How to Get Hired Faster: 11 Ways to Find a New Legal Job Without the Wait

Summary: A job search is no small undertaking of time and effort for both employer and employee. Getting the job is a matter of doing the right things and doing them often.

How to get a good job in the legal profession, faster? Treat your job search like a court case.

• Prepare
• Treat every interviewer like a judge
• Make your arguments persuasive and tailor them to the case at hand
• Tell a better story than the other guys
• Think through and double check every detail
• Make sure your writing is superb
• The article below shows you how

Attention hot prospects: Cool your jets

How long does the finding-a-new-job process take? For the typical job seeker, it’s always going to be too long.

But for attorneys and other legal staff, they’re a different animal. They’re in a specialized industry with specialized demands and requirements.

Still, even generally speaking, different sources have different ideas—and different jobs and industries can affect the timing as well.

Here’s how long it could take:

• 23.6 days for new college grads
• 23.8 days from interview to job offer
• 43 days; 71 days for C-level jobs; 76 days for those with “vice president” or “director” in the title
• 22.1 weeks with 20.6% of the unemployed out of work for 27 weeks or longer
• Five months
• Recruiters at our BCG Attorney Search tell candidates to plan on 3 to 6 months
• This recruiter says, for those over 50, a short search is 3 months; otherwise he recommends planning on a minimum of 6 months to 2 years; also, expect to start looking for your next job 18 months after starting your last one

And, of course, there’s a big difference between a job and the job. Still, according to the career advice of hiring managers, career coaches, recruiters, and other experts on how long will the job search take for you—the best answer is “it depends.”

A word about what you’ll be up against:

• A 2008 survey by the American Bar Association found that almost half of the lawyers surveyed were dissatisfied with their careers. Expect that more than some of these lawyers will be looking for the same jobs you are.
• Attorneys who work in private practice or are employed by firms with fewer than 50 lawyers represent 83% of all lawyers.
• Over the job market, the ratio of unemployed persons per job opening was 1.3 (as of February 2017).

For those who dream big—how to get a “BigLaw” job: If “BigLaw” is your ambition, you should get an idea what you’re looking at first:

• The “BigLaw” firms are where lawyers command the highest compensation: they represent firms with more than 101 attorneys. Keep in mind that firms of this size represent only about 1% of all law firms.
• Billable hour quotas at many “BigLaw” firms require lawyers to work a minimum of 80 hours a week. They’re also expected to be on call even when they’re not technically working.
• How big is “BigLaw?” In 2018 the top 100 U.S. law firms generated a combined gross revenue of $98.75 billion. Compare that to the total legal services market in the U.S. which was estimated at $101.8 billion.
• While it’s not impossible to work at a “BigLaw” firm if you weren’t top of class at a top law school, it can be ridiculously unlikely. Having rich and/or famous parents and/or a sterling network helps. Expect the competition to be fierce (and so are the salaries—as high as $160,000 for first year associates).And here’s the fine print: As an associate you’ll be expected to bill clients 2,300 hours a year. That’s not a 40-work week. Mathematically, that’s 44 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, no vacations and no breaks. Realistically, it amounts to three billable hours per four hours spent in court or at the office. Meaning, it’s closer to an uninterrupted 60 hours a week.

How to get hired with no experience in a law firm: Do everything you can that isn’t working in a law firm.

• Internships, externships, or working at clinics
• A volunteer position in field related to your desired one
• Develop an expertise any way you can: get a part-time job, do contract or temp work
• If you’ve got office skills, consider working as a legal secretary
• Law students should plan on doing extracurricular activities such as moot court competitions before a judge; students can also gain writing experience through writing competitions, writing clinics, and school-related journals and newsletters

Here’s how to speed up your search

1.By all means, get a referral

If you are only sending in your résumé in response to an ad you’re already at a disadvantage: Because over 55% of all hires are not candidates culled from job postings—they’re employee referrals. (LinkedIn says 49%.) According to Jobvite, only 14.9% of hires are made from a job board candidate and employee referral programs account for 39.9%

For the employer, you’re an unknown. You could have a legendary résumé; you could interview with the social skills of Oprah; you could have amazing references that’ll sing arias of your praises, and still you’re a paper candidate—you could still turn out to be a bad employee. Until the employer experiences you on the job, you’re an expensive risk.

