New Year resolutions for your law career
The New Year is a popular time to take stock and determine whether this is the year to make a career change. Early in the year, our legal recruitment team get numerous calls from lawyers who have made it their resolution to find a new position or jump start their career in some way. Here are three great ways to revive your legal career this year:
- Review your goals
Think about why you went to law school and whether your current position is fulfilling those goals. Are you in private practice and wish you were in-house? Are you practicing in an area you never really liked but fell into after articles? Too often, lawyers get busy and caught up in their day-to-day lives and don’t take the time to review their goals – this is a critical step in ensuring you are on the right track.
- Make a plan
Once you have reviewed your goals, if they match up with what you are doing, you are in good shape. If not, this is the time to figure out how you are going to get to where you want to go. This will require a thorough review of your resume as well as your skill set to determine whether you need to gain additional experience in order to meet your goals.
- Speak to an expert
You may not even have a current resume as a starting point (maybe it’s been years since you even thought about it). Sitting down with an expert, such as a legal recruitment consultant, to figure out how to build your profile and determine your marketability is essential. Ask questions about the legal market and the likelihood of success. Ask how you can supplement your experience with volunteer work or whether you might need to take additional courses to differentiate yourself.
Taking these steps as early in the new year as possible will help ensure that yet another year won’t go by where you will ask, where did the time go?
The Counsel Network is Canada’s most respected, connected and powerful lawyer recruitment firm. If you are considering a career change, contact one of our legal recruiters for a confidential discussion.
– Sameera Sereda, Managing Partner