How to Find a Job As an Attorney

Finding a job as an attorney requires more than searching the classified ads.

Finding a job as an attorney can be a difficult prospect with the best-advertised positions sometimes attracting hundreds of applicants. To find work successfully, you'll need to make use of every available advantage. It's not enough to pepper your resume about, instead you'll need to search the out-of-way spaces, and enlist whatever help you can find.

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Instructions

- 1
  
  Create a professional resume that includes a short attorney profile, bar admissions and any legal experience you have. List legal associations that you're a member of, as well as presentations given within the legal community. Keep the voice of the resume active to catch the reader's attention and the information as on target as possible toward the type of position desired.
- 2
  
  Keep your personal legal support network up to date. Attend any alumni events for your law school and maintain contact with law professors or classmates in case opportunities may arise that the general public doesn't know about. Keep the communications casual; just maintain an open ear and should an opening or contact with a firm or organization you're interested in be mentioned, ask for contact information.
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  Attend as many networking events as possible. Research the organization giving the event beforehand to familiarize yourself with the subject matter likely to be discussed at the event.
- 4
  
  Apply to as wide a range of employers as possible. Set no limits as to the type of employer. Apply to firms, corporations, universities, nonprofits, government positions and wherever there are jobs available within your chosen specialty.
- 5
  
  Search regional newspapers and association websites. Large job boards are widely read so each open position may have hundreds of responses, increasing competition greatly. By augmenting your search with smaller sites, you'll find jobs not listed to the broader markets, offering less competition resulting in greater chances of being hired.
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  Provide pro bono legal work in your community. Working pro bono not only helps to maintain your legal skills, it also sets you forward visibly as an attorney, often in front of other attorneys. Volunteer your skills with nonprofit organizations as well.
- 7
  
  Seek out the assistance of a legal recruiter who can help you to stand out from the crowd. A good recruiter has the contacts and history you don't have, with a wide variety of firms. This allows them to forward your name to just the right person in hiring organizations to get your name and experience noticed. The recruiter can also help you in adjusting your search and the information that you're presenting to employers so that you appear a more pleasing candidate in the employer's eyes.