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Avoiding common pitfalls in your attorney job search can make a significant difference. Whether you’re looking for a first-year associate job, a mid-career move, or a senior position in a new environment, refining your job search tactics will help position you as a top candidate. But that preparation cannot just comprise hodgepodge efforts without purposeful intent.
A one-size-fits-all resume, lack of interview and screening preparation, and limiting yourself to posted job openings in private practice are some of the top ways to all but guarantee a longer search and a less fortunate job match.
Don’t let common mistakes cost you your dream job; even the most experienced attorneys can struggle with oversights when considering the employment market, especially if the last CV they put together has been collecting dust. With the right mix of research, preparation, networking, and a skilled recruitment partner, you can move into the next stage of your career with well-earned confidence.
Crafting a compelling application package is essential for standing out. You want to be recognized as a unique individual with a mix of talents, experience, and strengths—but are you offering the same respect and opportunity to each prospective employer? Your cover letter and resume provide a platform to do so.
Applying for every job with a cookie-cutter resume and cover letter is a quick way to end up on the “no” pile. Hiring teams can tell if you’ve reviewed the firm and job requirements or simply sent them your boilerplate materials.
Providing a thoughtful response to each posting shows employers you're a good fit for their specific needs. Connect your relevant legal experience, specializations, and accomplishments to the goals and requirements they have laid out. In particular, draw on a firm’s culture, reputation, and achievements, and use your cover letter to identify your alignment with them. Similarly, your resume can be customized not just with skills and experience that speak to the job responsibilities, qualifications, and other elements but, ideally, organized to directly reflect the same order shown in the job description.
You don’t, however, need to reinvent the wheel every time. Instead, do some initial preparation for bespoke applications while you work on updating your general resume. You can boost your efficiency with these steps:
As you begin your search, you may end up adding, rewriting, and spinning off multiple versions of these resume-building blocks, making the file they’re stored in a living document. You won’t need to start from scratch every time, as you’ll find patterns across job openings that may only require a simple reorganization of elements and minor language tailoring. Staying organized in this way enhances your chances of securing a job.
Networking simply cannot be set aside when it comes to an effective job search. The most powerful testimony of your professional value and impact isn’t conveyed on paper but through the connections you’ve made and the impact you’ve had on others at each level of your legal education and career.
Equally as important is the fact that the true state of the job market isn’t found on employment site listings. This is because:
What can get your foot in the door and your resume to the right human hands? Individual contacts who provide a referral or introduction. When every resume is full of superlatives and entering a screening system among a large set of many others, professional relationships can put you at the top of the list and impact hiring decisions.
Grow and leverage your network using:
The right attorney job for you isn’t just based on the primary practice area, commute length, and compensation package. A firm or corporation’s values, goals, and culture—and the degree to which you align with them—are critical to your morale, productivity, and ability to advance in that environment.
Look into:
In addition to questioning relevant contacts in your professional network, you can do some detective work using:
Once you’re invited into the interview process, it’s time to buckle down, do your research, and prepare for intensive and focused vetting. Behavioral interviews reveal how your personality fits the firm's culture. From the employer’s perspective, leaving no stone unturned makes sense when you consider the cost of hiring or replacing attorneys.
On average, firms can pay $200,000 – $500,000 per associate, based on the costs of recruiting, hiring, and onboarding a new attorney hire, plus ongoing training and development investments.2
With this in mind:
Are you going into a job search with blinders on? If private practice is the only option you’ve considered, then you’re ruling out a significant slice of available jobs that might suit you.
Before you dismiss anything, explore the pros and cons of:
Another thing to consider is where lawyer shortages cause the most strain. You could encounter less competition and a stronger profile applying for positions that have the highest need for applicants, both at first-year and mid-career levels3,4:
You can boost your success in a job search by looking beyond roles in traditional law firms. Consider where your satisfaction lies and to what degree aspects such as values-driven work, leveraging non-legal skills and interests, or work-life balance will likely enhance your professional accomplishments and personal happiness.
If meeting your continuing legal education credit requirements keeps falling to the bottom of your list, schedule some time to focus on it. Employers aren’t looking for attorneys who take the path of least resistance when it comes to professional development, and stagnant skill sets can limit your career prospects.
This is particularly true today, as legal technology and the integration of AI into all aspects of casework and practice management make it vital to stay current with key technology changes in the legal field.
In the long run, plan and integrate education as a critical part of your career goals. For the purpose of a job search at hand, highlight how these components relate to the jobs and organizations you apply to:
Skipping your research, not considering all career paths, and not tailoring your approach to each opportunity—these are mistakes that can limit your options and trajectory. Partnering with the right legal recruiter can help you avoid these common mistakes during a job search.
Working with the right legal recruitment partner means you’ll have a built-in guide to help you avoid costly job search mistakes. Skilled recruiters can:
Best of all? There is no cost to you. Reputable legal executive recruiters are a free source of marketplace information—often at an incredibly well-informed level—and practical career guidance. Their fees are paid by employers, with no cost to job seekers.
When you work with a top-tier agency, you won’t simply be slotted into the first firm that pays their fee. Since reputation and deep professional networking are key to recruiters’ success, it’s in their best interests to connect you with opportunities that offer the best chance of long-term success for both you and the hiring organization.
Before you commit to working with a recruiter, schedule an interview. Consider experience, integrity, professionalism, and reputation to ensure they have the qualifications and quality to help you during your job search.
E.P. Dine specializes in helping firms and corporations find top candidates at all levels of seniority, providing guidance and connections for lawyers during job searches.
We know exactly what employers are looking for and how to match you with a position that’s the right fit for your talents, values, and ambitions. Plus, we can help you power up your resume and interview skills, putting you in a position of strength while you enter the next phase of your career.
Contact us to start identifying the right role and firm—or the right candidate—for you.
Sources:
At E.P. Dine, we are committed to delivering content that is not only relevant and insightful but also rooted in professional integrity and expertise. To achieve this, every article published on the E.P. Dine blog undergoes a meticulous review process by qualified professionals with deep knowledge and experience in the legal field and legal recruitment.
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