Interview

Decoding Interview Questions

  • On October 15, 2023
Here’s a decoder for what the interviewers are actually thinking when they ask these questions or make these comments: “Tell me about yourself.” Why do they ask this when they have your resume in front of them? They are checking that you can summarize succinctly, have done relevant work, and are easy to work with. […]
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Resume

5 Minutes to Update Your Resume

  • On October 8, 2023
My 5 minute series covers easy things you can do that’s a good return on your time. We covered interview prep  and networking. Now let’s talk about resumes! As with interview prep and networking, you may feel like you can spend an unlimited time on your resume (hello decreasing marginal returns!). But if you only have […]
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Networking

Networking if You Have 5 Minutes

  • On October 1, 2023
Lawyers hate networking, maybe because it’s so amorphous or maybe because lawyers generally don’t like selling themselves. Here are 4 easy things to do, each taking 5 minutes or less but paying big dividends: Ask friends who have great jobs (and are happy there) to think of you when they get cold called for a […]
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Interview

If You Have Only 5 Minutes Before an Interview

  • On September 24, 2023
Yes, lawyers are all about planning, but sometimes we are just out of time! What happens if you have an interview coming up and only have 5 minutes to prepare? Pick at least one of these things to do! Reread the job description, and think up an example showing you understand the space and can […]
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Job Search, LinkedIn, Resume

6 Job Search Tips that Do Not Apply to Lawyers 

  • On September 17, 2023
Working in-house is a specialized space, so general advice for job seekers may not work for lawyers. Here are 6 pieces of advice I’ve seen that do NOT work for getting a legal job: Always message the hiring manager and CEO when applying for a job? No. This is not a good use of your time. If […]
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Career Management, Career Tips, Offer

5 Career Lessons, Crowd-Sourced by WSJ

  • On September 3, 2023
WSJ listed some great crowd-sourced tips learned from big career mistakes. These 5 lessons especially apply to lawyers. Build soft skills, which are as important as hard skills. From day one, lawyers need to not only learn the substance of the law, but also how to work with others and communicate effectively. As counsel get […]
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Resume

Resume Refresh Part III: Tailoring Your Resume

  • On August 27, 2023
You may see this career tip all the time, that you should “tailor your resume” to the job. How exactly do you do that? It means highlighting relevant experience and reframing the other work you’ve done to match the target profile the company wants. Here are 5 ways to tailor your resume to the job: […]
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Resume

Resume Refresh Part II: Make Your Resume Easy to Skim!

  • On August 20, 2023
Last week I discussed which resume words to use and which words to avoid. This week I wanted to cover another very important feature of your resume, readability! Here is the bright line test on whether your resume is effective: in a 5 second skim of your resume, can the reader figure out the top […]
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Inhouse, Resume

Resume Refresh Part 1: Resume Words to Avoid vs Words to Use 

  • On August 13, 2023
I read with interest this post on CNBC by a career coach on the two words to avoid on your resume “at all costs.” What are they? “Responsible for.” OK those words are not ideal, but worse in my book are “handled,” “participated,” or “involved.” (Talk about vague and weak!) The point is you should […]
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