Listen to your instincts.

When I am preparing a candidate for an interview, I generally always ask them to do something directly after the interview is finished. Immediately after exiting an interview, I ask my candidates to find a quiet place and mentally record how they are feeling at that exact moment. Are they feeling positive, upbeat, or are they feeling anxious and worried?

The first reaction to an interview is generally the most accurate. If you try to figure out how you are feeling directly after you have met with a firm, you probably won't have enough time to "talk yourself" into liking the firm or justifying different negative aspects of the firm that are usually deal breakers for you.

I always like to speak to candidates directly after an interview so I can gauge their energy and tone. If they are feeling energized and optimistic, it usually means this firm will be a great fit for them. If a candidate sounds anxious or unsure however, it is normally because that particular firm will ultimately not be the best fit for them.

Thus, a little tip for assessing whether or not you really like a firm is to speak to someone you trust, directly after an interview. Ask them to give you an assessment of how you sound and write down your immediate reactions to the firm. Hopefully being in tune with your gut reaction will help you make a sound decision. In this market, it can be tempting to take any offer that comes your way. Try not to accept a job offer from a place of panic or dread, instead try to analyze your true feelings about a firm and let your instincts lead you down the right path.

Relocating During a Tough Economic Times

When the economy takes a downturn, as we are currently experiencing, many candidates who are looking for work will consider relocating in order to find a job. This is often a very necessary and successful means of finding work in a down economy. Still, there are important factors one must consider before making the decision to broaden a job search to include multiple regions.

Some factors to consider include:

• The Bar Exam. In a down economy, law firms often find themselves with more qualified candidates than they can handle. Thus, one of the easiest ways to "weed out" candidates is to exclude those who are not licensed in the relevant jurisdiction. Whether this occurs will depend greatly on the candidate's specific practice area and/or expertise but, it definitely happens and it is something of which all candidates should be mindful. This is especially true if your search stretches out over the time period in which the bar exam is offered. At that point, law firms often say, "If this candidate is truly interested in relocating, why didn't s/he take the bar exam last month?"
• Travel Expenses. Ordinarily, law firms do not cover travel expenses for a screening interview. However, when there is a high demand but low supply of candidates, the firms will often accomodate requests to conduct a screening interview by phone and then cover the cost if they do decide to fly the candidate out for a full round. In a market of high supply and low demand, on the other hand, this often is not the case. Instead, firms will fully expect candidates to travel at their own expense even if it is only for a screening interview. The best plan of attack in this case is to try to get more than one meeting while you are in town. But since interviews may be hard to come by (depending on your practice area and the market you are considering), be prepared to demonstrate your level of interest and commitment to relocating by accomodating the firm's request to fly out at your own expense. The good news is that the firm may decide to go ahead and give you a full round of interviews once you agree to travel. Or, if they decide to bring you back for a full round, they will cover those costs.
• Logistics. If you are considering relocation in order to find a job, don't forget to think about logistics. Do you have a home to sell? What are the job prospects for your spouse? How quickly will you be available to start a new position? Are you in a position to meet with firms in multiple regions? While all of these issues come into play regardless of the market, they can be absolute "deal killers" during tough economic times. Thus, be sure to give thought to such issues before you undertake the time and expense of expanding your job search into multiple regions.

These are just some of the issues that may arise as you consider relocation. But, remember, a good recruiter should be able to counsel you and provide job advice in addition to job openings. So if you are considering relocation, contact a local recruiter to discuss the job market and whether there are special factors you should consider in the relevant jurisdiction.

Don't Be A Chicken Little

It has definitely been a tumultuous week in the financial markets with the Lehman Brothers collapse, the AIG bailout, the Dow Jones' roller coaster ride and the largest proposed government bailout in our country's history. The credit crunch is affecting all aspects of our economy, including the legal industry as demonstrated by the official news that Heller Ehrman's partnership will be voting tomorrow to dissolve.

While I know this is easier said than done, try not to overanalyze every aspect of your firm to determine whether or not it will be the next to fall to a similar fate. Many firms continue to be busy, and several are hiring in numerous practice areas. The likelihood that your firm will be next in line is very small. While these are very scary economic times, the worst thing we can all do right now is panic. So, take a deep breath and try not to be a chicken little.

Parsing the No

I was recently asked by a law student to explain what a firm means by the language that they choose to use in a rejection letter or e-mail. While this student is doing beautifully in her on-campus interviews generally speaking, she is (like many of her contemporaries) collecting her fair share of rejections.

There is "we are unable to offer you a position at this time..." and there is "while we find your credentials outstanding, our class of 2010 is filled. We will contact you if anything changes..." There is "your background does not suit our needs." Does one bit of prose suggest there is more hope for the future than the other? What can we read into this "no" that gives us more insight? Can you tell me what they mean?

