In-House Counsel, Job Searches

The Road Not Taken: There Be Dragons Here

As lawyers, we don’t always put too much thought into career planning -- maybe we should.

By  
on

“Failing to plan is planning to fail”: It’s on those calendars that appear randomly on cubicle walls and articles meant to inspire the masses into organized and timely action. Sometimes the admonishment comes with an entertaining cartoon of a person consumed by a hurricane of papered chaos. It is incongruent that so many lawyers, who must be so organized to succeed in the profession, don’t apply the skills of thinking about the results we want and identifying the actions required to get to obtain those results when it comes to our careers.

As lawyers, we don’t always put too much thought into career planning. Most of us, if we are lucky, are funneled into a career path through a summer associate position, and we take the position in the department we’re given. We think we’ll work at our first firm and move to something larger or smaller depending on life circumstances and opportunities. The reality is that more often changing practice areas becomes more and more difficult as the years pass and the only options for change are firm size or an in-house position.

“But Celeste,” you think, “that sure looks like a plan to me.” That isn’t a career plan, it’s passive acceptance of circumstance. Lawyers don’t get a lot of career-planning guidance beyond “go to a good school and get a job” and “network.” For the most part, we accept what is presented to us then wonder why we aren’t happy after we’ve been swept along by the current of our careers.

Additionally, a career is a huge abstraction to conceptualize. I find it helps me to characterize “career plans” as a “career map.” I get more benefit by thinking about all the aspects of what I want out of my career as discrete locations on a map. This way, I can figure out which roads to get to the next location as my starting location changes through time.

True, a legal career is not as flexible as other professions, but the rigidness of the infrastructure does not negate the value of planning. Law, as a profession, is not known as a career that brings its practitioners happiness. There are lots of reasons for job dissatisfaction in the legal industry, but for today, we are examining the tiny sliver of the pie that we can control, and discussing how to plan so as to maximize the aspects of that sliver that bring joy (desirable locations) and minimize those that do not (there be dragons here).

Think about your dream day at your dream job. Now, think about the details of that experience. How do you get to your office?  Does it have to be an office or is it an open floor plan?  What kind of furniture is there? How are people dressed? How are you dressed? I know, these questions are not about intellectually stimulating work, prestige, or salary. Be honest, you’ve already made career decisions based on work, prestige, or salary; that’s probably what got you to law school.  These smaller questions dig into the deeper issues of finding the work culture that inspires you as an individual. If you would be thrilled to work in an open-office environment with treadmill desks and visible conference spaces, that tells you something. It tells you that you are flexible, open to innovation, and you can probably expand the universe of employment to include more progressive employers and positions than staying on the narrow path of an associate at a conservative law firm.

The details of your dream day constitute a constellation of locations on your map, so once you’ve discovered the continent of your dream day, then go to the standard consideration of type of work and salary. Make a list of what you identify and create another continent of discovered land on your map. This is your map of the new world; a first draft of the outline for your career.  Like any first draft, edit the document. If you fixate on a specific issue, think about that more and flesh it out.

Sponsored

What will you get out of this exercise? Perhaps nothing. You may very well stay in the same job forever. But, you may not. When you feel the wave of disillusionment and burnout consuming you, pull out your map and unfold it. Look at it and see what speaks to you. What are you not getting that is causing you dissatisfaction? Can you change those aspects in your current position? If the answer is yes and you want to stay where you are, then you know what you need to do. If the answer is no and you can’t take the status quo much longer, you know it is time to start looking. You’ll have an advantage: you’ll know what to look for and will have an idea of how to get there. Because you have a map.

Celeste Harrison Forst has practiced in small and mid-sized firms and is now in-house at a large manufacturing and technology company where she receives daily hugs from her colleagues. You can reach Celeste directly at[email protected].

Sponsored

Topics

, , , , , ,