Thought leader: Escaping unemployment during economic stress

By Jan Anne Dubin, North American business development director, Baker & McKenzie LLP.

Over the years, I have seen many lawyers perplexed when simply adding a few lines of updated text to their six-year-old resume fails to bring in job offers. Conducting a job search in today’s highly competitive legal market requires strategy, a strong network and an engaged search approach to land a new position. While a job search can seem daunting, try doing one thing every day to lead you closer to the next career move:

Create a resume that distinguishes you from the competition. A carefully crafted, results-oriented resume should reflect the suite of skills you will bring to each organisation to which you apply;
Augment work experience by joining bar association committees or volunteering your time to do pro bono or community service work. Embrace your passion, select service areas or organisations where you can actively participate by serving in a leadership role;
Consider working with an executive coach who is experienced in the legal industry to develop your resume and search strategy. At minimum, ask friends and trusted colleagues to review your resume, as independent outside perspectives will ensure that it represents your strengths and accomplishments;
Be creative with the tools you use to develop your network and blend ‘face time’ and research time building your network. Utilise specific legal industry websites such as the American Lawyer’s LawJobs, Vault’s job board and Legal Week’s career clinic to stay current on key legal issues and trends. Network with like-minded individuals but seek out those with connections from which you can benefit;
Use the plethora of blogs and social networks like Legal Onramp, LinkedIn and Facebook to support your search strategy. These tools provide powerful access to lost or dormant relationships. If used properly, these tools can reconnect you to the wealth of contacts already in your own network as well as to the contacts in their networks. Plus most social networks allow you to customise your experience by joining groups and even determining who in your network is traveling to a city on a given day. Learn about these tools and use them to your advantage;
Apply the same filtering system with social networks that you would use to develop any professional relationships. Don’t connect to people if you aren’t comfortable with the association;
Once you have established relationships, don’t be shy about asking contacts in your network for assistance. People with whom you have established relationships expect to be asked for assistance in making introductions within their network. Embrace each phone call and meeting as a new learning opportunity. Treat all contacts carefully and be sure to send appropriate follow-up materials and thank-you notes.