I, Carey Bertolet, regret to inform you that while your question is quite reasonable, and while acknowledging that hope springs eternal, I must at this time inform you that the answer is in the negative.

While some language in one letter may be more promising, or gentle, than the next, I have never found that any real meaning should be ascribed to any of it. Feedback, to the extent one can get it, isn't going to be between the lines. An honest assessment of your resume and presentation to a firm will be far more effective in figuring out why you got a no than poring over a letter. And, in an economy where everybody has their fair share of rejection, don't dwell too much on the opportunities that won't pan out now--stay focused on those that will.

White Knuckles--part II

I have a hunch that my colleagues and I are going to be writing about the current financial crisis for a while. It is very unclear how the failure of major financial institutions and the federal bailout of some of these institutions will effect the legal profession.

On the one hand, law firms are likely to see a large uptick in litigation, particularly high stakes litigation. Similarly, if the current mood in Congress creates a host of new regulation for the financial services industry, law firms stand to benefit.

On the other hand, during a period of financial turmoil, businesses are more likely to stay on the sidelines rather than pursue acquisitions, even ones that were already in the pipeline. Tightening credit is likely to mean less investment in general and a general slow down in economic activity. This is turn will probably mean fewer deals for lawyers.

So what is an associate to do? Debbie Acker has already stressed the importance of taking care of yourself during times of stress. I won't repeat her words of wisdom. But there are also things that you can do for your career in tumultuous times.

For starters, if you are finding that your work is truly slowing down, don't sit around whining about it. Be positive and proactive. Spend more time on marketing activities. Debbie Acker mentioned staying involved in professional organizations, writing an article or meeting with colleagues. You can also spend more time learning about your clients. Take them to lunch. Invite clients to a sporting event.

Find partners who are busy and ask them how you can be helpful. Pay attention to practice areas that are busy and see if you can pick up some projects in those departments. Look for logical connections between the transactional work you have done and the litigation which is keeping other associates busy. Maybe you have specialized knowledge of the deal that is being litigated. Maybe you have already worked a lot with a particular client.

A lot of this is easier said than done. Lawyers are professional pessimists. We are paid to help clients identify risk. We are trained to think in worst case scenarios. This kind of thinking can do a lot to help a client manage potential risk. But it can be a source of paralysis for our own careers. So be aware and take action now. If you do, you will have more control over your destiny.

Surviving Economic White Knuckles and Remaining Positive

Last week was an economic nail biter and the psychologists discussing the national psyche were getting as much play in the media as the economists analyzing the situation and giving their thoughts on a fix. This is probably not a good sign. Psychologists tend to hit the airwaves during national disasters and unforeseen crises.

Only time will tell whether the change in course will move us to calmer waters in the financial community and the closely related legal community. As recruiters, we have a front row seat to the stress and strains that individuals impacted by these events are experiencing.

In reading and listening, some of the advice out there has been more global in nature and perhaps worth serious consideration given the obvious widespread anxiety and fear in the marketplace. Here are the highlights:

Take care of yourself. Eat well, exercise and get enough sleep. Handle your stress in productive ways rather than destructive ways. Get back in touch with your goals and why they were important to you. If your career strategy was fundamentally aimed at providing security for your family, keep your family involved in the process of defining and obtaining that outcome. During times of instability in employment, linking arms with your loved ones, communicating well, and being flexible and creative can bring people together.

If your goals were aimed at career accomplishment, mastery and recognition, you don't have to be someone's employee to continue to grow, at least in the short term. Stay involved in your professional organisations, write for publication, go out and meet with colleagues. There is no shame if your job is unstable in the current environment. Stay connected and don't isolate yourself.

Don't "catastrophize." Anxiety can lead to being frozen. Educate yourself about the legal markets. Each market has vitality in certain sectors. If you are in a position that is not perfect but that is stable (in a slow practice area), don't try to leave for petty or minor reasons until the market in your practice area improves. Your search may not be successful and you may only add to your current frustration while decreasing your performance and increasing the chance of negative reviews.

Firms are still hiring. We are still making placements. We have adjusted our priorities, our contacts, and our rhythm to find jobs for attorneys and help attorneys get offers. We monitor daily changes and evolutions in the market. Some of the news is encouraging.

Let's continue to treat ourselves, our families, our colleagues, our clients and our communities well. Let's be strategic and creative. Let's make adjustments when necessary. Let's avoid negativity. Let's focus on what we can control and not sink into malaise about what we can't.

Stay positive.

A Commitment to Service-- and Hiring Decisions

Anyone who listened to the convention speeches or the 9/11 memorial programs this year was given the opportunity to ponder service to their community. No matter what your political leaning or possible cynicism, in my opinion, the emphasis on service was refreshing.

