Right Way To Use the Internet to Find a Law Job

I have been practicing for about five years and absolutely hate my current job. I signed up for this site about six months ago, looked at the openings, sent out some resumes, and got a couple of interviews. One didn’t go anywhere. The other did, but I turned it down. Since then, I haven’t been able to get within a mile of an interview. And it’s not as if I don’t try. I look at the list of openings on EmplawyerNet regularly. If I am even remotely qualified for a position, I send a resume. My resume doesn’t have any typos; I even had a friend proofread it just to make sure. It seems that the more resumes I send and the more openings I respond to, the worse I do. And seeing hundreds of openings I am not qualified for makes me wonder if I will ever be able to get out. Am I doing something wrong?

A: Dear Feeling Stuck: Your letter suggests several reasons to be hopeful. I don’t know about your specific situation and, I haven’t seen your resume, so I can’t tell you if it could be improved. Almost all can be, but your resume has been good enough to get you at least two interviews, so it is probably not the primary problem. And you have done fairly well during interviews.

So it appears that the problem you are facing is how you are using the resume to try to get interviews. I have two suggestions. First, be more selective. At a singles bar, someone who hits on every person seems desperate. And desperation doesn’t sell. The same is true with job searches. Employers may not know you are responding to every posting you’re remotely qualified for, but you do, and that smacks of desperation. This can and does comes across at an interview. There isn’t enough time to do a proper research for every position, so focus on those that seem to be the best fit between your skills and interests and what the employer appears to be seeking. That may help you feel less bothered by seeing lots of advertised positions in which you are not interested or qualified.

Second, your letter does not indicate that you have been trying to contact employers you are interested in regardless of whether they have a posted opening. Looking for a job by looking exclusively at posted positions is like knowing you need a pair of size 8 shoes, and walking by display windows hoping your shoe size is there. The alternative is to walk into to stores that are likely to have shoes in your size regardless of whether those shoes are on display. The same is true in the job search. The Internet has transformed how people look for jobs. It has enabled employers and applicants to find each other quickly, and web sites have added exponentially to the information at your disposal. It would take hundreds if not thousands of hours to identify all of the openings listed on EmplawyerNet, and it makes sense to use that technology to help you.

But don’t rely on posted positions as your exclusive means of finding a job. Contacting selected employers regardless of whether they have posted a position has three distinct advantages. First, you will be focusing on jobs that interest you, and that may make you feel more in control. Second, if you do get a nibble when you contact an employer, you will likely face less competition. Third, contacting employers regardless of whether they have a posted opening will increase the chances that you will talk to other your network of contacts about your situation. The apparent efficiency of responding to posted openings can lead some people to become virtual shut-ins. Don’t let that happen to you.

Let the amazing transformative tool of the Internet work for you, but use it as an important part of your job search, not the only part. That should help you feel less stuck.