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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You need a vacation. You’ve earned it. But can you manage to get away? According to Expedia.com’s 2015 International Vacation Deprivation Survey, American adults workers do not take almost a third of their allotted vacation days each year. Yet the same percentage reported feeling more positive about their jobs and more productive upon returning from…
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Avoiding your supervising partners’ pet peeves is easy, as long as you conform to their idea of the perfect lawyer. Top partners from prestigious law firms at an October 2010 Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles program, “Partners’ Pet Peeves”, described exactly what they are looking for in the ideal associate. Attributes they mentioned would…
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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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Congratulations! You have done an excellent job at the screening, or initial interview. Now you are invited to come in for one or more follow-up interviews. You need to build on what you did right the first time around, and be prepared to do even more. See our previous Hot Tip, “Preparing for the Callback…
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A typical hiring process consists of a screening, or initial, interview and one or more “callback” interviews. All of the strategies you used to succeed in your first interview apply to subsequent interviews—but more so. The callback interview involves more people, more time, more scrutiny and more pressure. In this Hot Tip, we will discuss…
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Like the dating scene, the job interview process may start with a rendezvous for coffee at a local café. Although the meeting is held in an informal setting, don’t forget that the rules of interviewing apply. You still must prepare, dress appropriately, and sell yourself. Presenting your case in a public place presents some challenges,…
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Like car engines, the hybrid combines the best of both worlds. Once you get some legal experience under your belt, we recommend a combination functional/chronological resume format rather than a straight reverse chronology of your work experience. Format choices Chronological A chronological resume is organized by your employment history in reverse order from the present…
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