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I've noticed an increase in the number of calls I've received from associates who are looking looking to leave BigLaw to do something different such as:
- Work for a hedge fund in a business role
- Work for Google in a communications/marketing role
- Work part-time in a smaller firm
I thought about these associates during my recent conversation with Valerie Katz for her Size Matters column for Above the Law. Valerie asked if I knew of any recruiters who specialize in placing lawyers in non-traditional or alternative roles. Neither Valerie nor I could think of any. I usually recommend that lawyers seeking these non-traditional roles contact a recruiter, but I also remind them that recruiters typically place lawyers in lateral roles at an equivalent firm or corporate legal department. I recommend that BigLaw lawyers turn to their own networks (both offline and online ... and, yes, you need both types of networks!) when seeking a different, non-traditional career path.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70 percent of all jobs are found through networking. In my experience, the percentage seems higher for lawyers looking to leave BigLaw (or any size firm) for non-traditional roles. And, by networking, I don't mean going to one networking event and walking away with a new career opportunity. The networking process takes time - plan for anywhere from six months to several years.
For example, read What's Next?, a blog post by about a third-year associate who recently left BigLaw to join a boutique Boston firm where she works about 20 hours a week as a lawyer in a new practice area and another 20 hours a week as a literary agent. This lawyer's new position is a result of over three years of conversation with the new firm.
We are approaching the mid-year point of 2011 so now is a perfect opportunity to analyze your career goals and check to see if they are on track to get you where you want to be in 2012. If your goal is to obtain a different, non-traditional position by early 2012, you need to take action now.
I've outlined how you can create a six-step plan to help you get started. While I outlined these six steps to address issues raised by three BigLaw associates, any job seeker can modify the steps to fit into his or her own job search plan.
Step 1: Define Your Goals
Write down the following:
- What do you want to do? Maybe you want to combine some past career experience with your legal background. Or, maybe you have a list of multiple career paths in mind?
- Where do you want to work?
- What's your ideal timeframe? Depending on your answer, you may spread these six steps out over six months or you may need to double up your activity in certain months.
- What perks do you have with your current job that you want keep? For example, you may currently enjoy the flexibility of leaving at 3pm to pick up kids from daycare or school and then working from home in the evening.
- What's your ideal salary for what you want to do?
- What's the minimum salary you'll take to do what you want to do?
- If your new salary will likely be lower, have you saved enough money?
Step 2: Polish Your Profiles
You must polish your resume and online profiles to reflect the goals defined in Step 1. For example:
Step 3: Analyze Your Network
Outline who you know, how can they help your career plans, and the date you last communicated with them. Connect with these people on LinkedIn if you haven't already. Define how you'll contact this network going forward. Perhaps you'll call five people on this list each day and meet one for lunch each week? This network list may include:
- Mentors
- Alumni connections
- Former/current colleagues
- Former/current clients
- Connections from professional/civic organizations
Step 4: Identify Your Targets
First, outline who you need to get to know to advance your career goals defined in Step 1. These targets may include:
- Hiring authorities at the companies where you'd like to work
- People in your target industry who may be able to provide general information such as compensation ranges
- Former BigLaw associates who left BigLaw for non-traditional career paths
- Alumni Career Counselors and Non-traditional Career Counselors at your law school
Then, outline how you will meet these target contacts. For example, the BigLaw lawyer who wants to work for a hedge fund might outline a list of organizations in her market where she would meet hedge fund contacts such as Texas Wall Street Women, 85 Broads, and Texas Hedge Fund Association. Look at each group's website and calendar the upcoming events. Subscribe to the groups' newsletters and join their groups on LinkedIn. Follow them on Twitter and connect with them on Facebook.
The BigLaw associate who wants to work at Google should review Google's company profile on LinkedIn to determine who his connections know at Google.
Step 5: Raise Your Profile
Outline how and when you will raise your profile to your target contacts and potential employers. Perhaps you will plan to:
- Set up Google alerts for keywords for your target industry so you can share relevant industry news/articles with your networks (online and offline)
- Publish one article in the newsletter of one of the groups mentioned in Step 4 (bonus - co-author an article with one of your target contacts outlined in Step 4)
- Plan an event for one of the groups mentioned in Step 4 (bonus - ask one of your target contacts to speak on a panel for an event you are organizing)
Step 6: Hustle!
In his new book, Reinventing Professional Services: Building Your Business in the Digital Marketplace, Ari Kaplan writes:
Career success was once based solely on academic performance, skill, reputation, and experience. Today, commoditization means you need to add another element to the selection equation. You have all of the tools available to learn about the people you are trying to meet. You also have plenty incentive with a tighter job market. You simply need to hustle.
If you are seeking a different career path, you can't rely on your BigLaw credentials to get you hired. And, you can't just look at the components you outlined for Steps 1-5. You need to act and your actions need to be consistent. You will repeat the actions you defined in Steps 3-5 until you find your new career path. For example, you will call five people (or whatever your magic number is) on your network list (Step 3) each day until you find your new opportunity--not just the first week of your job search.
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