Summary: An attorney is not going to be able to advance their career unless they are exploring their options and allowing an open dialogue with those that can help them.
Information is money. An attorney that is not interested in obtaining all the information they possibly can has a greater chance of failing. Harrison Barnes explains that The Best Attorneys Want Information. An attorney’s career is much like real estate – if they keep up with the trends, a better opportunity may come around but they will never know of the opportunity unless they are paying attention and learning all they can about the market.
Successful partners and associates will keep open lines of communication with those that can provide them with information on the market, like recruiters. Recruiters know the ins and outs of the market because it is their job to know. They are able to rely this information to attorneys that they frequently communicate with. These attorneys welcome this information because they understand that their career is like “a commodity that needs a market to thrive.” The information recruiters are able to relay include what skills are in demand, which law firms are hiring, and even which practice areas are suffering. Knowing all the information possible lets an attorney know they are on the right track, have options, and have options to improve their life and career.
Attorneys won’t know what they need to work on if they don’t know what law firms are looking for. By talking with recruiters, an attorney can learn what skills they have that are marketable. An attorney’s career can easily get off track but can be fixed if they are made of aware of the problems. These problems can include being underpaid, being in a stagnant workplace with little chance of moving up, getting too specialized, and not getting enough experience.
The more information an attorney has, the better they understand their options. When an attorney won’t even talk with a recruiter, they won’t learn how desired they are by other law firms. Young attorneys are often the ones most unwilling to speak with a recruiter, perhaps out of fear that they will get in trouble for being disloyal or simply because they don’t know they have options. More senior attorneys know the importance of having options because many of them have probably experience troubles in the career due to law firm layoffs or performance problems.
Every attorney has unique needs and wants from their career. They will like different aspects of the job and have different requirements for their responsibilities. Assuming the attorney’s requirements are reasonable, there is a good chance that there is an employer out there that will meet those requirements. However, an attorney will never know this if they are not exploring their options with the help of a recruiter to tell them the information they need.
Do you think attorneys should always be looking for a better option or is better to try and make things work with their current firm? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
To learn more about how attorneys can help their careers, read these articles:
- 21 Pieces of Career Advice for Attorneys
- Top Lawyers Are Leaving for Firms Emphasizing Performance over Seniority
- Lawyers Changing Firms to Develop Careers
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