Guerilla Tactics to Get a Job
By Ben Walden
How do you find the legal job of your dreams? Kimm
Walton, the Job Goddess, author of such books as Guerilla Tactics
For Getting The Legal Job Of Your Dreams,
What Law School Doesn't Teach You…But You Really Need to Know (and many
other highly recommended books) helped answer this question when she spoke
on campus last month. For those that missed it, this will be a recap of her
lecture, but it is highly recommended that you look at Guerilla Tactics For
Getting The Legal Job Of Your Dreams in Career Services or buy a copy of it
yourself because it is extremely helpful.
Kimm explained that anyone can get the legal job of her dreams
even if she is not in the top 10% of her law school class. What
is important is showing the potential employer that you can do
the job. To do this, you need to create an image of the job you
want and how to communicate this image, and there are many ways
to do this through means other than grades. To do this, you need
to show what you bring to the employer. This means that in your
interview, resume, and cover letter, you should focus on the employer
and that you can help her. The most important part of this focus
is showing enthusiasm.
The biggest obstacle in the way of enthusiasm is rejection. The
inability to deal with rejection tanks more job searches than anything
else. To help overcome rejection, Kimm gave two suggestions. First,
when you get rejected, DO NOT ASSUME SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH YOU.
You never know how close you were to getting hired. All it means
is that at that particular time, you did not show the employer
what she needed to hire you. Second, it is too easy to cloak employers
with magical powers that they do not have. They are not all knowing
and perfect. Employers make mistakes; so do not associate not getting
the job with you not deserving the job. Do not let rejection define
your career.
Kimm went on to say that there are two main things that employers
are looking for. First, you need to let them know that you can
do the job. There are many ways to do this other than grades. You
can do this by showcasing your writing abilities. You can do a
judicial externship, writing competitions (which in most cases
have less than 4 entries), bar association publications, etc. Second,
do not forget the importance of enthusiasm. People hire people
that want to work for them.
Resumes:
Kimm also gave some tips on resumes. Remember the role of your
resume: it is a marketing piece to sell your abilities to the prospective
employer. Each employer is looking for something different so do
some research on the employer, find out what they are looking for,
and tailor you resume to the employer's needs. To make this easier,
you should have a master resume that you whittle down depending
on the employer. Make sure that you put all relevant topics on
your resume, including CLE's.
The two most common complaints about resumes are 1) lies or exaggerations
and 2) one out of three resumes have typos. Also, make sure that
you are comfortable talking about everything on your resume before
you send out. If there is an interest or hobby that is controversial,
you may not want to include it.
Interviews:
Once in the interview, remember what is going on. Show your enthusiasm
and make the interview a conversation so that the employer gets
a chance to know you and that you get a chance to show the employer
why she should hire you. Kimm makes four suggestions to prepare
for interviews.
1. Research the employer. Check out the employer's website to
find out its specialties, where the firm is located, any recent
press releases.
2. Prepare answers and practice. Be able to tell the employer
about yourself. This is a straightforward way for you to explain
why the employer should hire you.
3. Ask questions. Use your research to come up with questions.
Use open-ended questions that get the conversation started. This
is your chance to see if this is the kind of place you want to
work.
4. Everyone has an Achilles heel. Whatever your weakness is, it
will not kill you, the way you deal with it can. Come up with a
strategy on how to handle it and speak about it with confidence.
The views and opinions contained herein do not necessarily
reflect those of the faculty and student
body of the College of Law, the SBA Board or the editorial staff of The Docket.
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