November 15, 2010 In Uncategorized

Branding — Are you a better candidate than another lawyer?

A key to success in marketing is to have a clear brand strategy — to create an understanding in the marketplace about how your product is different from, and a better value than, another similar product.   Without a clear brand strategy, you will not be successful in the marketplace. This holds just as true for job seekers as it does for consumer product marketers.

Back the day, when General Motors was the leading car company not only in America, but in the world, each product line had a unique brand strategy. Chevrolet was the budget model. Pontiac was the fun, sporty model. Oldsmobile was the conservative model for our parents. Cadillac was for the rich. Over time, GM amalgamated all of its models, and you couldn’t tell a Chevy from a Pontiac or an Olds, and even Cadillac dabbled with less expensive models (remember the Cadillac Cimmaron? It was just a re-badged Chevrolet!). They were all parity products build on the same platforms, with the same look and same engines.

The result? Market confusion and a loss of brand identity. So what happened? GM lost its supremacy in the world market. It is not even America’s #1car maker anymore. Pontiac and Oldsmobile have disappeared. GM simply couldn’t compete against the other car makers whose products were easier to define and whose value was more apparent.   The same concept holds true for attorney job seekers. How is an employer supposed to tell the difference between legal job applicants who have the same experience in the same practice areas?  They can’t. This makes it much tougher for an attorney to prevail against the competition in the job market.

I have spoken with literally 20,000 attorneys over the last 20 years. That’s about 20 per week, week-in and week-out. They all claim to have the same core skills.   What are you good at? Write down 5 or 6 things on a sheet of paper, then come back to this blog article. (roll theme music from “Jeopardy) … OK, ready? Here’s what many of you will have said are your core talents:

1. research

2. writing

3. analyzing

4. problem-solving

5. advising

6. learning new things quickly

7. negotiating

If this is the best you can come up with, you need to do better. There is hardly a lawyer out there who cannot say that they lack any of the talents listed above. You can’t triumph against your competitors if you are making the same claims as they are.

I am not saying that these are not valuable skills. But you need to offer more. A Chevy and a BMW both have four tires and a steering wheel, and both will get you to work in the morning — but which would you rather drive?  If you think you are a BMW-level attorney, are you positioning yourself in the market as a Chevy?  If so, start doing some serious thinking about your brand strategy so you can gain a competitive edge in the hunt for a new job.

September 28, 2010 In Career Change

The Seven Steps to a Successful In-House Job Search

One day not long ago I spoke with the General Counsels of six publicly held companies with capitalizations of $500 million to $1.5 billion. They each were looking to be GCs somewhere else.

These were very talented attorneys. Each had experience in compliance, SEC rules and corporate governance. They each had managed outside counsel in complex nationwide litigation. They each were experienced in negotiating domestic and international transactions, including licensing deals. They each had administrative management roles beyond just the legal department … they were integral members of their companies’ senior management teams.

These were six very smart and successful General Counsels, each of whom felt they were special and uniquely credentialed.

But the reality is that each one was the same as the other. Competitively, they were at parity. There was no way an employer could tell the difference between them. None of these six people had a clear “brand strategy” to differential themselves from their competitors.

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September 28, 2010 In Career Change

The Top 10 Reasons Why Lawyers Seek Alternative Careers – Part 1 of 2

10. Lack of appreciation — if you win, you were supposed to, so you don’t get thanked. If you lose, it was because you did something wrong. If you are looking for a profession where you can receive positive reinforcement and gratitude for your hard work, law is not the one..

9. Loneliness/Isolation — whether working for a large firm or as a solo, most of the work is done alone, behind closed doors. Moreover, a lawyer is always an outsider and never really a member of a team working together and sharing ideas to solve a problem.

8. Lack of control over work process and outcome — a client once told us that the legal profession is
the only one where you can do everything right and still lose. Unreasonable deadlines and unreasonable
clients, not to mention unreasonable partners and judges, are also problems.

