5 Positive Things You Can Do When Things Are Going to Hell in a Handbasket

Tough times now for lawyers, who are overworked or getting laid off. What are some things you can do to make the best of a bad situation?

1. Post-layoff, how do you interact with folks? Join an employee alumni group (or start one). Stay in touch with coworkers still there. They likely will want to help you so you need to make that easy for them. Give them an idea of what jobs you would be interested in. I’ve noticed if you don’t ask for job referrals or if you don’t give specifics on what you are open to, people won’t remember, even if they are open to helping.
2. What to do with your time now? Get the certification you were thinking about or shore up experience you may need but not have, e.g., do it for a startup or a clinic for law school – this may not get you the job, but it’s a step in the right direction.
3. Do you want to change the area of law or type of job you have? Research areas you are interested in, and talk to others to see how they did it. Also, think about other jobs in adjacent areas you can do. (See here for ideas.) If you have an appetite for risk, you can try a startup that’s hiring, especially if you have only worked at big companies before. Working for an emerging growth company can be helpful if you want to learn the business, be more of a generalist, or help a company scale. Wired reports: “Hundreds of thousands of workers lost jobs at Google, Meta, and other giants in recent months. Some are deciding to build their own companies.” The article notes that historically “recessions have bred some startups that changed the world. Google launched in 1998, not long before the dotcom crash; Airbnb began in 2007; Slack, WhatsApp, and Square came in 2009.” (Fingers crossed on the SVB fallout.)
4. What if you bomb an interview? Try to salvage it by showing while you may not be right for this specific job, you have a great personality and set of skills better for another job (in case they might have another opening). You need to stay positive and tell stories about relevant things you are good at (stories can make you memorable). Stay connected with your interviewer and recommend a friend who might be better for a role, a helpful and high EQ move.
5. Experiment with LinkedIn features. You probably have a photo and description and may be considering getting endorsements and recommendations (two different things). Check out this resource for more features to try, e.g., practice interviews with AI (I have never tried it, but I figure this can’t hurt. Plus, you can add this to your AI experience!), or this resource on how to optimize your LinkedIn headline.

I am sorry if you are going through tough times. I have seen multiple boom bust cycles, and proactive lawyers do land on their feet.