How to Get Your Dream Job in a Bad Economy

By Dan Schawbel | @danschawbel | November 28, 2011 | 33

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Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Job seekers wait in line to have their resumes reviewed during the San Francisco Hire Event job fair on November 9, 2011 in San Francisco, California.

Employers are posting the most job openings in the past three years, reports the Labor Department, yet there are nearly 14 million people out of work competing for these jobs. This means there’s an average of 4.2 unemployed workers competing for each opening. Some of these jobs still haven’t been filled because job seekers don’t have the right skills to match certain positions. The Wall Street Journal reports that 52% of companies are having difficulty filling these positions. Despite the bad economy, you can get the job you want instead of settling for one that simply pays the bills. Here are five ways to make the most out of your job search:
1. Focus Your Job Search
Instead of submitting your resume to thousands of job openings on Monster.com, classified ads and corporate websites, narrow your search to the jobs you’re truly passionate about. In 2010, Simply Hired found that 83% of people choose jobs they love over more money, and they should. By putting all of your effort into finding jobs at companies you’re interested in, you will have a better chance at getting your dream job. Your positive attitude, work ethic, body language and persistence will shine through in your interviews and will give you the competitive edge in the hiring process.
(MORE: 9 Jobs of the Near Future)
2. Brush Up on Your Soft Skills
Just being good at your trade won’t cut it anymore. You have to have a whole set of soft skills, including leadership, teamwork and communication, as well as emotional intelligence. In fact, CareerBuilder reports that 71% of employers value emotional intelligence over IQ. You need to be able to deal with conflict in the workplace and get along with your co-workers. Employers want to hire employees that they can connect with both personally and professionally.
3. Tap into Your Network
Most job seekers don’t realize that the people around them can either hire them or refer them to a job. Don’t overlook your family, friends, professors, previous co-workers and the people that you meet at events and when you’re traveling. Also, make sure that you grow your online network using LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. A recent survey by Jobvite.com states that 1 in 6 workers have used social networks to get hired.
(VIDEO: The Real Lives of the Long-Term Unemployed)
4. Build Your Online Presence
Job searching is less about résumé submissions and more about being found online. Create your own custom blog using WordPress or use About.me for starters. Make sure you use your full name, a positioning statement that captures your expertise and a summary of your work experience. Create social profiles using the same positioning as your website and cross-link your properties. By writing blog posts and updating your social status routinely, recruiters will find you when they are looking to hire for a position. As long as your profiles are connected to what you’re passionate about, you will attract the right jobs and repel the wrong ones.
(MORE: Black Friday 2011: By the Numbers)
5. Create Your Own Marketing Campaign
You need to stand out if you want a job, and there are new strategies you can use to get an employer’s attention without having to submit a résumé. For instance, Matthew Epstein created a custom website that will appeal to Google, the company for which he wants to work. You can also create a video résumé that communicates who you are, what you do and what makes you different. There are nearing 17,000 video résumés on YouTube, but only a few really stick out. You can also create targeted advertising campaigns using Facebook Ads and Google AdWords in order to get your website right in front of specific employers.
Schawbel is the managing partner of Millennial Branding, LLC, a full-service personal-branding agency. He is the author of Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future, the founder of the Personal Branding Blog, and publisher of Personal Branding Magazine

Read more: http://moneyland.time.com/2011/11/28/how-to-get-your-dream-job-in-a-bad-economy/?hpt=hp_c2#ixzz1l3jGzN87

http://moneyland.time.com/2011/11/28/how-to-get-your-dream-job-in-a-bad-economy/?hpt=hp_c2

Broward Circuit Civil Voluntary E-Filing Starts January 30, 2012

http://www.17th.flcourts.org/index.php/judges/circuit-civil/circuit-civil-efiling

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Paralegal Gateways January 2012 Jana Kaplan

January 2012: Jana Kaplan

Jeannie Sapp Johnston | Jan 06, 2012 | Comments 0

Jana Kaplan has been working in the legal field since 1999, when she ran a small two-attorney general practice, concentrating primarily on residential real estate closings.  After working there for a year, Jana was presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity to live and work in Australia for one year, which she did from 2000-2001. She worked several legal assistant temporary roles at law firms such as Jones Day, Blake Dawson Waldron and Matthews Solicitors. Jana travelled extensively while there, partook in the excitement of the 2000 Olympic Games, and lived in walking distance of Bondi Beach. Upon her return stateside, she began her career in earnest as a legal assistant at the insurance defense law firm of MacCartney, MacCartney, Kerrigan & MacCartney. Jana moved to Atlanta in 2004 and was employed at the corporate headquarters of Land Resource Companies, a commercial real estate developer where she supported the General Counsel.
Since 2007, Jana has been employed by OFS Fitel, LLC, a Japanese fiber optics company headquartered in Norcross, Georgia. She is the sole paralegal in the commercial law department, supporting the Vice President of the department and general counsel with contract matters and corporate governance. She is responsible for the handling of Board Meetings, as well as interacting on a daily basis with the Sales and Marketing Departments of the company.
Jana lives in the Virginia-Highlands neighborhood of Atlanta with her two cats, Maisie and Ghost. She holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in Broadcasting & Mass Communications from the State University of New York College at Oswego, and a Paralegal Certificate from Mercy College in White Plains, New York. She is a Notary Public in the States of New York and Georgia, and a Member in Good Standing of the National Association of Legal Assistants. In her spare time, she enjoys live music, reading, doing yoga & pilates, practicing photography, spending time with friends & family, and travelling – her next big adventure will be in April 2012, when she will spend time in China volunteering at the Panda Conservation Center in Chengdu. 

