Top Ten Most Productive Job Search Activities While Your Career Coach is On Vacation

Is your career coach taking a breather at the holidays?  I know I am.  Still, that doesn't mean that your job search needs to be put on hold.  Below are ten tips I left clients with last year while I was on my honeymoon.  

1.     CLE: Keep current on/expand training & maintain your CLE hrs.  In person CLEs are also a great way to network.

2.     Technical Knowledge: Brush up or research any technical areas of the law that are important to your search (Ex: if you’re applying to jobs for which you are mostly qualified but missing one or two key areas—use this time to teach yourself about them through relevant reading materials or reaching out to those in your network who are subject matter experts in those areas.)

3.     Committees/Associations: Have you been meaning to join a committee or association that would be relevant to your search?  What research could you do to make this happen?  Or, are you already a member of one but want to get more involved?  How can you best go about doing that?

4.     Alumni Career Services:  Have you reached out to your law school’s career resources center recently?  They may have some resources or alumni to put you in touch with that could be helpful to your search.

5.     Linked In: Spend some quality time on LinkedIn

a.     Add contacts:

                                               i.     Reviewing the suggested contacts that LI suggests for you

                                             ii.     Look at your current contacts and see if you want to be introduced to any of their contacts

                                            iii.     Using the search engines for parts of your background you might not have searched under (ex:  previous employers; schools; alumni associations)

b.     Join groups:

                                               i.     For those looking in-house-ACC has a group you may want to check out

                                             ii.     Most practice areas & specialties have dedicated groups

                                            iii.     Government sectors also have groups

c.     Update/enhance your profile: make sure your profile is as complete as possible so you are searchable by recruiters & potential employers

d.     Get/give recommendations

e.     Re(search)—Linked In is a great way to build a list of potential employers (firms & companies) that you might be interested in targeting

                                               i.     Scroll through your contacts who have the types of positions you want—see who their connections are and where they work—start to build your list

                                             ii.     Once you have a working list of 10-20 company/firm names see if they have LI profiles or go on their websites to do further research to find out:

1.     If they are hiring

2.     If they have what you’re looking for in a future employer

                                            iii.     Once you’ve narrowed your list down further—go back to your network to see if anyone can make an introduction for you

                                            iv.     If you can’t pinpoint a human connection, use your research to craft a very targeted cover letter that shows two things: a.)  all of the relevant things you know about the company/firm/department and b.) how you specifically can add value based on what you know

6.     Networking:

a.     Do a sweep of your most important contacts if you haven’t reached out to them in awhile

                                               i.     Give them an update on your search

                                             ii.     Let them know if anything has changed

b.     Reach out to contacts you haven’t yet hit in your search

c.     Start adding new contacts

                                               i.     Go to events

                                             ii.     Ask your current contacts to introduce you to their contacts

d.     Reach out to those contacts you know would be helpful but you’ve been avoiding

7.     Search Sites: Pop onto the sites if you haven’t had a chance in awhile.  Particularly for in house, there have been a lot more postings of late.  Even if you have a search saved and get updates, you can sometimes surface new things by going on to the sites and throwing in different criteria.

8.     Follow Up:  If you’ve got some opportunities pending but haven’t heard back in awhile (whether via recruiters or directly with employers), do some targeted follow up to see where things stand.  Don’t feel like you’re bothering people—you’re showing initiative and interest—both of which are important to employers.

9.     Professional Reading: Pull out that piles of articles you’ve been saving up.  Check out the American Lawyer or other relevant sites.  Read the WSJ or NYT business section.  See if you can pick up any tidbits that could be a clue to your search.  (ex:  are you an IP litigator and a huge IP litigation practice just moved from one firm to another?)

10.  Take a Break: Particularly if you’ve been diligent throughout your search, it’s ok and even advisable to take breaks from time to time.  Taking a break and regrouping can re-energize a job search.  Just make sure it’s a defined break.