A current candidate of mine embodies this notion. Although his law school credentials and work prior to law school nearly guaranteed him an attractive offer from a top tier firm, he chose to join the Army JAG Corps instead. He is dedicated to offering legal services to young servicemen who are facing the major issues of deployment to a war zone, young families, and limited income. He has also served a major role in response to national disaster caused by hurricanes, etc. His dedication to others is obvious and without question.

He has gained terrific experience handling substantive legal matters as well as an opportunity to be a problem solver, a true advocate, and a manager and supervisor early in his career. His service will occupy 3 years. He is not losing time in my opinion. The three years will serve as a tremendous maturing process.

His background is no longer the "standard big firm" background that hiring partners will immediately notice and embrace. But, if they spoke with this candidate on the phone for 20 minutes, they would bring him in for interviews in a heartbeat. It is my job to make sure law firms realize the character and skills this individual can bring to a firm.

I found myself borrowing a few phrases from the candidates about service to the community in drafting my cover letter. Although I don't come from a military family and although I grew up in the Viet Nam War era, it was a pleasure to have come full circle and to openly support community service as embodied by this person's commitment to others through his military duty. Hopefully, a great law firm will agree with me.

The Lehman Effect--According to ATL Readers

Above the Law has posted the results of a reader survey. According to the respondents (who I believe were self selecting--i.e. this is not a scientific poll), lawyers in New York seem to be the most worried about the impact of the latest round of financial institution failures. Of the New York lawyers who responded, 55% felt that the demise of Lehman and of Merrill Lynch would have a negative impact on their careers. In Boston, it was only 31% and in Dallas, it was only 20%.

Given how much legal work investment banks and other financial institutions generate in New York, these percentages seem to be a good reflection of what is likely to happen (at least in my humble opinion.) There are going to be more layoffs in New York and more transactional lawyers will find themselves shifting over to bankruptcy practice. In contrast, large firms in Boston, are driven more by technology, venture capital and private equity than they are by large financial players like Lehman or Merrill Lynch (Although the mutual fund industry is very important in Boston.) Similarly, oil and gas plays a big role in Dallas.

So get ready to retool and look for opportunities to contribute to your firm, even if it means non client work. The end still seems a long way off.

Don’t Panic Over Law Firm Silence

I am currently working with a candidate who specializes in a very unusual are of law and who is quite unhappy in her current position. She came to me looking for a new position in the same of the law but at a firm with a better culture. Finding such a job was not easy, especially in this market, where the need for associates in general is not particularly high.

After about 6 weeks of working together, I was able to obtain an interview for this candidate at one of Chicago’s premier law firms with a strong practice that matched her experience. She had a fantastic interview, loved everyone she met with and walked out of the interview believing that she had just found the perfect firm for her.

As I always do, I warned this candidate that firms tend to move much slower in this economy, and that it may take a few weeks to hear back as to whether the firm was going to extend her an offer. She appeared to be fine with that, although she admitted that she was anxious about it.

A week passed, during which I had followed up with the firm to see where they were in the process. I learned very little in terms of details, other than the firm was still considering my candidate. I reported this to candidate, who was becoming increasingly anxious about the job. She kept asking me what was taking so long and suggesting that if the group really liked her, they would move faster.

Another week passed with no updates from the firm, despite my efforts to follow up. With the passage of this time, my candidate began to rethink the firm and her opinion of the people she met. “Maybe they weren’t as nice as I thought.” “Maybe they don’t do quite the type of work I want to do.” “Maybe they aren’t as great of a firm as I originally thought.”

By the time I heard back from the firm three weeks later, my candidate had convinced herself that she hated the firm, did not want to work there and was not going to accept an offer if given to her. As she put it, the fact that the firm took so long to get back to her was a “clear indication” that they didn’t really like her and she therefore did not want to join them. Of course when she learned from the firm that they were, in fact, extending her an offer, she didn’t know what to feel. After all, she has initially loved the firm but spent the last month talking herself into hating it. Now what?

Talk about mentally sabotaging a possible job opportunity!

Remember that firms spend significant time collecting and reviewing resumes, eliminating those they aren’t interested in, and narrowing it down to a reasonable number of candidates to interview, they have to schedule and actually interview the candidates. Finding a single day that 5 or 6 busy attorneys can interview a single candidate can take weeks. Scheduling multiple candidates to interview can be next to impossible. Furthermore, even after the firm interviews the candidates, each individual lawyer has to complete and return an evaluation form, and we all know that attorneys are notoriously terrible at doing these types of administrative things. Once the evaluations are collected, they must be reviewed, often by a committee of attorneys, and then a decision made. All of this can easily take weeks, especially when you factor in that attorneys would much prefer to service their clients than deal with recruiting and hiring.