Why a referral matters and the “you” on paper doesn’t: Imagine you meet someone at a party. You’ve never met them before but you know that someone at the party has—they thought well enough of the person to invite them. This fact gives you at least some assurance that they’ve been vetted by a friend or at least a friend of a friend. Someone is staking their name and reputation on this guest.

Even when your job application is chosen and a firm invites you in for an interview, you’re not a guest at someone’s party. You’re a stranger. If for some reason this job doesn’t work out, imagine the time and expense to replace you and start the hiring process all over again—because they’ll be.

Therefore, unlike you, a referral is not a complete stranger. Someone at the party has already vouched for the candidate. And that’s a huge incentive not to choose you.

What to do then? Make your cover letter and résumé count. Make it pop. Choose your keywords with care; tailor your message for the particular employer if you can. Very often, your cover letter and résumé will be screened by an applicant track system (ATS) looking for the keywords included in the job posting; your cover letter will get 5-7 seconds of a hiring manager’s attention. A brief summary of your qualifications and how you plan to help the firm/company thrive is best. And say it like no one else—you have to stand apart from the rest. Make your opening count!

Ultimately, do whatever it takes to make the “paper you” someone worthy of crashing the party. (See #10 for more suggestions.)

2. Make sure your résumé kicks a**

• Assume no one is reading your résumé word for word; make the most important stuff jump off the page
• If you’ve got years of history and experience— enough to fill many pages—don’t; keep your résumé to one page—the past three jobs or 5-7 years should be enough
• If you’re entry-level, list your education immediately after the profile section at the top before experience. For those with professional experience, listing your education after experience is the norm
• Make sure to include published law articles, especially if they relate to the job opening
• It’s suggested that you don’t include your graduation date from law school or college on your résumé if it was 10 or more years ago
• It’s expected of legal professionals nowadays to be proficient with online information and research databases and services so including them will probably make readers the opposite of impressed; instead, skip Microsoft Office and legal technology tools and highlight only advanced and specialized tech skills and competencies that relate directly to the job
• Also, paralegals and lawyers who can use litigation and eDiscovery software and platforms to manage, sort, analyze, and track evidence and case-related documents are in demand as are legal candidates who can design and implement complex databases to manage, sort, index, and extract large volumes of data produced in litigation
• Customize your résumé; a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for anyone, including lawyers, paralegals, and other legal industry professionals; also keep in mind applicant tracking systems (ATS) searching for job-related keywords
• “Each time you apply to a job posting, tailor your resume to underscore your experience, skills, and achievements that match the specific job requirements,” says Sullivan.
• Typos can be fatal: depending on the research, 43%-76% of résumés containing typos will be automatically rejected

3. Don’t cast too wide a net, or too narrow

Life’s too short, they say, to waste your time applying for jobs at firms or companies that you may be less than passionate about. But what if the better job is outside of your narrow search? On the other hand, limiting your focus too much may have you missing out on firms that are doing the kind of work that most interests you, also firms that may have opportunities more like what you’re looking for or those that could have a culture more suitable for you.

But don’t just take shots into the dark, either. If you’re applying at a firm just because they have job openings, and you’re chosen to interview, they’ll know your heart wasn’t in it. Those feelings can be hard to hide.

Instead, take the time to research the firms to see if they might be a place you could see yourself. If you’re using job boards or recruiting sites, you can tailor your job alerts to see if you can find more specific matches to what you’re looking for.

Try this:

• Write out some keywords that fit the kind of work you’re looking for and the kind of work experience you have
• Specific searches can also include areas of practice, geographical location, pay, career level
• The results may direct you toward available positions better aligned with your desires
• This way you can pursue not only more opportunities, but more engaging ones—as well as helping to eliminate those that are less interesting to you

4. Stick to your guns (with only a little compromise)

Stay true to your goals about where you want to work. Don’t be seduced by a wealth of openings. Do searches on the firm; if it interests you, do more research. Check out the associates and partners on LinkedIn if possible. Check out their brand online and whatever else you can find, especially regarding their values and culture. See what the firm and you might both bring to the table.

