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CONTACT: 212-877-2203 StephenRosen@verizon.net
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LAW FIRM PARTNERS ON THE VERGE:
Do’s & Don’ts When the Writing’s on the Wall
By Stephen Rosen and Celia Paul
Are you a partner at a large law firm? Are your
clients failing? Is your firm’s future unpredictable? Does
the writing on the wall say, “it’s time to find another
employer, firm, or company”? Don’t wait for the grim
news. This is an opportunity for you to think more broadly about
your future career.
You have a bushel basket of resources, strategies,
skills, and contacts. Unless you wish to retire, make your choices
and decisions before you get burned out or fired. You can’t
wait for serendipities, or gifts to fall into your lap.
To bring personal satisfaction to your next job
or career, you need to plan for it. You suspect that you may not
earn the same money, or perhaps even the same level of status, in
your next career or job. Instead, pursue what you enjoy doing well.
Others do: About 58% of those who start out as lawyers remain as
lawyers; 29 % change careers broadly; and 13% change directions
completely.
Even though you may have been very productive as
a specialist, you may have to change career directions by thinking
like a generalist. You already have the skills and discipline to
build on. It’s entirely possible that success in your narrow
specialty may translate to success in another area; but it usually
calls for almost (or virtually) the same effort that led to the
first.
You may be hired to do something for which you
have not been formally trained, but you probably do not need another
degree. Non-profit? Government? Public Service? Academics? Entrepreneur?
Your law degree can take you in many different directions. However,
you can get another degree if that’s what makes your heart
leap, if it’s necessary, and if you can afford it.
It’s hard to avoid the present pervasive
negative prophecies and despondency (the "nocebo" effect,
the negative counterpart of the placebo) and to let this overwhelm
your job choices and career decisions. Even unemployment approaching
10 %, means that most people must be employed. (During former dark
depression days, many heard and sang a Johnny Mercer/Harold Arlen
song: “You’ve got to ac-cen-cu-ate the pos-i-tive…e-lim-i-nate
the neg-a-tive”. Let’s bring this song back. (Better
still, whistle it while you work.)
Situational or clinical depressions are not character
flaws, but may be an appropriate adaptation to the economic meltdown.
Both are matters of brain chemistry, and can be dealt with responsibly
and appropriately. A game plan, a systematic approach, and regular
physicial exercise, will go a long way to developing a ‘theory
of victory’ – positive and optimistic--for your next
move.
The melt-down is not personal. “You can control
your sails—but not the wind.” Smart people make dumb
mistakes and learn from them. They remind themselves of their strengths.
They re-affirm their assets without denying reality. They don’t
dwell on their failures. They learn…and move on. Here are
some positive things you can do…
FIRST, start thinking about your most enjoyable
accomplishments and experiences, especially those that are deeply
felt and emotionally fulfilling; recall those activities you enjoyed
the most, and imagine venues and occasions to do them again—with
or without compensation.
SECOND, keep a career journal/diary to capture
all thoughts, idea-associations, insights, and leads that occur
to you as you recall your most enjoyable accomplishments and activities
most enjoyed. Also, it’s essential to capture in your diary/journal
of all conversations, idea-associations, leads, and so on, derived
from these key information-gathering interviews and leads. This
capture-process invests a much-needed ‘critical-mass’
of optimism, action, and forward momentum to your search.
THIRD, reality-test non-legal options by gathering
market-place data from discreet conversations and aggressive acquisition
of up-to-date job-market information. Identify people you know (or
people who know people you know) who are doing what you think you
might want to do. Find out what they like and don’t like about
what they do, what their job/work/career is in detail, how they
got there, and who else they know. Scour their network of 1st, 2nd,
3rd generation of contacts (or “degrees-of-separation”)
to glean information about – and leads to -- others who may
be doing what you’d like to do.
FOURTH, after you have decided on new areas to
explore, prepare one resume and one personal profile/one-page bio
for each new career direction you wish to research or examine (up
to a maximum of four) based on information you captured and scoured
from the information-gathering interviews.
FIFTH, ‘test drive’ job interviews
to practice for the real thing…first for jobs you don’t
necessarily want, and then for those you do want.
SIXTH, volunteer, if necessary, to try out a job
or career on for size, so you can see if it fits who you are. Volunteer
jobs take several hours a day, several days a week, even a few months—and
they’re essentially extended job interviews that show what
you can do.
Keep changing jobs or careers until you find the
right one, the best one, the inevitable one…the one that engages
you in “Work that’s a worthy expression of who you are”.
Then make it your own.
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Celia Paul and Stephen Rosen operate the New
York City-based career management firm Celia Paul Associates, which
specializes in coaching senior attorneys and partners. They also
provide premium legal outplacment services to law firms. Celia.Paul@verizon.net
StephenRosen@verizon.net 212-877-2203
www.CeliaPaulAssociates.com
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