| Something Different
| August 2010
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Welcome to the August issue of Something Different!
Back to School, Back to Interviews
As summer 2010 comes to a close, 40% of professionals are thinking about quitting their jobs, according to a new survey reported in this article in the Kansas City Business Journal. This statistic did not surprise me based on the movement I'm seeing in the lateral market--I've noticed a significant increase in calls from candidates interested in completing a move before the end of the year.
Given the increase in lateral movement and the beginning of on-campus interviews at law schools, I decided to share some interview tools available on the Big 3 social networking sites. The three tools described below are among the 60+ job search tools in my new book--The 6Ps of the Big 3™ for Job-Seeking JDs: 60+ Ways to Get Hired Using Social Networking.
The 6Ps of the BIG 3™ - Pre-order
The 6Ps of the Big 3™ for Job-Seeking JDs: 60+ Ways to Get Hired Using Social Networking is now available for pre-order through Amazon. Click here to pre-order. The book contains over 200 examples of
lawyers and law students using the Big 3 sites, and students and career
counselors from the following schools are featured in the book:
- University of Iowa College of Law
- Penn State University Dickinson School of Law
- North Carolina Central University School of Law
- Texas Wesleyan Law School
- University of Texas School of Law
- University of Detroit Mercy School of Law
- St. John's University School of Law
- Michigan State University College of Law
- University of San Francisco School of Law
- Hofstra University School of Law
- Rutgers School of Law - Camden
- Barry University School of Law
- Suffolk University School of Law
- Brooklyn Law School
- Elon University School of Law
- University of Houston Law Center
Visit the 6Ps blog for updates about the book as well as the latest social networking issues affecting your job search. The blog posts since the July newsletter include:
Fall Book Tour - 30 Law Schools in 60 Days
I recently announced the details of my Fall Book Tour on my blog. Click here to read the details. I am currently scheduled to visit the following regions. Please let me know if you would like to schedule a book tour stop at your law school.
Week of 9/27: New York
Week of 10/4: Open
Week of 10/11: Louisiana/Mississippi
Week of 10/18: Open
Week of 10/25: Arizona
Week of 11/1: Nevada/Texas
Week of 11/8: Open
Week of 11/15: Open
August 26 - In-house Jobs & #LawJobChat
The next #LawJobChat is August 26, 9:00 p.m. EDT, and the topic is how to land in-house jobs. Our guest co-host is Richard Russeth, VP & General Counsel at Leprino Foods Company. You can follow Richard on Twitter @richard_russeth.
Richard also publishes The Last Generalist blog, and two recent posts of interest to many of my readers include:
If you missed the July #LawJobChat with Lisa Solomon (@lisasolomon), founder of Legal Research & Writing Pro, you missed a fantastic discussion. Click here to read the summary and access the transcript. Thank you, Lisa!
Something Different: Placemat for Business Cards ...Social Media Component of Law School Orientation??
You get a double dose of something different this month ...
First, here is a placemat for business cards to help sort the business cards you receive at a networking event and guide you through the appropriate follow-up. Click here to read more about the concept on the Sandblog by Idea Sandbox.
Second, here is something to ponder as law school orientation begins this month ... a few months ago, I shared an article on LinkedIn about business schools adding social media courses to their curriculum. The subject surfaced again a few weeks ago--more coverage of the business schools as well as an article about Oklahoma State University unveiling a new orientation program with a social media component.
Are law schools next? Several law schools already incorporate social media into their professionalism programs. For example, I am speaking on this topic at the University of Tulsa College of Law Professionalism Day at the end of this month. Will law schools eventually follow the business schools and offer social media courses?
As always, I welcome any questions and comments.
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Interview Prep 2.0
by Amanda C. Ellis, Esq. |
[NOTE: This article is excerpted, in part, from The 6Ps of the BIG 3 for Job-Seeking JDs: 60+
Ways to Get Hired Using Social Networking. This
material may not be reproduced, republished or redistributed in whole
or in part without the expressed written permission of Something Different Publishing, Inc.]
Many law students are busy preparing for fall on-campus interviews. And, I've seen a significant increase in the number of lateral attorneys who are exploring new opportunities. If you are currently interviewing, you may want to turn to social media sites to prepare for your interviews--in addition to traditional interview prep sources.
