Valerie A. Fontaine earned her JD from UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings) and her BA, Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, from UCLA. She was on the Editorial Board of COMM/ENT, a Journal of Communications and Entertainment Law. Valerie practiced law with a prominent Los Angeles law firm and entered the legal search profession in 1981. Valerie is past Secretary to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants (NALSC) and former Chair of its Newsletter Committee. She currently serves as a consultant to NALSC headquarters.
Interviewers are only human and, therefore, not always perfect. In your job search, you may encounter good interviewers having a bad day, inexperienced or unprepared interviewers, or those who have ineffective methods for eliciting the information they need to make the best hiring decisions. Unlike skilled corporate HR professionals, in the legal marketplace, many of…
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Job seekers recognize the need to network but self-marketing within your organization is just as important when you’re gainfully employed. Excellent performance is not enough; you need to distinguish yourself in the office to earn promotions and recognition or, in some cases, avoid layoff. Don’t wait for others to notice what you do well. Proactively,…
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When it comes to advancing your career, it helps to be self-centered. To survive slow economic times or thrive in good ones, you must demonstrate your value to your organization’s bottom line. It is your responsibility to document your work; you can’t expect others to remember and recognize all that you do. An essential career…
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The old saying, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it,” is true, even if you’re not talking. According to Albert Mehrabian’s oft-cited study, our verbal content provides only 7% of the message the interviewer receives; body language communicates 55% and tone of voice accounts for 38%. Therefore, when someone says one thing…
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