Value transferable skills for the non-legal market: Step 5 in an alternative career search

Having identified the job that you want, do not be discouraged to find that other people have trained for it. You can explain and enhance your value to an employer by showing what you know about the job, the business, and the industry, and by putting your legal skills in context for non-lawyers. 

One benefit for lawyers seeking non-legal positions is that they are often posted with a lengthy job description. Unlike 2nd year associate sought for busy family law practice, job descriptions for non-lawyers contain specific information and smart candidates use every word in a job description in their resumes and cover letters.

Some of the language you might find: advising/counseling, analyzing (events, data, people,risk), anticipating/estimating, applying theory, appraising, assessing, compiling/gathering (information),comprehending technical material, Conceptualizing, Connecting, Coordinating/arranging (events), delegating, designing, editing, evaluating, examining, exercising good judgment, explaining, group facilitating, handling complaints, imagining, interviewing (to obtain information), listening, mediating, meeting deadlines, motivating others, negotiation, organizing/coordinating, persuading/promoting/selling, planning/scheduling, predicting/forecasting, prioritizing, programming, public speaking, resolving conflicts, reviewing, supervising, teaching/training, theorizing, translating, working effectively and calmly under pressure, and writing.

To connect your skills to job description language, identify:

People with whom you interact: Who are they and what are the relationships based on?;
Institutions with which you work: Who are your contacts and what do you do with and for them?
Tasks you do: What do you actually do? What documents do you create? What meetings do you attend or conduct?
Problems you solve: What kind of problems do you solve? What skills do you use to solve them?

Look carefully at the work that you do and to translate it into language that will be understandable to non-lawyers and that will relate to the job descriptions for your target positions.

For example, a busy litigator works with individuals, clients, co-workers, co-counsel, opposing counsel, court personnel, other professionals (medical, criminal, insurance agents, bankers, etc.). She interacts with institutions including courts, banks, and insurance companies, federal, state and local regulatory agencies. For any of these she identifies problems by creating a complete narrative drawn from a variety of sources; creates strategic and practical solutions; organizes large amounts of information; serves as project manager; participates as an effective team member; provides effective oral and written communication lawyers and non-lawyers; acts independently; deals with unexpected problems; and uses technology effectively and efficiently.

To recap, a search for an alternative career has five parts: self-assessment, research, purposeful and serendipitous networking, patience, and an articulated set of transferable skills. 

You are not alone and you are not the first person to consider changing careers.

Get started and good luck!

Patience: shifting careers is not a "ramen noodles" quick fix: Step 4 in an alternative career search

Expect a barbecue-like long and slow process, not a ramen noodles quick-fix career shift because of three unalterable truths:

1. There is no Alternative Careers Monster Board because an alternative career for a lawyer is a traditional career for someone else. Busy recruiters go to traditional sources: schools that give the training, professional organizations that post jobs for their members, linkedin groups, and lists targeted to specific professionals
2. Alternative career employers do not recruit at law schools because of yield. Finding an entry-level marketing manager at a law school every five years inefficient and cost-prohibitive, especially when compared the ease of recruiting a group of them at a business school every year.
3. Regardless of your legal credentials, you have to persuade an employer to consider you as an individual candidate. Being the only law-trained person in a group of candidates has advantages (you stand out) and disadvantages (lacking the assumption that your credentials give you in a search for a lawyer, you have to demonstrate why you are a good candidate for the position).

Finding an alternative career path is the polar opposite of a successful campus interview search.

SUCCESSFUL CAMPUS INTERVIEW PROCESS
Create a traditional legal resume
Upload or email the resume to the employer
Schedule an interview
Interview well (without knowing much about the employer)
Finesse the callback (knowing slightly more about the employer)
Accept the offer

ALTERNATIVE CAREER SEARCH
Complete self-assessment tasks to begin to hone in on an alternative career path
Research to identify target industries and employers
Network to gain some information that will make you a good interviewee
Understand the employer’s hiring process
Identify the employer’s ideal candidate’s credentials and skills
Tailor your resume and cover letter to the employers’ problems and issues
Finesse the interview(s) by explaining why you and your training, experience and perspective make you the right hire

This takes time. Be patient. Be persistent. Be creative.

Tomorrow: Value transferable skills for the non-lawyer market: Step 5 in an alternative career search

Purposeful and serendipitous networking: Step 3 in an alternative career search

Combining research and smart networking to learn about potential career paths can create powerful momentum.

Purposeful (in person): After you know a little bit about an industry and have your four questions (Step 2) in hand, go to a professional meeting. Introduce yourself as someone who is curious about the business and interested in finding a way to harness your legal training and experience in a new and creative way. There will be a continuum in your greeting from those who are deeply suspicious of lawyers to enthusiastic embrace by formerly practicing lawyers who will welcome you onto their path.

Recall the networking skills that you have used as a student and as a lawyer. Be consistent, be persistent and keep track of who you talk with and what you learn. When you are referred to someone, be sure to thank the person who sent you.

Best opening line: I have read a lot about X and I have some questions for you.

Worst opening line: Tell me everything you know about X.

Purposeful (electronic): This is the 21st century, and myfacebookspace.com/linkedin@twitter is at your fingertips. Use (don’t abuse) these tools to connect with the people, the businesses, and the industries that are your targets.

Serendipitous: Kimm Walton and every career services professional has dozens (hundreds) of stories about serendipitous networking. Everyone knows someone who found a job through her hairdresser’s husband, from the guy at the next treadmill at the gym, and from the person who sat next to his family at Vikings games for decades. The connecting thread is that everyone who thanks serendipity for employment is really passing the buck. They got their jobs because they spoke up. They talked about their job searches. They didn’t keep secrets.

Mind-reading and telepathy are lounge acts in Las Vegas. Telling your story to friends, relatives and perfect strangers enlists Serendipity – a random but real job search tool.

Tomorrow: Patience: Not-a-ramen-noodles schedule for alternative career shift (Step 4)