In general, the Big 3 sites can prepare you for interviews by:
- Identifying who you know at the firm/company (LinkedIn Company Search, BranchOut Facebook Application)
- Identifying who you know who knows someone at the firm/company (LinkedIn Company Search, BranchOut Facebook Application)
- Revealing information about the firm/company, including details not available on the website (LinkedIn Company Search, Facebook Community Pages, Twitter Search)
- Revealing information about specific attorneys, including details not available on their firm bios (LinkedIn People Search, Twitter Search)
- Identifying interview talking points, including ideas for substantive questions (LinkedIn Group Search, LinkedIn Legal Updates, Twitter Search)
- Facilitating discussion with other attorneys to gather information to prepare for the interview (LinkedIn Groups, Twitter)
The 6Ps of the Big 3 for Job-Seeking JDs: 60+ Ways to Get Hired Using Social Networking outlines over 60 ways to use the Big 3 sites in your job search, including how to use the sites to prepare for interviews as outlined above. I decided to share three interview prep tools discussed in the book. In keeping with the "something different" theme of this newsletter, I selected three tools that are new to most readers or have not been covered in other blog posts, articles, etc (i.e., I did not choose to discuss LinkedIn's Company Search or People Search). Please note that the book covers many more interview prep tools, including LinkedIn's Company Search and People Search.
Tool #1: BranchOut on Facebook
BranchOut launched in July
2010, and the Facebook application allows you to see where your Facebook
friends (and, your friends' friends) work or previously worked. You can use the application when identifying law
firms to target in your search and preparing for interviews. For example, enter the name of the firm where
you are interviewing, and BranchOut identifies your Facebook friends (and
friends' friends) who currently work at the firm and previously worked at the
firm.
Image 4.12 shows the results BranchOut generated when I searched for the firm
Vinson & Elkins. As you can see, one
of my Facebook friends currently works at Vinson & Elkins and another one
of my friends, Ashley Hunter, has a friend who works at Vinson & Elkins. If I want to learn more about Vinson &
Elkins to prepare for an interview, I can reach out to my friend who works
there or to my friend who knows someone who works there.
Image 4.12
Caveat: As noted in Chapter 2, BranchOut
only identifies friends if they include their work information on their
Facebook profiles.
Tool #2: Interview Talking Points Through Legal Updates
JD Supra is a repository of legal articles,
newsletters, cases, and more. As of July 2010, you can
add JD Supra's LinkedIn application, Legal Updates, to your LinkedIn profile so that certain legal
articles appear in your LinkedIn news feed.
You can receive updates from the practice areas shown in Image 4.68.
Image 4.68
For example, if you are interviewing for employment law jobs, you can use the Legal Updates application to deliver
employment law articles and updates, information that will give you talking points for
interviews, to your LinkedIn news feed, as shown in Image 4.69.
Image 4.69 
Tool #3: Ask for Advice on Twitter
Ask questions about your job search on Twitter. For example, the tweets in Image 4.144 are
from Sohana Barot, a law student at Rutgers School of Law-Camden, who turned to Twitter to prepare for her first law school interview. Sohana tweeted that she was seeking advice for her upcoming interview with a bankruptcy judge.
Image 4.144
As you can see in Image 4.145, attorneys took time to respond and provided helpful advice.
Image 4.145
Good Luck!
In this competitive market, it's imperative to educate yourself about all interview prep options--both traditional tools and new tools and techniques available through social media sites. Good luck on your interviews!
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| ABOUT US |  Amanda Ellis Legal Search was founded by Amanda C. Ellis, a former practicing bankruptcy attorney and an accomplished attorney recruiter. Amanda was previously with Special Counsel, the largest provider of legal staffing services to corporate legal departments and law firms nationwide, where she was the top producer for direct hire attorney placements. Amanda formed Amanda Ellis Legal Search to implement a focused approach to legal recruiting. Amanda Ellis Legal Search focuses on the placement of bankruptcy attorneys in law firms nationwide and, as of January 2010, on the placement of all attorneys in Dallas, Texas.
Inspired by the idea of doing something different or new each month in 2009, Amanda Ellis Legal Search launched Something Different in January 2009. The monthly newsletter outlines a new or different service or resource available to legal professionals in each issue. The newsletter often covers topics on social networking (still new and different to many attorneys) and how attorneys can incorporate social networking in their job searches or business development. In addition to writing about social networking in Something Different, Amanda frequently speaks to law schools and law firms about incorporating social networking in job searches and business development. In 2009, Amanda created The 6Ps of the Big 3™: Using Social Networking Sites in Your Job Searchand presented the program to lawyers, law firm recruiters and law students in
California, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and New York. Amanda is finalizing two books based on The 6Ps of the Big 3™and scheduled for release in 2010.
Contact Amanda:
www.aellislegal.com 214.361.0070 |
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© 2009 Amanda Ellis Legal Search.
This material may not be reproduced, republished or redistributed in whole or in part
without the expressed written permission of Amanda Ellis Legal Search.
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