Over the past week, we have had a couple of law firms tell us about their frustrations of having someone accept a position at their firm, only to rescind their acceptance a week prior to starting. 

I can understand the firm’s frustration.  There is a lot of preparation that happens before a new hire joins a firm. Computers are set up, training is coordinated, internal conversations take place, schedules are re-arranged, etc.  Not to mention, after you have accepted your offer, your new firm has stopped considering other applicants.  That means that if you then rescind your offer, the firm has lost out on not only time and money, but also all the other candidates they were considering as those ones have most likely moved on and are off the market. 

But, at the same time, I can understand things from the Candidate’s perspective.  Life happens, people change their minds, and new opportunities arise and ultimately you the candidate, needs to make the best long-term decision for yourself. 

However, the legal community is small, people change firms and you do not want to burn a bridge and have it follow you.  So, how you rescind your offer is important!  If the situation arises, you should:

1. Let the firm know as soon as you have made up your mind. Don’t wait until the last minute. 
2. Give the firm the courtesy of knowing why you are rescinding the offer.  Now, you don’t need to get into the specifics of your “Why”, but you should give a reason.  They have just invested time and money preparing for your start.  The firm’s initial reaction will be to see if there is anything they can do to change your mind.  Further, the firm will wonder if it was something about them that caused the change of mind.  Is there anything they need to change moving forward, so this doesn’t happen again? They just need some closure. 

While we are on this topic, we also have candidates sometimes ask us why their new employer wants to know if they have handed in their resignation yet.  They tell us, that they have signed the offer letter, indicating they are coming on board, why does it matter when they resign. 

The firm wants to know you are fully committed to making the move.  Yes, you have signed the offer, but you still need to successfully resign. When you are leaving one job for another, a two-step process is involved.  The firm will want to know this for a) peace of mind, but b) they will also want to know that you are fully committed before investing the time and money in preparing for your start.   

So, if you do need to rescind your acceptance, make sure that at the very least you take these 2 steps. 

Thanks for reading!  If you have any questions about this or any other job or interview topics, be sure to contact us.

Happy Job Hunting and Good Luck!

Talking about your strengths during a job interview seems like an easy thing to do.  Of course, you know all of the things you are good at! Obviously. 

But, are you answering the question properly? 

With this, today we will go over our tips on the best way to approach the Strength question in an interview. 

Often, we hear things like “I’m a hard-worker” or “I’m dedicated”.  These are buzz words that are often overused and only saying that about yourself will be too vague.   

Rather, when you are in an interview and asked to talk about your greatest strength or to talk about one thing you do really well, you need to be addressing a strength of yours that matches up with what is required for in the job you are interviewing for.  For example, if you are interviewing for a busy, high-volume, fast-paced litigation legal assistant role, answering this question with, “I get along with everybody” is not the best answer.  Rather, you would want to focus on multi-tasking skills, working with a sense of urgency and being highly efficient. 

Once you have a strength that aligns with the job, you need to get specific.  You will want to focus your strength and anchor it to a specific example.  If you have not yet seen our video on using examples, you can watch it to get a better understanding of how to best frame your example.  But essentially, your example is unique to you and will help illustrate your strength in action.  The example will provide as evidence to your claim.

Now, do you think of these strengths on the spot?  You can, but I suggest you prepare before your interview.  The best way to approach this is to sit down before your interview and write a list of your skills that match the job description or are needed in the job.  Then narrow down the list to your top 3-5 skills.  For each skill, write a brief example of you putting that skill into action. 

Thanks for reading!  If you would like to discuss further how to best answer the strengths question in an interview, feel free to contact us!

Happy Job Hunting and Good Luck!

Linkedin! You regularly hear us talk about the importance of utilizing LinkedIn to assist with your job search.  Therefore, today we will look at some of the things you need to do to have a strong LinkedIn profile. 

1. Choose a Great Photo - The photo should be a recent headshot and look professional. Make sure your face is centered in the image and wear work-appropriate clothing.  While the photo can show your personality, remember that to best take full advantage of LinkedIn, you will want to be connecting with other professionals within your network.  They will see this photo and if they have never met you before, this will be their first impression of you. 

• Headline – this is the text that appears just below your photo and name.  This can either describe what you do in a unique way or simply be your job title.  Either way, keep it related to your profession.   

• Summary - You should include all the same information as your current resume or curriculum vitae. This information will include your past and present employment, education, volunteer experience, and skills. Use your profile like a resume and provide prospective employers with detailed information about your skills and experience.