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May 7, 2010 In Career Change

Harvard JD joins Career Strategies Team

We are pleased to announce that attorney Holly Gilmore Moetell has joined our consulting team. She comes to us after having had a career in law firms and as an in-house counsel. Holly began her career as an Associate in the Washington, D.C. law offices of Shaw Pittman, where she represented real estate developers and lenders. After five years, she left to join
Hughes, Hubbard & Reed, where she handled real estate issues and Resolution Trust Corporation matters.  Later in her career, she was an Assistant General Counsel at Clark Enterprises, Inc., a large real estate development company.  As an GC, she supervised outside counsel with respect to partnerships, loans, leases and other commercial transactions.  Holly has relocated from Washington, D.C. to New York with her husband, a tax partner at a national law firm.  In addition to her work here, she is the co-founder and Vice President of a non-profit organization, the Women in Real Estate Foundation.  Holly has a B.A. in Economics, with Distinction, from the University of Virginia, where she was a Jefferson Scholar. She is also a graduate ofHarvard Law School.  Holly’s primary role will be will be as a spearhead for our Recruiting and Outplacement functions. She will also be developing our relationships in the Philadelphia / metro Washington, D.C. markets, and will providing career counseling to our clients nationwide.

April 14, 2010 In Career Change, Tips

Alternate Careers Lawyers Should Consider

With the economy being what it is these days, more and more lawyers and law firms are feeling the pinch. Business in many segments has simply dried up. This may mean seeking a new position or career somewhere else, or it may mean you’ll need to pick up some additional income. Here are three of the easier ways to accomplish this:

1. Freelance legal work. If you’ve just been laid off from your big firm, or if you have a lot of extra time on your hands, and you do not want to make an actual career change, try doing freelance legal work. You can get in touch with the contract legal staffing or legal temp agencies and get on the list for document review or other short term assignments. You can also contact law firms that do not provide services in your practice area and work out a split for business that they can refer to you. You can also approach law firms to take on some of their over flow work.

2. Freelance writing. There are all kinds of journals, papers and magazines that could use a fresh legal perspective – your legal knowledge could earn you money, without having to do any actual legal work. Write up some query letters and send them off to as many editors as you can find. Publications like Writers Digest and Editor & Publisher will have names of companies. You can also do a Google search for publications. Lawyers doing freelance writing work can command a high per-word fee.

3. Consulting work. This is one of the easiest moves for a lawyer to make. There are lots of businesses, both large and small, that are in need of legal consultants. This work can often be rewarding, and is a fantastic way to break up the monotony of day-to-day legal work. As an added bonus, contracted consultants usually are able to charge significantly more per hour than their salaried counterparts. The hardest part of making this kind of career change is finding the actual consulting gigs, so having above average networking skills are important.

March 26, 2010 In Career Change, Tips

3 Ways to Excel at Marketing Yourself in Today’s Economy

The key to landing your dream job (or dream career change) is to put yourself in front of potential employers – they can’t hire you if they don’t know you are out there. Learning effective ways to market yourself can have a huge impact on the number of resume requests and interviews you get. How do you start marketing yourself in a way that will make the employers come to you? Here are three techniques:

  1. Identify what you’re good at and what you can offer an employer. Hiring managers aren’t just interested in filling open positions; they are interested in gaining assets for the company. How could you be an asset? What kind of information about you does an employer need to see to know that you will be a valuable addition to the team? You need to address your accomplishments in all of your marketing materials. You also need to make it very clear about how an employer can benefit through bringing you on board.

     
  2. Rework your resume and cover letter. Depending on the industry, sometimes it is better to stand out and be different. People looking to make a career change to a  creative industry, like publishing or entertainment, could benefit from sending out distinctively formatted resumes and cover letters as representative of their creative talents. Often times, marketing yourself effectively means taking chances and standing out from the crowd.

