How to (Maybe) Get a Job

I came across the following post on Constant Struggle and thought I would share it because it is good advice.  Yes, I know it probably would have been more helpful in March, but I just found it today.  The post is geared toward those applying for public interest jobs, but most of it applies across the board.

 

“So you’re a do-gooder 1 or 2L and you’re looking for a summer job that doesn’t suck. Here’s some free advice from a public interest attorney:

Applying:

• Do not send a “Dear Recruiting Coordinator” or “To Whom It May Concern” letter. If you don’t care enough to spend two minutes on the website to find out my name, I’m not going to care enough to spend two minutes reading your resume.
• Have relevant experience. If you don’t, explain why I should hire you anyway.
• Don’t send generic cover letters. I know you want a job. Everyone wants a job. I want to hire someone who wants this job. Tell me why that person is you.
• Spell-check is your friend.
• It helps if the phone number listed on your resume isn’t disconnected.
• Nobody reads writing samples.
• If the job announcement says to send a writing sample, send a writing sample. Show me you can understand and follow simple instructions.
• I don’t care that you’re into animal husbandry and deep-sea diving. I do care about training you’ve had, community service you’ve done, and so on. Tell me about those instead of your ‘Interests’.
• Don’t claim to have skills you don’t. Fluency is a term of art. If you can’t carry on a conversation without hesitation at normal speed you are not fluent.
• I am going to call your references. Make sure they exist and have something relevant to say about you. “Yes, Jane was in my torts class” is not going to get you hired.

Interviewing:

• If I ask you if you can make it to an interview at X time on day Y, unless you or a member of your immediate family is scheduled for major surgery, say “yes.” I know you’re busy. Everyone is busy. Be there.
• Know something about the organization before you come in.
• It helps to know something about the relevant law, as well.
• Smile.
• Be sincere. Poor people can smell bullshit a mile away. So can I.
• Don’t be late.
• If you’re going to be late, call.
• Bring extra copies of your resume.
• It’s OK to ask what specifically you’ll be expected to do. Frame this question in a way that makes me think you want to do more, not less. Yes, you’ll be doing some shit work. Some jobs are shit work 5 hours a week. Some jobs are shit work 60 hours a week. Know what you’re getting into.
• If the interviewer asks if you have any questions, have a question. It helps to show that you have some interest and aren’t a complete idiot.”

Job vs Career (or What I Want to Be When I Grow Up)

We have all heard someone say– “Oh, this is just a job–it’s not my career.”

 So what is the difference between a “job” and a “career”?

According to Webster’s, a “job” is:

“A regular activity performed in exchange for payment; a position in which one is employed; a task that must be done.”

Alternatively, the definition of “career” is:

“A chosen pursuit, a profession or occupation; the general course or progression of one’s working life; A path or course, as of the sun through the heavens.”

Doesn’t the word “career” sound much more exciting and fulfilling than the word “job”?  Come on…a path or course as of the sun through the heavens….versus…a task that must be done?  I don’t know about you, but I hate to imagine myself chained to a Kafka-esque desk, forever laboring over some task that must be done for the rest of my days.

Is the idea of career a myth?  Is it possible to find a job that embodies the concept of career? 

I had no CLUE what I wanted to do right out of law school.  I didn’t even know that there was a difference between transactional type jobs and litigation jobs.  I landed in a firm doing commercial litigation.  Phew!  I got a job–that was the first and highly important step in my career.  And then I got another job–and then I got another job. 

And then what? 

Tell you the truth–I don’t have an answer.  I am beginning to understand which direction I’d like to go in.  My nascent understanding comes from two sources:  One–it comes from my experience–my skills set, my hands on job training.  And two, it comes from my interactions with other attorneys and business people in the community–I talk to people who have careers.  Especially people who have careers in the areas I am interested in.  

So don’t be worried if you don’t know the answer to the question–”what do you want to be when you grow up.” No one does.

Every job you take is crucial to the development of your career.  Until that day your job blossoms into the love of your life–your career…I think it behooves us to treat every job as the ONE.   Love the one you are with, as the old adage goes. 

Fluff

Lately I have not been feeling my usual cheerful, upbeat self.  Indeed, I have been what my friends call a “bitterface”  “Bitterface” can be used in a variety of contexts:  for example, when we were taking the bar, we were “bitterbarface.”  If a friend wasn’t having much luck with a crush, she’d have “bitterboyface.”  Too much beer the night before–”bitterbeerface.” You get the picture.

So I have been a bitterface.  I’m going to call this one “bitterbenchface.”  I think I am at that point in my clerkship where I am starting to feel antsy–like I want to be back on the other side of the bench.  Oh–and did I mention I’m also becoming “bitterbrokeface”?

At the same time, I’m worried about going back to all the hours, pressure, etc.  And here’s a biggy—I’m also worried about where I am going next. 

It eats me up.  I already told you I got a rejection letter from a job I didn’t even apply for–which, while funny–gave me “bitterbuttofthejokeface.”

Well.  Lo and behold–my bitterface is lifted for the first time in months.  Goodness gracious!  I just found out I got a job interview.  What a way to end on a Friday!  My eyes got wet for a minute.

Now all I have to deal with this weekend is bitterbroadstreetraceface.