NEVER SEND GENERIC COVER LETTERS.
http://abovethelaw.com/- April 16, 2010
The following is an excerpt from a posting on AbovetheLaw.com by an attorney who received a letter from an applicant addressed to “Dear Sir or Madam.”
“I just received a resume and cover letter from a young attorney seeking employment in my firm. I honestly don’t notice things like spelling errors because I can’t spell myself, but I’m sure the letter and resume were flawless technically. I didn’t even read it that closely because the cover letter was addressed “Dear Sir or Madam:”
Here’s my response to the job seeker. Yes, I addressed it to him personally, but I’ll keep that private for his sake.”
I recently received your resume & cover letter. While I’m not hiring right now, I thought I’d give you some feedback that might help in your approach.
1. Take the three minutes or so that it requires to research each firm to at least get a name to address your letter to someone. I don’t like being called “Dear Sir or Madam.” Especially when it would only take about 30 seconds to find my name online. This shows that you did NO research into my firm to see if you might be a fit for what we do. You are trying to push the match onto me. I don’t need you to make more work for me. I only hire people who make my life easier.
2. Your cover letter was all about you, and frankly, none of your experience has anything to do with my firm’s work. Again, if you had taken just a few minutes to search online, you would have found out what we do. Then you could make a decision. You could either write a cover letter that tells me how you’ll make my life easier, or you could save a stamp.
You have an interesting background – especially the National Outdoor Leadership School training. In Colorado, leading with that might be more effective than leading some of the legal experience you’ve had that really doesn’t translate to the local legal market.
I wish you the best in your job search.
Showing posts with label Job Search. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Job Search. Show all posts
Friday, April 16, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Six Tips for Developing Leadership Skills in Law School
Author Todd Belcore is a third-year law student at the Northwestern University School of Law. He is the president of the Student Bar Association, and was awarded the 2009 PSLawNet Pro Bono Publico Award in recognition of his outstanding commitment to promoting public service in his law school community. After graduation, Todd will serve as an Equal Justice Works Fellow with the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.
Six Tips for Developing Leadership Skills in Law School
1.Listen. Leaders help others to solve problems. As a leader you must be able to discern the needs and interest of your audience – whether it’s clients, coworkers, or others - as quickly as possible. The good news is that people usually tell you what their needs and interests are. The bad news is that we advocates are sometimes too busy to really hear them. Listening is a perennially underrated skill that informs or implicates nearly all others. In law school, just like any other setting, you have the opportunity to learn more about interests, personalities, opinions and perspectives of others. Listening does three invaluable things: 1) it will broaden your perspective; 2) make you communicate in a more responsive and responsible manner; and 3) help inform how to approach an issue in a way that addresses others’ needs rather than simply your perception of their needs.
2.Make ideas come to life. Everyone has ideas. Fewer can turn ideas into real programs, events, classes or policies. Leaders get those results. This phenomenon is actually a developable skill. If there is something your law school doesn’t offer, a program that hasn’t been implemented, an event that hasn’t been made available, an organization that hasn’t been formed, don’t be afraid to come up with some ideas and mobilize around changing that. This process alone will require you to plan, gather resources, build a base of contacts, and determine the audience you must convince to make that idea come to fruition. This process will essentially be mimicked no matter the level of the project you take on so the more experience you get with it, the better.
3.Make yourself uncomfortable. A leader has to be in touch with his or her limitations. However, in order to learn precisely what those are, you must challenge any assumptions you have of yourself. What are you uncomfortable doing? Do you perceive that to be a weakness? Can it change? There is no better opportunity to answer those questions than in law school where there are a plethora of curricular and extracurricular opportunities. I have friends who came to school “knowing” they would never be oral advocates who are now on the trial team because they challenged their assumptions.
