Finding FlexWork: Part IV – Persistence

This wraps up a series of posts aimed at helping you find a flexible work arrangement to fit your family’s needs.

Keep asking!

Any job search requires persistence. Finding flexible work can require even more since there are fewer advertised positions and the attorneys you approach may not have considered hiring in a flexible capacity before you came along. Because of that, think of yourself as a pioneer. Be tenacious and keep at it!

Stay confident

You’re already a trained advocate, so you can apply those skills to your job search. Be your own client. For someone like me, who suffers from imposter syndrome, it’s not easy to self-promote. I remind myself that I would be persistent for family members and clients, and I am worth the effort, too. If you don’t suffer from a lack of self confidence (I hope you don’t), you can just skip the rest of this section and do your thing!

I’ve become a lot more confident since I had kids. I remember feeling like a superhero for keeping alive a tiny newborn human! When I start to feel insecure or unworthy career-wise, I think of my daughters and am fortified. They deserve the best of me. Not only do I want to provide for them, but I want them to have a good role model. Thinking of them gives me confidence and resolve. They’re teenagers now, so they perceive my words and actions at a higher level. They make me want to be my best!

I also try to listen to the people around me who see me from a different perspective. I focus on positive feedback I’ve received on my work and the good results I’ve achieved. I also try to take to heart the pep talks my husband gives me. By definition, he’s already one of my biggest fans, God bless him, but he’s also an attorney who can judge my work product. 

When I arm myself with all these positive thoughts and motivations, it’s easier to project confidence and to keep fighting for my family by fighting for myself. These thoughts buoy me during each email, each phone call, each meeting, each interview, until I reach my goal.

I encourage you to keep a list of the people and moments that motivate you. Review the list when you need a boost. You are worth your own best effort!

Keep an open mind

Just as online shopping can’t completely replace trying on clothes, you can’t decide if a job is a fit before you meet the attorneys and visit the firm. All the research you do before an interview can only prepare you to a certain point. There’s no better way to learn someone’s personality than to meet them in person, and discussing a job is far more informative than any description you can read.

I remember hearing rumors about a partner at a law firm before I interviewed there for a part-time position. I heard the partner was a workaholic who could be temperamental, demanding, and berating. It had me mentally prepared to turn down any offer before I’d even interviewed. Luckily, I set aside the rumors and went to the interview. I got an offer and gave the job a chance. I ended up working there for 6 years. The fearsome partner was not my direct supervisor, and I was never in the line of fire. The firm overall was a great place to work, and I made many friends with whom I keep in touch years later.  

If you give every interview a chance, you can judge the job after the interview rather than before. If the job isn’t a fit for you, you may know someone for whom it is a fit. Knowing more about an attorney or firm could also help in the future if your paths should cross again. I’ve been co-defense counsel with a firm where I once had an interview. I wanted a job at that firm back then, but I didn’t get it. However, the information I learned during the interview helped me appreciate the quality of representation I could expect from co-counsel.

Hone your skills if needed

As your search progresses, be listening for feedback on your resume in case you can take proactive steps to supplement your experience, improve your skills, or learn a new facet of the law.

If you get push-back on your writing skills or lack of experience, for example, consider ways you can learn to improve and how you might observe or participate in activities to help you gain additional experience.

If it appears that the area of law where you have experience will not be fertile soil for flexible work, talk to friends to identify areas of practice where your skills could translate and to get ideas about how to get up to speed in a new or related area.

In addition to continuing education classes, seminars and workshops, you might consider observing or volunteering as a way to learn and get experience while you’re not on the billable hour clock.

Beware of temp agency jobs

Be careful about taking a temporary job through an employment agency. While such jobs can bring income during a job drought and can give you some new experience, watch out for lower level projects that don’t help your resume. I’ve observed that the longer people work in low-level temp jobs, the more difficulty they have getting higher level work.

I didn’t have a job lined up out of law school, so I worked a temporary paralegal assignment while I waited for my bar exam results. It was pretty boring, entering data from commercial lease agreements into a database for a large corporation, but I was glad to earn some money and have something to do while I waited for the bar results. (I also learned about provisions in commercial real estate lease agreements that came in handy in my initial law practice.)

There were about 12 of us at that assignment who were in the same situation. Once the bar results came in, we went on to different fates. Most of us left the project and began to interview for full-time positions. Those who kept working for the agency, however, got stuck in a series of temporary assignments. Eventually, I noticed those who stayed were unable to get out of the loop and get higher level jobs. They became temp project supervisors, and so forth, but their law careers never really took off.

If you take a temporary assignment that is below your experience level, I recommend keeping it as short as possible and working on your next move while you’re there.  

How do you persist to find flex?

If you’re currently seeking flexible work or have found it, how have you kept yourself motivated?  Have you needed to change your approach or work on any aspects of your resume to become a more marketable candidate? I’d love to hear about it!

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