Your law school Career Planning Center or a career counselor can assist you in identifying your motives, values, skills and goals by introducing you to the variety of "assessment" instruments available.
"Testing" has become a prominent feature of Career Planning because it can provide a wealth of information and a framework for highlighting your skills and accomplishments. All of these "tests" really are not tests-they are simply surveys of your values, interests, likes, dislikes and personal traits. There are no right and no wrong answers, your answers are simply compared to other responses.
For example: Interest Inventories show how closely your interests match those of people who work successfully in various professions. The Strong Interest Inventory and the Self-Directed Search are two examples of Interest inventories.
Personality, Temperament and Values Questionnaires reveal similarities between how you approach various situations and the approaches other people say they would take. These tests can help you learn whether you are big picture oriented or detail oriented; whether you prefer to be part of a team or an independent player. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator is perhaps the best known example of these inventories.
Lawyers, who spend their careers trying to qualify everything, sometimes expect these inventories will lead to the perfect job. They won't. All that they can do is provide you with feedback about yourself which could change the way you conduct yourself in interviews. Before investing money on this process, consider going through the exercises in What Color is Your Parachute (Richard Bolles) or If You Knew Who You Were You Could Be Who You Are (Gerald M. Sturman, Ph.D.) Again, your law school's Career Planning Center can assist you in interrupting the results.
Planning the Interview
Provide answers to the following questions.
- What is my strategy for the interview? What are the three points I must make at some time during our conversation?
- What are my most marketable skills, both legal and management?
- What are the skills I most want to use in my next job?
- What are the aspects (tendencies, interview abilities, comfort level, specific questions I am nervous about being asked) of the interview situation on which I most need to work? What is the question I am most afraid of being asked?
When most people come in to inquire about non legal career options, salaries are their primary concern. "What can I do where I will make as much money as I am now, but not have to practice law?" they ask, hopefully.
Not very much, unfortunately. Lawyers are among the most highly salaried professionals in the "food chain." However, many attorneys have no idea how much other professions pay. It is possible to earn a very satisfactory living in other professions. Often a much more reasonable lifestyle is a viable tradeoff for lost earnings. However, doing what you love most is often what you have the most talent for-and pays off in the long run.
Conclusion
The path to a nontraditional legal position is challenging. As you explore your options, keep in mind the following:
- Always trust your own instincts. Do not be scared off by peer pressure or anyone else's advice. Even if you are not sure where your instincts will lead you will almost always be headed in the right direction.
- You should feel no embarrassment in not being a 12-hour-a-day lawyer, nor should you feel any guilt associated with not being a lawyer at all. There is no reason to be trapped forever by a decision made at the age of 21.
- Try not to let money completely rule your life. Granted, almost everyone has financial obligations. Money is an extremely important factor in most career decisions. However, a substantial number of legal, law-related, and non legal positions pay very acceptable salaries. Before seeking a new position, write out a detailed budget for yourself and your family.
- Motivate yourself. It is somewhat paradoxical that lawyers, who are often highly motivated and adept at massive research, are so resistant to the legwork involved in a job search. Remember, as you have already learned the majority of jobs are never advertised. They are discovered through networking, personal contacts, and research rather than through recruiters or published ads.
- Call on friends, colleagues, and professionals such as your undergraduate or law school's career services staff for support and motivation. In this way you can assure yourself that you have explored, in depth, options for a career change or alternative work arrangements.