• Update your Skills – the skills section falls below your experience, education and volunteer section.  The Skills section allows you to list skills about yourself that others can endorse you for.  I encourage you to list skills that are relevant to your job.  This will help you come up in searches when recruiters and hiring managers are searching LinkedIn for qualified applicants. 

• Add Connections and grow your network – grow your network.  Connect with other professionals within your industry.  It does not only need to be your friends and family.  Remember, this is a professional networking tool.  Connect with other professionals in your field.  If you connect with someone you have never met before, send them a message with the connection request letting them know why you want to connect. 

• Join Groups – joining industry and work-related groups is a great way to grow your network and stay up to date on relevant market information. 

• Be Engaged - like share and comment on relevant posts, especially those within your industry.  When you do leave comments, be sure they are thoughtful and add to the conversation. 

These are just some of our tips to help you get started with building a strong LinkedIn profile.  If you have any questions around LinkedIn or would like to discuss with us further, feel free to contact us!

Happy Job Hunting and Good Luck!

The beginning of a new year tends to see a lot of job movement! December was a busy month, people had planned vacations, company holiday parties were going on, and some people were waiting for their year-end bonuses.  Others come back from the holidays and make it their New Year's resolution to find a new job.  Whatever the reason, the reality is that there will be a lot of hiring and job movement going on to start the year which means a lot of opportunities will be available if you are looking to make a change. 

With this, here are some of our tips to ensure that you are starting your job search off on the right foot to start the new year!

1. Reflect and get a better understanding of what you want and don’t want in a new job.  Don’t get caught up in all of the excitement of a new year and want to change jobs for the sake of changing jobs.  Take a step back and think about what you want and where you want your career to go.  Figure out what steps you need to take to get there. What moves make sense?  Will you need to make any sacrifices to get there (i.e. taking a pay cut or flexing on the size of the company or location)?
2. Stay on top of what is happening in the market.  Explore job boards and speak with industry professionals to know what skills and jobs are in demand.  What do current salaries and opportunities look like?  How does this affect what you are looking to do?  You need to stay plugged in and keep your figure on the pulse. 
3. Focus more on networking.  Get involved in industry associations and make an effort to get out to as many events as you can. If you cannot get out to events, look at networking on social media.  Look at LinkedIn.  Don’t just have an account and think you are done with it.  Connect with others in your industry, join industry groups and engage with relevant content. The aim is to meet and build relationships with new people in your industry.  Follow companies within your industry and look them up regularly to see if they are hiring.
4. Update your Resume and LinkedIn profile.  The job market will move quickly at the start of the year.  Therefore, when you see something you like, you need to be able to move quickly and apply.  Further, you will want your LinkedIn up to date so that people looking to fill positions that match your skillset can reach out to you. 

Thanks for reading! 

If you have any questions around this or any other job searching or interview topic, be sure to contact us!

Happy Job Hunting and Good Luck!

While we do not see Exit Interviews very often, it is good to know what to expect if you do have one!

To start with, what exactly is an exit interview?  An exit interview is a meeting conducted between you and your employer (usually a Human Resources personnel) and this is done after you have already submitted your resignation.  The exit interview provides your firm with the opportunity to receive honest feedback from you before you leave.  Basically, the firm wants to know why you quit and what they can do to improve moving forward.

With this, let’s look at some of the important things to consider before you head into your exit interview. 

Preparation – plan what you will discuss.  You will want to provide the firm with constructive criticism while outlining to them what you liked about the role and organization, as well as giving them any suggestions on the best type of person to hire for your vacancy. 

Stay Positive and Be Helpful – This is important as you will want to set your emotions aside.  You want this to be a very fact-based conversation.  The firm is conducting the exit interview to learn how they can better retain and engage their staff.  Therefore, you will want to frame your opinions to demonstrate that you’re thinking about what's best for the company.  You do not want to be too candid as you may come across bitter.  I suggest being specific about the things you liked and then a bit more general when discussing some of the things you did not prefer. 

Expect the conversation to focus on some of the following questions:

• Why are you leaving?
• What did you like most about your current role?
• What did you like least about your current role?
• Do you feel that we offered you the right amount of support to do your job well?
• What type of skills and experience should we look for when hiring your replacement?
• What is it about your new role that led you to accept it?

When answering these questions, keep in mind the points we made earlier, about staying positive and being helpful.  And make sure to prepare your responses around them. 

Remember, the reason you are having your exit interview is because you already quit!  What’s the worst that could happen during it?  You need to think of it as more of an opportunity to provide valuable information to the firm you spent your time with so that they can get better and improve their staff retention. 

Thanks for reading!

If you have any questions about the best way to approach your exit interview, contact us. 

Happy Job Hunting and Good Luck!