     
  3. Utilize new technology. The job market is a crowded place right now, saturated with many highly qualified people. Some have recently been laid off from a corporation or law firm, others are recent law school grads and there are also those who are looking to make a career change. To make sure you see (and are considered for) every available job, spread yourself out over the Internet. Use LinkedIn, Facebook and Craigslist. Post your resume on every job board and social media site you can identify – you never know where your next opportunity will come from. The posting process will take many hours, but if you land a six figure job, it will have been time well spent. You should also eblast your resume to as many executive recruiters that you can find; remember, too, that recruiters typically work nationally, not locally. In addition, you should  do cold mailings to companies of interest in your targeted location or industry — just because they are not advertising open positions doesn’t mean there aren’t openings. Keep in mind that research shows only about 7% of available jobs are advertised on the web. To find that 7%, you should  set up a “job agent” to scan the Internet for appropriate opportunities. Career Strategies can perform many of these services for you through our Contacts and Connections program.

     
March 18, 2010 In Career Change, Tips

The Top 4 Job Hunting and Career Planning Tips During a Recession

Is the recession really putting a damper on your career planning process? It’s hard to move up the ladder and land your dream job when you’re not even getting interview requests. It’s important to not lose hope, however. From hiring a professional resume writer to changing your career planning agenda, there are several things you can do to boost your chances of getting hired. Here are the top four tips and tricks to help you score the job you’ve always dreamed of:

  1. Brush up on your skills. Anyone who is serious about career planning knows that you’ve got to keep your skills relevant. Often times, this translates to taking a class on the latest computer programs or educating yourself about the latest things going on in your industry. If you know what you’re doing, you’re more likely to get hired!

     
  2. Hire a professional resume writer. Sure, a professional resume writer may cost some money up front. But it’ll pay for itself within the first week of you landing a new job, and you’ll have the peace of mind that comes along with knowing your resume is 100 percent error-free.

     
  3. Focus on social networking. Millions of organizations and people have Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages these days…including companies that are currently hiring. New media is a great way to find out about new jobs as they’re posted – getting in early may be what gets you the job. For more information check out our prior post on using the internet for a career change!

     
  4. Try part-time work. To prevent gaps in your resume (which is a major career planning no-no), try freelance, part-time or volunteer work. Keeping yourself busy isn’t just a great way to fend off boredom, it can also make the difference between getting hired and getting passed over for (another) job.

     
March 1, 2010 In Career Change, Tips

Why Hire A Professional Resume Writer?

The economy is unstable, unemployment rates remain shockingly high and it doesn’t look like anything is going to change dramatically any time soon. While there are jobs out there (our clients are getting interviews and we have already completed three cases in the first six weeks of the year), with the market being what it is, how is the average job hunter supposed to find a new position

When you have done all the career planning you can possibly think of, it may be time to hire a professional resume writer.

One of the biggest advantages of hiring a resume writing professional is that you know your resume will be flawless and compelling. One of the biggest complaints that recruiters and human resource professionals have with job applicants is one of the easiest to correct: cover letters and resumes with glaring errors.

Let me give you an example of a letter we received from a candidate just the other day:

“I saw your “ad” on Monster.Com and am interested in your services.  My interests, skills, knowledge and abilities far exceed the law and would welcome the opportunity to discuss alternatices.  Resume attached.”

Beside the obvious typo (I have never discussed “alternatices” with anyone before), and the two less obvious grammatical errors, there is an error in judgment and presentation that would be sure to turn off a potential employer.

By hiring a professional resume writer, you are doing more than just career planning: you are taking an active role in your job search, and eliminating the possibility that a grammatical or strategic error on your resume could be holding you back. Yes, it will cost more money than if you were to sit down at your kitchen table and write it yourself, but you will end up with a presentation-quality resume that is not only completely error free, but which presents your credentials and talents in the best light possible.

You can work with your resume writer to customize resumes and cover letters for each individual job to which you apply. Tailoring your paperwork to match the specific criteria of each job that you are applying for will go a long way toward getting you noticed by the hiring managers.

