There are a few fundamental and seemingly obvious steps that lawyers often fail to take in their job search. They fail to do so out of fear, mostly misplaced fear.
- Not Tapping Your Network – Many lawyers don’t talk to their contacts about their job search, current job satisfaction, or career interests out of fear that it will get back to their employer and jeopardize their job. This fear often exists regardless of how the lawyer feels about his or her job and often exists without a careful examination of its validity. The fear typically limits the lawyer’s job search to applying to online job postings – – the vast, impersonal, frustrating, black hole of online applications.
Not Aligning Your LinkedIn Profile – The same or similar aligning their LinkedIn profiles to better fit the kind of position they are seeking. Yet a disconnect between your current LinkedIn profile and the kind of role you want and positions to which you apply, or pivot you want to make, actually undermines your credibility as a serious candidate. Put yourself in the recruiter’s or employer’s shoes and look at your profile. If you were them, what would you think?fear stops many lawyers from
- Moreover, without key words in your LinkedIn profile Headline, About, or Experience sections, or relevant content in your Activity, legal recruiters will not find you. Optimizing your LinkedIn profile for the roles you seek doesn’t guarantee you’ll be found by recruiters, but it does greatly increase your chances.
Although your LinkedIn profile won’t necessarily get you a job, it can draw recruiters to your door, and it can stop some other doors from automatically closing in your face.
So, apply the uncommon common sense. Examine and balance your fears against your goals and start making the most of your network and your LinkedIn profile.
Individual nuanced challenges abound in job searches. If you’d like help, whether as a sounding board for spot coaching or coaching with more support, please contact me to see if there is a fit for us to work together.