So, remember this: Firm silence does not mean that the firm is not interested in you. Don’t torture yourself or talk yourself out of what could be a fantastic job opportunity simply because the firm’s attorneys do not move as fast as you would like.

After much discussion, my candidate took the job with the firm that sent a “clear indication” that it was not interested in her…. And you know what, she is back to loving the firm and the people with whom she works.

Are you Eeyore or a Realist?

Lawyers are paid to identify and manage risk. A good lawyer thinks of worst case scenarios when drafting agreements. That's what we get paid to do. But there is a fine line between helping a client manage risk and being such a naysayer that a client is unable to accomplish his or her business goals. This is a particular occupational hazard for in-house lawyers who are often charged with making both legal and business decisions.

To an optimist, "worst-case-scenario" thinking may come across as pure negativity. To a good lawyer, it's just a matter of thinking like a realist.

In today's CareerJournal, there is an interesting discussion of this topic. A reader writes in about her husband who has been called to task for being too negative in his role as a finance manager. I thought it offered some good food for thought for lawyers in general on the importance of identifying risk while still being able to think outside the box.

Legal Veterans Advise Newbies How Not to Blow Their Job Search

Here's a valuable excerpt from today's Legal Times entitled "How to Land that First Job." Veterans from top firms offer advice on how to avoid common goofs and gaffes and how to nail your interview. To read the full article, go to this site: http://www.law.com/jsp/law/careercenter/lawArticleCareerCenter.jsp?id=1202424212239


Law firm partners: George Bostick, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan; Christopher Davies, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr; Katherine Fallow, Jenner & Block; Julia Kazaks, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Julie McEvoy, Jones Day; Elissa Preheim, Arnold & Porter.


1. What do you look for when hiring summer and first-year associates?

"The most important factor is whether this is someone whose academic or work performance thus far indicates an ability to juggle multiple tasks and to achieve deadline-driven success." -- Julie McEvoy

"Excellent grades and strong writing skills and strong interpersonal skills and a demonstrated interest in being in D.C. and in the firm's practice areas." -- Julia Kazaks

"The first thing we look for is a self-starter. ... Prizes don't go to wallflowers."
--Christopher Davies

"Three key factors are: (1) students with strong academic records who are critical thinkers; (2) people who take ownership of projects and (3) those who work well on teams." -- Elissa Preheim
"Experience that will convince me the person can work as part of a team." -- George Bostick

"The question is if this is someone I would feel comfortable bringing to a client meeting as a summer or first-year associate. ... That's a pretty important benchmark." -- Julie McEvoy

2. What do you seek to avoid? Any big mistakes on resumes or in interviews?

"Resumes that are unattractive or have typos or are just strange will attract attorney discussion." -- Christopher Davies

"Anything you list on your resume you should be prepared to talk about." -- Katherine Fallow

"Law firms are full of Luddites, and we are amazed at what students will post about themselves on the Internet." -- Julie McEvoy

"Too Much Information Syndrome. ... I recall thinking, 'Oh my God, I can't believe someone said that.' "-- Christopher Davies

"It's important to us that people actually care about the law and not just focus on the $165,000 or whatever it is today." -- George Bostick

"The main mistake is seeming bored or uninterested, either with things you have done or in the firm. ... Find a way to show enthusiasm." -- Katherine Fallow

"About the worst thing a candidate can do is to ignore the junior person [in an interview]. ... One time, I had to step out to handle a client phone call, and I told them to go ahead and start. I later heard that while I was out, the guy hadn't engaged on much of anything short of shopping at Costco." -- George Bostick

"Don't waste time on cover letters and thank-you notes. They can create more problems than they solve." -- Julie McEvoy

3. What could law students do most easily to improve their chances of being hired?

"Pay attention to comments made by interviewers in the early part of the day and incorporate them into interviews in the later part of day. ... It's important to show that you picked up on what others have said. Interviewers talk to each other afterward." -- Julia Kazaks

"Invest in a comfortable or well-fitting suit. A flashy or ill-fitting suit can highlight a student's lack of comfort or familiarity with a professional workplace." -- Julie McEvoy

"Schedule morning interviews with firms that you are most interested in. Both candidates and interviewers are more tired in the afternoon." -- Christopher Davies

"Come to an interview prepared with a range of questions. ... There's nothing more terrifying than reaching the point in the interview when the interviewer asks if the student has any questions and the student says, 'No, I think I've asked them all already.' The interview comes to a screeching halt." -- Julie McEvoy

"Educate yourself about the firm or place where you'll be interviewing. Educate yourself to see if it's a good fit." -- Katherine Fallow

"It does matter if someone [at the firm] who's well regarded will vouch for you. ... It generally helps people who are on the margin." -- Christopher Davies