But before you begin your research, you should know what a good firm looks like and what excites you. Compile a list of what that perfect firm might be for you. Think about the type of work environment you could thrive in.

5. Quality and quantity

You’ve done all of the above and expressed and submitted your interest for various positions.

What’s next? More of the same: search out other firms and opportunities as they show up. A job search is, in large part, a numbers game. You’re in a competition; so assume that it’s stiff.

Here are some sobering statistics:

• Varying with positions and companies, on average 250 resumes are received for each corporate job opening.
• As an attorney, assume that you’re not only competing against people with similar backgrounds and experience, you’re also up against those more experienced attorneys who may have been downsized and younger attorneys pouring out of law schools every year.
• For most jobs, the first résumé is received within 200 seconds of posting.
• If you’re hoping for a response from a résumé posted on a major online job site that is searchable by recruiters, expect that as many as 427,000 other resumes are also posted there each and every week.

Understand how the hiring “funnel” works: The “hiring funnel” is a way for recruiters to know how many total applications are needed in order to achieve a single hire.

• For an online job posting, on average, 1,000 individuals will see the post
• 200 will begin the application process
• 100 will complete the application
• 75 of those 100 resumes will be screened out by either the ATS or a recruiter; recruiters will spend 5-7 seconds scanning a résumé; only 17% of recruiters claim to read a cover letter
• 25 resumes will be seen by the hiring manager
• 4 to 6 will be invited for an interview
• 1 to 3 of them will be invited back for a final interview
• 1 is offered that job and 80% of those will accept it

6. Mind the gaps: You’re more than your job

If you’ve had to go weeks or even months or longer without finding a job, you’re not alone. But gaps can be seen as a red flag to hiring managers. They may have concerns about your reliability or trustworthiness—it’s also an argument for why looking for a job while you’ve got one is a good idea.

Fortunately, there’s more to you than your work history. If you’ve done any volunteer work or other projects, even being a stay-at-home parent or helping care for a relative can be good reasons for a gap. If you can show anything in the gaps that helped you grow your skills, all the better.

7. Tell a (good) story

You got the interview. They’ve already seen the business end of your résumé’s history. Here’s a chance for you to add some fullness to the bulleted blurb you offered. This is where a few key stories queued up and ready to launch as necessary are vital; consider them a mandatory part of your job seeker kit. This where you can offer brief narratives of how you solved problems, advanced the cause of your last company/firm, ways you innovated and elevated, etc. Rehearsing them ahead of time is also a good idea. You want to avoid any nervous walks into Tagentville. But before you launch into your sagas of heroism, make sure you start by answering their question first. Then, use your story, briefly, to sell it.

Examples of stories to have at your ready:

• When you solved a problem
• When you overcame a challenge
• When you made a mistake
• When you worked as a leader
• When you worked with a team
• When you did something interesting

8. Making contact

Writing a good story is one thing; but telling it is another. Not making enough eye contact in an interview was reason enough for eliminating a candidate according to 67% of hiring managers. These managers want to know that candidates are listening, interested, and engaged with what they have to say. If something is unclear or you want to follow up, ask questions. You can help yourself by researching the firm/company, read reviews, scroll their social pages, and even bring notes for the interview. Interviewers in any industry will always appreciate a candidate’s enthusiasm and curiosity for the company/firm and what it’s doing.

Interviewers also want to see confidence and a sense of leadership; good, confident posture helps. This is an important value in the world of business, whether corporate or legal.

9. Don’t hate

If you left a job, especially if it was a toxic one, it’s easy to let your emotions get the best of you. Sure, you had reasons for leaving but also keep in mind that your former employer works in the industry and community. People know people, and when you talk down a former supervisor or situation, you’re affecting reputations and perceptions. And even worse, you’ll make your interviewer question whether you’d do the same to them down the road. This will only reflect badly on you and your character.