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Lateral Moves a Major Trend in 2011 →

The Future of Legal Careers

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Emily Fisher | 1 Comment

In an article published online this week, Fast Company takes a look at “the career of the future.”  Anya Kamentz profiles a number of workers at varying stages of their careers, and examines how trends in employment are affecting today’s workforce.  Kamentz cites some interesting statistics.  U.S. workers’ median tenure in their current jobs is 4.4 years.  The average number of jobs an American man will hold in his lifetime is 11.4; for women the average is 10.7.  And for the individuals interviewed for the article, careers can span not only multiple companies but multiple industries.
For the legal industry, all of this may sound like a distant reality.  The law is a more stable industry than technology or publishing (both of which feature heavily in the article).  Yet lawyers and law firms have certainly seen more volatility in the legal job market in the past few years.  In addition to layoffs and hiring freezes caused by the economic downturn, law firms are seeing an increase in lateral hiring.  And attrition is an issue as well, as even high-performing lawyers may seek greater flexibility or new challenges in-house or in the public sector.
Why should these trends worry firms?  For starters, the lateral movement of attorneys from one firm to another, combined with attrition, can make succession planning a real challenge.  As relationship partners near retirement or prepare to move into another role, firms may find it hard to find senior lawyers who can garner the same loyalty and trust from the client.
The time and expense required to train lawyers is a factor as well.  For firms that hire attorneys immediately after law school or clerkships, there is a considerable investment made in these young lawyers’ development.  And economic conditions have made clients more resistant towards footing the bill for this training.  By the time an attorney has progressed to the level of senior associate or partner, the loss of that lawyer to another firm, an in-house department, or even another career carries with it a loss on investment.
As law firms make long-term decisions about succession planning and talent development, they will need to consider how to manage a workforce that is more mobile than ever before.  But they can take a page from companies that are already dealing with the difficulties posed by shifting career models:

Even as individuals… are adapting to new career paradigms, so are large companies – but on a scale of tens of thousands of employees.  They have to hire people for jobs that don’t exist yet, spot the dynamic shifters while screening out the dilettantes, and clear paths for high performers so they can find enough variation within corporate confines.

For law firms, this might mean the expansion of alternative tracks, moving lawyers out of legal practice and into business development or marketing positions, and above all, staying flexible.

Broward County Bar Networking Event 1-19-12

Thursday - January 19, 2012

5:00 - 7:00

 

Tap 42  

1411 S. Andrews Avenue  

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
 
1/2 Priced Drinks (excluding bourbon)   

Complimentary Happy Hour Food

No RSVP Necessary 

 Call Traci Lewis at BCBA
(954)832-3618 

if you have any questions

Don't Miss It!!!

Survey Projects Legal Hiring Increase in First Quarter

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Marianne Purzycki | Leave a comment

The latest Robert Half Legal Hiring Survey reveals that for the first quarter of 2012, lawyers are still cautious about hiring, but “optimistic enough” to want to add personnel in key positions, both legal and support staff.  And while the survey canvassed relatively small firms and corporations – 100 lawyers at law firms with 20 or more employees and 100 corporate lawyers at companies with 1,000 or more employees – approximately one-third of the lawyers interviewed plan to add legal staff in the next three months, while only 4 percent plan to reduce personnel.  The net 27 percent increase in projected hiring is up three points from the previous quarter’s forecast. 
Key findings include:

• Lawyers plan to add an average of two full-time positions.
• Lawyers will most likely hire lawyers (88%), paralegals (39%) and legal secretaries (35%).
• Twenty-nine percent identified bankruptcy and foreclosure as the area of law that will experience the most growth, followed by litigation (23%) and labor and employment (12%).
• Fifty-one percent said it is challenging to find skilled legal professionals, up two points from the previous quarter. 
• Seventy-three percent are somewhat or very confident in their companies’ prospects for growth in the first quarter, representing a nine-point decline from the fourth quarter of 2011.

Charles Volkert, executive director of Robert Half Legal reports that:

“Law firms and corporate legal departments place a premium on candidates with proven skills and relevant experience who can fill gaps in expertise and make immediate contributions.  Experienced lawyers continue to have a hiring edge, while employers also value seasoned paralegals and legal secretaries.”

With respect to law departments, the survey reports that general counsel are hiring full-time legal staff and project professionals to handle more work in-house in an effort to reduce outside legal spend, a trend that has been widely discussed and that we reported on last November.
The survey was developed by Robert Half Legal and was conducted by an independent research firm based on telephone interviews. All of the respondents have hiring authority within their organizations.

The Broward County Bar Association Announces It's New Paralegal Section, Go to Page 4 of the Barrister

Broward County Bar January 2012 Issue of the Barrister