Back In The Race: When Your Fantasy Job Needs A Reality Check

We're told time and time again that knowing the right people will help you find a job -- so who are these "right people"?

We’re told time and time again that knowing the right people will help you find a job. Who are these “right people”? Theoretically, it can be anyone. But the person who has the best chance of helping you is typically someone with three attributes. First, he or she should be someone who knows you well enough to vouch for your professionalism. Second, he or she is currently working at or has worked at the firm you want to work for, and is connected to the people working at the firm now. Finally, it would help if she was an influential person.

This person is likely to have inside hiring information and can give specific advice, not empty platitudes copied from a self-help book. This person can introduce you to key people instead of telling you to network at some random mixer with cheap food, expensive admission fees, and boring speakers who care more about self-promotion than providing useful information.

Recently, I had dinner with such a person. Let’s call him Tim. I was hoping he would provide me with some concrete help with my job search. But instead, he told me a few things about law firm life that I did not want to hear.

Tim is a board member of an influential committee of a local bar association. We worked together on a few projects over the last few months, so he knows me fairly well. He previously worked for a firm I wanted to work for and his LinkedIn profile shows that he has numerous connections at that firm.

The main purpose of our meeting was to discuss committee business. But since we will be working on a long term project together, we thought it would be a good idea to use this opportunity to get to know each other.

We discussed bar association business over shrimp ceviche and our entrées. Over tiramisu and espresso, we discussed our careers. Tim, like me, worked for a firm for some time before going solo. A few years later, he closed his practice to join a law firm where he has been ever since.

When it was my turn to talk, I decided to be positive. I told Tim about my solo practice, my clients, and my affiliations. I let him know that my book of business was steady and stable with room for growth. But I also wanted to explore my options, including other employment opportunities. I then told Tim that I was particularly interested in working for one of his former firms.

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Tim, with a skeptical look, asked me what I knew about his former firm. I told him about the firm’s excellent reputation, the training, the famous clients, the challenging and cutting-edge work, and the fast promotion schedule. I also told him that a few of my friends who used to work there had positive experiences.

Tim then told me that while the firm’s reputation is what it is, my reasons for working at his former firm sounded like the firm’s marketing materials. It may be snobbishly fun to work with upper-class, high-end businesses and individuals. But they are also very picky and demanding. Some of them have delusions of grandeur and think that the rule of law does not apply to them so long as they throw money at the right people.

As for the training, while it can be cutting-edge and exciting, it tends to be industry-specific and non-transferable elsewhere, except for competing firms. If competing firms will not hire you, then you are stuck in unemployment limbo unless you are willing to transfer to another practice area and an employer is willing to train you from scratch. The work is also mind-numbingly boring.

Promotion at Tim’s former firm is not lockstep but is based on a number of factors, including some outside of anyone’s control, like the economy. And recently, the firm underwent management changes and laid off an unknown number of attorneys and staff. This means that there will be no openings anytime soon and existing attorneys are not likely to leave.

Finally, Tim mentioned that for every one person I knew who had positive experiences at his former firm, he knows at least two who have left on bad terms.

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Tim then asked me if I was doing this because I disliked solo practice. I decided to be honest this time. I hated the unpredictable income because you can’t spend the money you earn in case the next month is a drought. I hated having to deal with whiny clients who won’t or can’t pay while dealing with whiny vendors who want their money earlier than what we agreed. I was getting tired of going to networking events where attendees were trying to sell me something while trying to gouge me with their “super successful lawyer” premium-pricing plans.

Tim chuckled, while saying that with that kind of attitude, I will despise being an equity partner at that firm.

Tim said that he understood my situation and would do his best to help find me something. He also gave me the names of two colleagues and recommended that I contact them. I felt awkward about blind introductions, so I asked Tim to contact his colleagues before formally introducing us.

As I left our meeting, I wondered why Tim was being so negative about his firm. Was he trying to discourage me from working there? Was he trying to test my resolve?

Or maybe he was trying to warn me that the firm I wanted to work for is not the nirvana I made it out to be. If that’s the case, I appreciate the heads up and I’ll contact him if I have problems. But I’ve heard these stories before. I know that not every work day is going be full of smiles and sunshine. But I’m still interested in working there. Even though things may not have worked out for Tim, it doesn’t mean that the same will happen to me.

Am I just being a special snowflake?


Shannon Achimalbe was a former solo practitioner for five years before deciding to sell out and get back on the corporate ladder. Shannon can be reached by email at sachimalbe@excite.com and via Twitter: @ShanonAchimalbe.