4.Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Leaders know they may have done something well, but they can always do better. Don’t be afraid to admit and learn from mistakes. There is often no better way to grow and learn than to make a mistake and ask for constructive criticism. Fortunately, law school is typically a good place to receive feedback but in the event you are not getting any or enough feedback, seek it out. You can’t fix areas that could use improvement unless you know about them, so ask for feedback.
5.Learn to manage personalities. All leaders need help, and good leaders know how to get it. As society becomes more diverse and complex, it becomes more vital than ever to be able to work with – and influence – people with varying personality types, backgrounds and power. (Even amongst people with similar backgrounds and personality types, differences in work style will emerge; you should learn to notice those and learn how to work with all people based on their individual characteristics.) Law school provides you with an opportunity to recognize personality traits and work styles of your peers and coworkers, and to learn how to work efficiently with them. Take advantage of this opportunity as frequently as possible.
6.Find your voice. Leaders are true to themselves. Law school is the ultimate place to not just learn about case law, but to learn more about yourself. However, it is also a place where you can lose yourself amidst the briefs, reading and argument. Therefore, it is critical to think about who you are, who you want to become and how law school will help you get there. Don’t just engage the law, but consider the law in light of your personal history and experiences. Don’t just take a side, but let that side be informed by loved ones and people you have met along the way. Finding your voice is not only personally fulfilling; it makes everything easier to communicate. It also reflects a level of comfort with oneself that makes a favorable impression on those around you. Every law school experience is a chance for you to find your voice, and to use it.
Six Tips for Developing Leadership Skills in Law School
1.Listen. Leaders help others to solve problems. As a leader you must be able to discern the needs and interest of your audience – whether it’s clients, coworkers, or others - as quickly as possible. The good news is that people usually tell you what their needs and interests are. The bad news is that we advocates are sometimes too busy to really hear them. Listening is a perennially underrated skill that informs or implicates nearly all others. In law school, just like any other setting, you have the opportunity to learn more about interests, personalities, opinions and perspectives of others. Listening does three invaluable things: 1) it will broaden your perspective; 2) make you communicate in a more responsive and responsible manner; and 3) help inform how to approach an issue in a way that addresses others’ needs rather than simply your perception of their needs.
2.Make ideas come to life. Everyone has ideas. Fewer can turn ideas into real programs, events, classes or policies. Leaders get those results. This phenomenon is actually a developable skill. If there is something your law school doesn’t offer, a program that hasn’t been implemented, an event that hasn’t been made available, an organization that hasn’t been formed, don’t be afraid to come up with some ideas and mobilize around changing that. This process alone will require you to plan, gather resources, build a base of contacts, and determine the audience you must convince to make that idea come to fruition. This process will essentially be mimicked no matter the level of the project you take on so the more experience you get with it, the better.
3.Make yourself uncomfortable. A leader has to be in touch with his or her limitations. However, in order to learn precisely what those are, you must challenge any assumptions you have of yourself. What are you uncomfortable doing? Do you perceive that to be a weakness? Can it change? There is no better opportunity to answer those questions than in law school where there are a plethora of curricular and extracurricular opportunities. I have friends who came to school “knowing” they would never be oral advocates who are now on the trial team because they challenged their assumptions.
4.Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Leaders know they may have done something well, but they can always do better. Don’t be afraid to admit and learn from mistakes. There is often no better way to grow and learn than to make a mistake and ask for constructive criticism. Fortunately, law school is typically a good place to receive feedback but in the event you are not getting any or enough feedback, seek it out. You can’t fix areas that could use improvement unless you know about them, so ask for feedback.
5.Learn to manage personalities. All leaders need help, and good leaders know how to get it. As society becomes more diverse and complex, it becomes more vital than ever to be able to work with – and influence – people with varying personality types, backgrounds and power. (Even amongst people with similar backgrounds and personality types, differences in work style will emerge; you should learn to notice those and learn how to work with all people based on their individual characteristics.) Law school provides you with an opportunity to recognize personality traits and work styles of your peers and coworkers, and to learn how to work efficiently with them. Take advantage of this opportunity as frequently as possible.
6.Find your voice. Leaders are true to themselves. Law school is the ultimate place to not just learn about case law, but to learn more about yourself. However, it is also a place where you can lose yourself amidst the briefs, reading and argument. Therefore, it is critical to think about who you are, who you want to become and how law school will help you get there. Don’t just engage the law, but consider the law in light of your personal history and experiences. Don’t just take a side, but let that side be informed by loved ones and people you have met along the way. Finding your voice is not only personally fulfilling; it makes everything easier to communicate. It also reflects a level of comfort with oneself that makes a favorable impression on those around you. Every law school experience is a chance for you to find your voice, and to use it.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Five Things I Wish I'd Known in Law School
The following was written by Andy Cowan. Andy graduated cum laude from the Cornell Law School in 2008. He summered at the Pro Bono Project of New Orleans and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, and now works as a public defender at the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Lowell, MA. Andy is an editor of the Public Defender Blog “Incorrigible Dicta” at http://www.dictablog.net.
Some of these “five things that I wish I had known” come with advice that I did in fact follow, but in many cases I did so out of stubbornness more than any specific knowledge that they might be good things to do. I didn’t load up my schedule with criminal law and say no-thanks to corporations in my third semester because I thought it would get me a job, I did it because I liked criminal law and thought corporations would be boring!
1. The “Standard” Curriculum and Career Services Advice May Not Fit Your Needs.
Depending on where you go to school, much of the career services and professional development infrastructure (including advice you get on course selection) may be designed to set you on track for a job you don’t want. If you have a public interest career services office, take advantage of it! Also, ask the advice of other public interest law students. Why should you take corporations, taxation, and securities regulation in your third semester if you want to be a public defender? You shouldn’t! I’m not saying you should never take those classes (see #4, below), but remember that the beginning of your second year is when you need to be thinking about setting yourself up for a second-summer job. If that’s not going to be in the same field as your first-summer job, you’re going to need to convince interviewers that you’re serious about it–and one way to do that is to take classes related to what you really want to do. When I interviewed for my second-summer job at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, I had just finished a first-summer job in New Orleans doing civil work. When Jen Thomas interviewed me, her first question was, “I see you spent your first summer doing civil legal services. You know we do criminal work, right?” I was fortunate that I was not only able to say “oh yes, that’s where my heart really is!” but also that I was taking criminal procedure and a number of capital defense classes (including clinic) that semester to prepare myself for a career in criminal defense. Put your tuition money where your mouth is! And if you’re not entirely sure what you’re going to do with that second summer, cover your bases.
2. Moot, moot moot for the home team!
In a similar vein, you hear a lot of emphasis placed on being editor-in-chief of law review as the key to a good job. If you’re looking to go to a Vault 100 firm, this may be vitally important. Law review gets a lot of emphasis, but consider moot court or mock trial, too! When you’re going to start your career in a courtroom, it helps immensely to have courtroom experience–even if it’s make-believe. I would not be nearly as fluent with case law nor as able to withstand grilling by an unfriendly judge, had I not mooted my heart out in law school. I took nearly every moot court opportunity available to me, and by the time I graduated I was entirely accustomed to hearing strangers in black robes batter me with irrelevant questions. I wish I had known at the time how important it would be; I might have done even more!
Also, if you are going to do a journal, consider a public-interest-focused journal over the “top” journal at your school. In our business commitment can be a lot weightier than prestige. I worked on the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, and never regretted my choice not to enter the competition for Law Review. Likewise, PSLN’s Katie Dilks worked on the Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, and I cannot imagine that anybody here looked down their nose at that experience!
3. Relocating is Hard
I grew up in an academic family. Relocating was part of the experience. For as much as the legal market stresses geographical connections, I was raised on the notion that one goes where the job is, and that might be thousands of miles. As I conducted my nation-wide job search for a public defender job, I found my flexibility to be both an asset and a liability. The asset part is simple: being able to say “I want to be a public defender more than I want to live in any particular place” shows commitment like nothing else–so long as you sound sincere and are sincere. On the flip side, when I interviewed for my current job at CPCS, the director of the Northampton office (where I was interested in going) suggested that I might have heard thus-and-such about Northampton. I had to admit that I had, in fact, heard nothing at all about Northampton. On a good day, I’d be able to point it out on a map. I also told the hiring committee to place me as far away from Boston as they could, because (having spent no time in Boston), I assumed that Boston was like New York, and I did not want to spend time there. I now commute from Boston. Oops.
Relocating is hard for another reason. If you’re moving someplace just for a job, you may be walking into an environment where you don’t know anybody except your coworkers. That may be more or less of a problem depending on how social you are and how easily you make friends, but remember that you may not be moving with an instant network of similarly-situated people like you may have done if you relocated for college or law school.
4. You should take classes that aren’t directly relevant to your intended career.
I eventually took corporations, and I’m glad I did. Less than three months into my job as a public defender, we had to figure out how we could serve a discovery subpoena on a foreign corporation, and I would have been totally lost without that background. Once you’ve established a foundation with classes relevant to your career pursuit, take a wide variety of other classes, because you never know what will be useful in practice. Have some intellectual curiosity, and don’t be so snooty about the “public interest track” versus the “corporate track.”
5. Cover letters are important, and not hard.
I know, I know–you hate writing cover letters, it’s like pulling teeth, you have twenty million things to do and who’s going to read them anyway? Nobody, if that’s your attitude. And they’re not going to hire you, either. I felt very much in the dark about cover letters until we had a support staff vacancy in my office and I started helping out with screening resumes. The difference between a good cover letter and a bad one is startling, and important. Your resume says a bit about who you are, but it probably doesn’t say why you want the job or why the job should want you. It’s not rocket science. Write a bit about what you bring the table, why you’re an asset. If it’s not obvious how your experience prepared you for the job you’re applying for, explain that. And do not address your cover letter “to whom it may concern” or “dear sir or ma’am.” Addressing your cover letter to the person who makes hiring decisions shows interest and attention to detail. If it’s not obvious from the vacancy announcement, call and ask “to whose attention may I address my application?” It also shows that you’re applying for this job on purpose. A form cover letter or a one-line “find attached my resume” suggests that you are not serious about this and need to get out the door before the bar tab runs out. If you’re still feeling lost about how to write a good cover letter, ask the internet–or better, your career counselor.
While we’re on the topic, skip the “objective” section on your resume. It’s an unpersuasive waste of ink; at best it duplicates your cover letter. At worst somebody looks at it and says “too bad that’s not what we’re hiring for.”
Some of these “five things that I wish I had known” come with advice that I did in fact follow, but in many cases I did so out of stubbornness more than any specific knowledge that they might be good things to do. I didn’t load up my schedule with criminal law and say no-thanks to corporations in my third semester because I thought it would get me a job, I did it because I liked criminal law and thought corporations would be boring!
1. The “Standard” Curriculum and Career Services Advice May Not Fit Your Needs.
Depending on where you go to school, much of the career services and professional development infrastructure (including advice you get on course selection) may be designed to set you on track for a job you don’t want. If you have a public interest career services office, take advantage of it! Also, ask the advice of other public interest law students. Why should you take corporations, taxation, and securities regulation in your third semester if you want to be a public defender? You shouldn’t! I’m not saying you should never take those classes (see #4, below), but remember that the beginning of your second year is when you need to be thinking about setting yourself up for a second-summer job. If that’s not going to be in the same field as your first-summer job, you’re going to need to convince interviewers that you’re serious about it–and one way to do that is to take classes related to what you really want to do. When I interviewed for my second-summer job at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, I had just finished a first-summer job in New Orleans doing civil work. When Jen Thomas interviewed me, her first question was, “I see you spent your first summer doing civil legal services. You know we do criminal work, right?” I was fortunate that I was not only able to say “oh yes, that’s where my heart really is!” but also that I was taking criminal procedure and a number of capital defense classes (including clinic) that semester to prepare myself for a career in criminal defense. Put your tuition money where your mouth is! And if you’re not entirely sure what you’re going to do with that second summer, cover your bases.
2. Moot, moot moot for the home team!
In a similar vein, you hear a lot of emphasis placed on being editor-in-chief of law review as the key to a good job. If you’re looking to go to a Vault 100 firm, this may be vitally important. Law review gets a lot of emphasis, but consider moot court or mock trial, too! When you’re going to start your career in a courtroom, it helps immensely to have courtroom experience–even if it’s make-believe. I would not be nearly as fluent with case law nor as able to withstand grilling by an unfriendly judge, had I not mooted my heart out in law school. I took nearly every moot court opportunity available to me, and by the time I graduated I was entirely accustomed to hearing strangers in black robes batter me with irrelevant questions. I wish I had known at the time how important it would be; I might have done even more!
Also, if you are going to do a journal, consider a public-interest-focused journal over the “top” journal at your school. In our business commitment can be a lot weightier than prestige. I worked on the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, and never regretted my choice not to enter the competition for Law Review. Likewise, PSLN’s Katie Dilks worked on the Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, and I cannot imagine that anybody here looked down their nose at that experience!
3. Relocating is Hard
I grew up in an academic family. Relocating was part of the experience. For as much as the legal market stresses geographical connections, I was raised on the notion that one goes where the job is, and that might be thousands of miles. As I conducted my nation-wide job search for a public defender job, I found my flexibility to be both an asset and a liability. The asset part is simple: being able to say “I want to be a public defender more than I want to live in any particular place” shows commitment like nothing else–so long as you sound sincere and are sincere. On the flip side, when I interviewed for my current job at CPCS, the director of the Northampton office (where I was interested in going) suggested that I might have heard thus-and-such about Northampton. I had to admit that I had, in fact, heard nothing at all about Northampton. On a good day, I’d be able to point it out on a map. I also told the hiring committee to place me as far away from Boston as they could, because (having spent no time in Boston), I assumed that Boston was like New York, and I did not want to spend time there. I now commute from Boston. Oops.
Relocating is hard for another reason. If you’re moving someplace just for a job, you may be walking into an environment where you don’t know anybody except your coworkers. That may be more or less of a problem depending on how social you are and how easily you make friends, but remember that you may not be moving with an instant network of similarly-situated people like you may have done if you relocated for college or law school.
4. You should take classes that aren’t directly relevant to your intended career.
I eventually took corporations, and I’m glad I did. Less than three months into my job as a public defender, we had to figure out how we could serve a discovery subpoena on a foreign corporation, and I would have been totally lost without that background. Once you’ve established a foundation with classes relevant to your career pursuit, take a wide variety of other classes, because you never know what will be useful in practice. Have some intellectual curiosity, and don’t be so snooty about the “public interest track” versus the “corporate track.”
5. Cover letters are important, and not hard.
I know, I know–you hate writing cover letters, it’s like pulling teeth, you have twenty million things to do and who’s going to read them anyway? Nobody, if that’s your attitude. And they’re not going to hire you, either. I felt very much in the dark about cover letters until we had a support staff vacancy in my office and I started helping out with screening resumes. The difference between a good cover letter and a bad one is startling, and important. Your resume says a bit about who you are, but it probably doesn’t say why you want the job or why the job should want you. It’s not rocket science. Write a bit about what you bring the table, why you’re an asset. If it’s not obvious how your experience prepared you for the job you’re applying for, explain that. And do not address your cover letter “to whom it may concern” or “dear sir or ma’am.” Addressing your cover letter to the person who makes hiring decisions shows interest and attention to detail. If it’s not obvious from the vacancy announcement, call and ask “to whose attention may I address my application?” It also shows that you’re applying for this job on purpose. A form cover letter or a one-line “find attached my resume” suggests that you are not serious about this and need to get out the door before the bar tab runs out. If you’re still feeling lost about how to write a good cover letter, ask the internet–or better, your career counselor.
While we’re on the topic, skip the “objective” section on your resume. It’s an unpersuasive waste of ink; at best it duplicates your cover letter. At worst somebody looks at it and says “too bad that’s not what we’re hiring for.”
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Five Ways to Find Opportunity in a Faltering Economy
Five Ways to Find Opportunity in a Faltering Economy
1133 Broadway, Suite 706, New York, NY 10010 • Tel: 646.641.0600 • Fax: 800.895.9559 • ari@arikaplanadvisors.com
Copyright © 2009 Ari Kaplan Advisors LLC
Executive Summary
I taught English in various summer camps, as a college student. Fast-forward 17 years and to my surprise, one of the campers saw my profile on the social networking website Facebook (after no contact for almost two decades) and sent me a note. Welcome to the era of opportunity, circa. 2009. My former student’s effort highlights that making contact with others is no longer the problem. If you want to reach hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of people in a short amount of time in 2009, you can do so. Comment on a popular blog post, upload a catchy YouTube video or create a group, perhaps one for long lost English teachers, on the professional online network LinkedIn. Turning your initial contacts into long-term relationships is a worthy goal. And those that stand out by helping others build relationships benefit by earning a powerful form of acknowledgment, reflecting more on their character than their ambition. Here are five ways to find success.
1. Profile Your Peers and Clients
Find individuals at your office or in your community who are doing something noteworthy, even if it is something small. You can write an article or record the conversation as a podcast (with permission, of course) recognizing his or her achievements. It demonstrates your interest (and technological aptitude in the case of the podcast), yet also allows you the chance to get to know individuals on a more personal level. Show your social media know-how by posting the profiles on the social messaging website Twitter (feel free to visit me at Twitter.com/arikaplan).
2. Use ‘Google Alerts’ For Others
Add those people you just met at a meeting or industry event to a Google alert (Google.com/ alerts), which will advise you each time a person on your list is mentioned online. This may provide you with thoughtful opportunities to connect in a meaningful fashion. Consider adding terms that have absolutely no value for you, but could give you the chance to help others, which would be particularly welcome in today’s softening market.
3. Share Press Leads
With the immense popularity of the US-based online source provider HelpAReporter.com (HARO) and the allowance for sharing (though not posting) press leads, look for ways that your colleagues and other contacts can earn well-deserved press in print or other forms of broadcast media. The 70,000-plus subscribers to the free HARO service receive three e-mails per day with a variety of queries from reporters looking for experts to comment on stories they are preparing, ranging from the shopping habits of European tourists to the proposed economic policies of the new US administration. While you may not be the right expert for some (or any) of these requests, consider sharing them with those individuals who could provide the insight for which the journalist is searching.
4. Guest Blog
I do not have a blog, but I do participate in the digital conversation as a regular guest on Law.com’s Legal Technology blog (legaltechnology.typepad.com). Those interested in getting started, but not ready to make a permanent commitment, may want to consider contributing to other popular blogs or collaborating with colleagues. Doing so will build a level of comfort with the medium and help the writer find his or her voice. While blogging can be used to demonstrate one’s interest in a specific area, it can also be used to highlight the writer’s familiarity with the key thought leaders in the industry. In that way, it is a powerful networking tool and those who provide thoughtful, well researched content can quickly establish themselves as trusted authorities offering valuable information.
5. Jump on the Social Networking Train
Facebook is no longer for a younger generation trying to find their summer camp English teachers. A growing cross-section of the legal community is also using the platform to enhance the depth and consistency of their connections. It offers opportunities to reach out to clients and prospects on a more personal and multi-dimensional level, which helps to build friendships rather than simply contacts. There is even an increasingly popular invitation-only service targeted specifically to this group called Legal OnRamp. Twitter is also becoming a great supplement, and even alternative, to blogging because it allows for the same type of commentary and a similar audience. For many, it is more approachable because of the 140-character limitation. There seems to be less pressure to contribute as frequently as a blog, but more incentive to produce thoughtful content since there are identifiable followers.
Conclusion
Marketing means different things to different people. For those that use their toolkit to demonstrate their character as well as their value, 2009 will be another successful year.
1133 Broadway, Suite 706, New York, NY 10010 • Tel: 646.641.0600 • Fax: 800.895.9559 • ari@arikaplanadvisors.com
Copyright © 2009 Ari Kaplan Advisors LLC
Executive Summary
I taught English in various summer camps, as a college student. Fast-forward 17 years and to my surprise, one of the campers saw my profile on the social networking website Facebook (after no contact for almost two decades) and sent me a note. Welcome to the era of opportunity, circa. 2009. My former student’s effort highlights that making contact with others is no longer the problem. If you want to reach hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of people in a short amount of time in 2009, you can do so. Comment on a popular blog post, upload a catchy YouTube video or create a group, perhaps one for long lost English teachers, on the professional online network LinkedIn. Turning your initial contacts into long-term relationships is a worthy goal. And those that stand out by helping others build relationships benefit by earning a powerful form of acknowledgment, reflecting more on their character than their ambition. Here are five ways to find success.
1. Profile Your Peers and Clients
Find individuals at your office or in your community who are doing something noteworthy, even if it is something small. You can write an article or record the conversation as a podcast (with permission, of course) recognizing his or her achievements. It demonstrates your interest (and technological aptitude in the case of the podcast), yet also allows you the chance to get to know individuals on a more personal level. Show your social media know-how by posting the profiles on the social messaging website Twitter (feel free to visit me at Twitter.com/arikaplan).
2. Use ‘Google Alerts’ For Others
Add those people you just met at a meeting or industry event to a Google alert (Google.com/ alerts), which will advise you each time a person on your list is mentioned online. This may provide you with thoughtful opportunities to connect in a meaningful fashion. Consider adding terms that have absolutely no value for you, but could give you the chance to help others, which would be particularly welcome in today’s softening market.
3. Share Press Leads
With the immense popularity of the US-based online source provider HelpAReporter.com (HARO) and the allowance for sharing (though not posting) press leads, look for ways that your colleagues and other contacts can earn well-deserved press in print or other forms of broadcast media. The 70,000-plus subscribers to the free HARO service receive three e-mails per day with a variety of queries from reporters looking for experts to comment on stories they are preparing, ranging from the shopping habits of European tourists to the proposed economic policies of the new US administration. While you may not be the right expert for some (or any) of these requests, consider sharing them with those individuals who could provide the insight for which the journalist is searching.
4. Guest Blog
I do not have a blog, but I do participate in the digital conversation as a regular guest on Law.com’s Legal Technology blog (legaltechnology.typepad.com). Those interested in getting started, but not ready to make a permanent commitment, may want to consider contributing to other popular blogs or collaborating with colleagues. Doing so will build a level of comfort with the medium and help the writer find his or her voice. While blogging can be used to demonstrate one’s interest in a specific area, it can also be used to highlight the writer’s familiarity with the key thought leaders in the industry. In that way, it is a powerful networking tool and those who provide thoughtful, well researched content can quickly establish themselves as trusted authorities offering valuable information.
5. Jump on the Social Networking Train
Facebook is no longer for a younger generation trying to find their summer camp English teachers. A growing cross-section of the legal community is also using the platform to enhance the depth and consistency of their connections. It offers opportunities to reach out to clients and prospects on a more personal and multi-dimensional level, which helps to build friendships rather than simply contacts. There is even an increasingly popular invitation-only service targeted specifically to this group called Legal OnRamp. Twitter is also becoming a great supplement, and even alternative, to blogging because it allows for the same type of commentary and a similar audience. For many, it is more approachable because of the 140-character limitation. There seems to be less pressure to contribute as frequently as a blog, but more incentive to produce thoughtful content since there are identifiable followers.
Conclusion
Marketing means different things to different people. For those that use their toolkit to demonstrate their character as well as their value, 2009 will be another successful year.
Friday, June 19, 2009
New Job Search Features on Martindale.com
Martindale.com has just instituted two major enhancements:
1. A job board, which is free for job seekers. You can access it at www.careers.martindale.com .
2. A new social networking site for attorneys, called Martindale-Hubbell Connected. The site has just been rolled it out to attorneys this summer; further roll outs to faculty and to law students will take place over the next few months. This is a great way for attorneys to connect with each other and could become a valuable networking tool for students in the coming year. You can check it out at www.martindale.com. Look for the link to "join connected,", and be sure to watch the short video when you get to the site
Monday, June 8, 2009
Land Your Dream Job on Twitter
Whether you are already a Twitter guru, or are just beginning to curiously test its waters, here are the best resources for finding your legal dream job on Twitter, with a bit of general Twitter advice as well.
General Twitter Advice
If you’re not yet on Twitter, here are my short and sweet tips:
Sign up at Twitter.com; fill out the 140-character bio, use your real name as your username; include a good photo; design a free and easy professional background design at Twitbacks.com; use bit.ly to shorten links for your tweets; download Seesmic Desktop to manage your Twitter feeds and posts from your desktop; and add yourself to Twellow.com and to JD Scoop’s list of lawyers and legal professionals.
Then add value (news posts, advice, resources, etc) to your followers, and remember that all your tweets are searchable on Google. Learn about the many ways that lawyers and legal professionals can use Twitter in Robert Ambrogi’s post “Tweet 16: 16 Ways Lawyers Can Use Twitter.” For further basic Twitter guidance, read Shane Richmond’s one-page step-by-step guide to getting started on Twitter.
Legal Job Searching on Twitter
- Search for “legal,” “law,” “attorney” or “paralegal” on TwitterJobSearch.com and see recent (down to the second) posted legal jobs.
- Find legal jobs by following the Twitter feeds. Please note that all of the Twitter feeds posted are for FREE job and career boards. However, you may need to sign up for free accounts on Monster.com, LawJobs.com, or Careerbuilder.com in order to access some of the posted jobs. In addition to “following” these feeds on Twitter, you can also subscribe to their RSS feeds, and have the feeds sent to your Google Reader account (set one up to follow news, blogs, and other RSS feeds), so that you will never miss a tweeted job posting.
- by Leora Maccabee on June 4, 2009
Downloaded 6/8/2009 from http://lawyerist.com/2009/06/04/land-your-dream-job-on-twitter/#more-2449
Friday, May 8, 2009
Free Video/Podcast on Managing a Legal Career Transition in Tough Times
As a public service, NALP and ALI-ABA are pleased to offer Managing a Legal Career Transition in Tough Times — a 75-minute presentation by Marcia Pennington Shannon and Susan G. Manch of Shannon & Manch LLP, who generously donated their time and talent to this special project to assist lawyers and 3Ls who are currently seeking employment.
The presentation addresses the current state of the legal employment market, the five basic steps for an effective job search, and such additional considerations as financial assessments, emotional ups and downs, gaining experience while waiting for the next job, and negotiating in a down market. To view or download, go to www.nalp.org/legalcareertransitionvideo.
You are encouraged to share this link with law students and lawyers who are currently seeking a job.
The presentation addresses the current state of the legal employment market, the five basic steps for an effective job search, and such additional considerations as financial assessments, emotional ups and downs, gaining experience while waiting for the next job, and negotiating in a down market. To view or download, go to www.nalp.org/legalcareertransitionvideo.
You are encouraged to share this link with law students and lawyers who are currently seeking a job.
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