Besides, you’re moving on to new and better things. Leave the past behind and keep your eyes on the prize.

10. Not everything happens for a reason, but everything that happens can be used

After the interview, whether you hear back or not, it’s important to follow up within a few days. Send a thank you letter (people love mail and few candidates will use it) or email stating how you appreciated their time and confirm your interest in the opportunity. This is your last chance to share why you like the firm and why you’d like to work for them. You can also offer any contact information so that you can easily be reached with any further questions. This shows that you’re sincerely invested and interested in the position and it’s not just as a job you may need.

If it’s a down vote: You did your best. You tailored your résumé, you may’ve gotten a call, and you even may have gotten an interview but still didn’t get the job. The further you go into the “funnel,” the more the rejection may sting. It’s the reality of the job searching. To quote Dita Von Teese, “You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world and there’s still going to be somebody who hates peaches.” Maybe you just weren’t the right fruit to fit; onward.

Things you need to do after the interview:

1. Continue looking for other situations, other employers, and other opportunities. Keep moving. Again, it’s a numbers game; the greater the number, the better your chances.
2. When you receive a rejection letter, if you can, take the opportunity to ask the sender what you could have done differently so you can build on that for next time.
   A caveat: Often, employers may offer reasons that’ll be more about covering them than helping you. “We decided to go with someone who had more similar experience.” Were they just looking for status quo? (Probably.) Often, the reasons you’ll get may leave you scratching your head and you may not get anything useful, but you never know. It costs nothing to ask. Make them a LinkedIn connection if nothing else.

11. Searching beyond job boards and recruiters

You’ve applied to job boards. You know of the odds and complexity of getting through the “hiring funnel.” It’s a jungle out there so anything and everything you can do to get a leg up on the competition you should be doing and doing zealously.

Look beyond the boards. Keep your eyes open to communicating and networking with your peers in your field. How to get hired is most often about using every potential channel at your disposal. Such as:

• Network within your profession: Industry events, local bar and other associations. Do so intelligently: do your homework, see who’s going to be there, speak to the hosts, decide who you may want to meet and even reach out to them beforehand so they’ll be looking for you.
• Network outside your profession: Everyone you meet is a potential referral. This includes parties, functions, events, openings, even your kids’ soccer games.
• Network internally: Look around your firm. Whom don’t you know? Make it a point to meet them, 2-3 a week.
• Access your network’s network: If you meet people within your network for lunch or coffee, have them bring people they know. Make sure to remember who they are and get business cards (is that still a thing?) or connect on social media, LinkedIn, etc.
• Volunteer: Help with events, organizations, charitable causes, or other functions. Do pro bono work or offer to teach a class or give a lecture. Make contacts and remember them.
• Phone, old school style: Email is our default but it’s not nearly as personal or memorable as a call. Even texting is more personal than email these days. But when you speak to someone on the phone, you begin to develop a personal relationship. This can transition your connections into team members.
• Reconnect: It’s not all about new people. Networking is also about reestablishing older connections. Nurturing older relationships is often easier that beginning new ones.
• Social media: The 21^st century version of the business card—and like a business card, it works best when used strategically. Leverage it to your advantage by learning best practices—like tweeting is best between 1-3pm, endorse others on LinkedIn, write a blog, etc.

About Harrison Barnes

Harrison Barnes is the founder of BCG Attorney Search and a successful legal recruiter. Harrison is extremely committed to and passionate about the profession of legal placement. His firm BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys. BCG Attorney Search works with attorneys to dramatically improve their careers by leaving no stone unturned in job searches and bringing out the very best in them. Harrison has placed the leaders of the nation’s top law firms, and countless associates who have gone on to lead the nation’s top law firms. There are very few firms Harrison has not made placements with. Harrison’s writings about attorney careers and placements attract millions of reads each year. He coaches and consults with law firms about how to dramatically improve their recruiting and retention efforts. His company, LawCrossing, has been ranked on the Inc. 500 twice. For more information, please visit Harrison Barnes’ bio.

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