Page 26 - FDCC - You're Hired!

You’re Hired! Job Hunting Advice For Law Students and Young Lawyers
Not Knowing Your Skills
Each of us has a set of skills. Each of us has certain talents. Each of us has our set of strengths. Define what your skills, talents and strengths are and then search out jobs that make the most of them. Take a journal and a pen and write down what you’re good at. Write down what others have complimented you for. Write down what you’ve done well. Write down your awards, your victories and your recognitions. We are most fulfilled when we apply and develop our talents at our jobs. To do so, you must first know what your talents are. So do a self assessment and then search out firms and jobs at those firms which will embrace you and develop your talents.
Not Knowing the Market
SECTION04 JOMBISSEIAORNCH MISTAKES
Some job seekers have a vague understanding and appreciation of the
job market, but they don’t invest the time and energy to learn more about it. Study whether the current market is strong or weak and what sectors are strong or weak. No matter what the overall economy, there is a sector of lawyers doing well. In the worst of markets, bankruptcy and employment practices are often humming. Go beyond
a general understanding of your current market, and study the job ads being posted and shared. After a couple of weeks you
will detect a pattern of what firms, what
types of firms and what geographic regions are hiring. You may see the same firms always hiring. It may be they are constantly expanding or it may mean they’re a turnstile for young lawyers. It’s great to work for a growing, expanding firm. It’s terrible to work for a firm that treats you as if you’re fungible. Read the local legal newspaper. Read the national legal newspapers. Read the content on the legal news websites. You can’t learn too much about the legal market.
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