When you work with a professional to highlight only your relevant work history, it will look like you spent your entire life concentrating on building your skills in that particular discipline or practice area. Although a professional resume writer will cost money up front, it is a small investment that can help you secure a six-figure job more quickly, and it will pay for itself many times over.

February 21, 2010 In On The Wire

Hundreds Attend NYS Bar Career Conference

CSI’s switchboard is jammed!

Hundreds of attorneys attended the New York State Bar Association’s annual career conference held in New York City on January 25, 2010. Many hundreds more participated in the event, which was simulcast on the web.

Career Strategies founder Bruce Blackwell was one of several panelists. His presentation contained solid information about job search methods and issues in this shaky economy. As a result, the switchboard at Career

Strategies has been overloaded with calls.

“The response has been much more than gratifying,” said Mr. Blackwell, who added that because of the volume of calls and emails that have been flooding in, “it has been hard for us to get back to everyone as quickly as we would like.” He asks callers and emailers to please be patient, and assures them that their inquiries will be followed up as quickly as possible.

Other panelists included Dr. Leslie Seppinni, Author of Excuse Free Living; Kelly Hoey, White and Case, Manager of Alumni Relations; and Elena F. Kaspi, President and Founder of LawScope Coaching. NYSBA Webmaster Barbara Beauchamp also made a highly informative presentation about how to use NYSBAs social networking tools.

This is the fourth time the New York State Bar has held a career conference, and the second to which Mr. Blackwell was invited to speak. The event was chaired by Lauren Wachtler, Chairperson of the Lawyers in Transition Committee.

The day consisted of three hours of formal presentations by the speakers, and then two more hours of Q&A from the audience.

“I was honored to be asked again to speak before the New York State Bar Association’s members,” said Blackwell. “The panelists presented truly outstanding information about how to navigate through these difficult times, and the audience asked some excellent questions covering the whole range of job search and career development issues.”

For those who could not attend, or who would like to see the presentations again, the full program is available on the internet through the NYSBA website.

February 17, 2010 In Career Change

The Top 4 Reasons to Consider A Career Change

In a recent survey conducted by Monster.com, 90 percent of job seekers said that they would consider a career change – and 49 percent said that they were actively seeking to change industries. Looking to make a move of your own, but aren’t sure if a career change is right for you? Below is a list of the top four reasons most people consider a career change::

1. To secure employment and a source of income. With the job market being so competitive these days, more and more people change industries just to keep some sort of income flowing in. If given the choice between waiting for a job in your own industry for an indefinite period of time or taking a lower level position like a contract legal temp job just to pay the bills, many people choose the latter.

2. To move up the ladder. Because so many companies and law firms are cutting jobs, fewer positions are available to enable employees to move people up the ladder. As a result, some are opting to make a career change instead of wallowing forever in stagnant law firm and corporate waters.

3. There’s too much competition. Sure, you might have spent the last 15 years doing real estate law, but if there aren’t any real estate law jobs in your area, what are you going to do? Some choose to go back to get an LL.M or MBA to enhance their competitive edge, while others opt to move into different practice areas; taking the proper CLE courses can provide the basic knowledge, which can be supplemented by independent reading and study.

4. To become happier. This is the big one. Sometimes, a career choice turns out to be a nightmare. When you are just not happy with your current position at all, it’s not likely that a change in employer will make you happier. We have seen people move to “lifestyle” law firms only to find out that they still need to put in 2000 hours or more. If you are a litigator but hate the constantly adversarial nature of your work, a change in law firms won’t make a fundamental difference in your happiness. Oftentimes, the best thing to do is make a bold career change move. It might be challenging at first, but if it makes you happier for the rest of your working days, it will be worth it. You can enjoy your job and be well compensated all at the same time!

In a recent survey conducted by Monster.com, 90 percent of job seekers said that they would consider a career change – and 49 percent said that they were actively seeking to change industries. Looking to make a move of your own, but aren’t sure if a career change is right for you? Below is a list of the top four reasons most people consider a career change: