If you are offered a position, you need to ask yourself ''Do I really want it?" Based on questions you asked during the interview, think about whether this position is consistent with your goals, values, and beliefs. You may again want to complete the Evaluating Your Current or Most recent Work Experience exercise only this time attempt to envision the position PROSPECTIVELY. What will it be like to work there? If there is a clear and strong conflict, have the strength to reject it, keeping in mind the high ratio of dissatisfied lawyers and the fact that you are probably saving yourself from starting down the same road.
If you accept a position, congratulate yourself. You are among the few who have decided to take control over the process. You are on the road to career satisfaction.
REASSESSMENT AND YOUR CAREER
A friend told me that a number of years ago, as the new dean of a just-established graduate school of business, he outlined his vision for the school which included no on-campus interviewing. He stated that the system was artificial and deceptive and it gave students the incorrect idea that this was how to find jobs. Perhaps, for some graduates, OCI made the job search easier in the short term, but in the long run, they were being done a disservice. They did not learn how to search for opportunities as they would surely have to do several times over the course of their careers. Needless to say, he was overruled and an on-campus interview program was immediately established.
Law school graduates, like business school graduates, are likely to have five or more careers in their professional life. Lawyers no longer remain in one position from graduation to retirement. The artificial OCI approach leaves them unprepared to make a transition from their first position to the next.
In contrast, the career planning and job search techniques emphasized in these articles will be used over and over again throughout your professional life. What are your goals and values? Explore your options. Decide on one direction. Find opportunities. Evaluate them. Accept a position. Evaluate your position.
What are your goals and values? Explore your options. Decide on one direction. Find opportunities. Evaluate them. Accept a position. Evaluate your position. What are your goals and values?
Your first position may not be perfect, but because you chose it based on what you thought was good for you, it is much more likely that you will derive some benefit from it. The next one will be easier to find because of what you have learned about yourself and the practice of law. Your career path will not necessarily be a clearly defined ascent from the bottom to the top rung in an organization. There are no clear beginnings, middles, or ends. It will be a process; hopefully a series of positive and rewarding experiences.
But through it all, there will be one constant - you are taking control over the decision-making process on all issues relating to your career and your life. What you do and where you end up are to a great extent up to you.
The lack of self-confidence which may begin in law school sometimes continues long after graduation. Many graduates are not optimistic about their prospects. I have found many who, in a discussion about possible openings with small law firms, begin by listing reasons why they would not be qualified.
If your law school experience or a bad employment situation has shaken your confidence, you may need to remind yourself of how much you have already accomplished as a student, employee, or volunteer.
Those who don't believe in themselves limit their options. They often accept a position where they can shine in reflected glory, telling themselves that working in a place that has "prestige'' will "look good'' on their resumes. When you represent a client, however, the client cares more about whether or not you know what you are doing. If you ever expect to start your own practice or institution, neither you nor your client will care that you once worked for an important law firm if your experience there did not teach you how to represent someone.
Remind yourself that you have one of the most competent, best trained minds in this country and you are critically needed by millions of underserved members of the public. There are thousands of ways to help them. Know that you never have to take a position where your talents are unappreciated or wasted, or where you are abused or misused.
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Making Choices and Reassessing your Career is part of our ongoing Career Planning Series with Ronald W. Fox, Esq.
Previous installments include:
Understanding Career Planning
Evaluating Experience and Skills
Narrowing Your Options
Finding Your Area of Practice Preference
Is Solo Practice Right for You?
How to Search for a Satisfying Position
Packaging Yourself
The "Six Bullet" Resume
Researching Potential Employers
Building Your Professional Network
Getting Involved and Selling Yourself
The Interview
Ronald W. Fox is the principal of Career Planning for Lawyers. Since 1990, he has provided individual guidance to law students and lawyers in transition helping them search for and locate positions consistent with their personal values and their professional goals.