What do you do if you find yourself graduating into a recession? You’ll need to start by reorienting your expectations: it will probably be harder for you to find a job than it was for people who graduated even two years ago. It’s unfortunate and unfair, but it’s also life, and the sooner you adjust, the better your chances of success will be.
The next thing to understand is that it’s time for some career triage. You might not yet be sure what type of law you really want to do, but you no longer have the option of browsing through the racks and trying things on. Pick something you think you can do and where you already have some experience or contacts. This isn’t about making career choices that will bind you for decades; this is about finding a door to put your foot into, an area where you already come with some valuable attributes. You need a place to start, so choose one in familiar territory.
Next, start building networks and skills. If you’re settling or setting up shop in a given jurisdiction, join the CBA in that province and go to as many meetings of your local chapter and area-of-practice section as reasonably possible. Meet people, introduce yourself, ask questions, follow up. At the same time, investigate your industry: join trade groups, read industry newsletters and websites, get to know the issues facing your future clients.
Skills, of course, are the hardest thing to acquire, part of the “how do I get experience/skills without skills/experience” vicious circle. If you’re lucky, you’re with a law firm that will pay you while it trains you in the lawyering skills you need. If you have the luxury of volunteer time, identify an organization (preferably in your chosen area) that needs and accepts unpaid legal help and use that opportunity to acquire skills and make personal connections.
Really, it might help to think of yourself as a start-up — because in a lot of ways, you’re a start-up law business. You have a law degree, which is far from worthless; it’s now just a piece of the puzzle, not the whole thing. You also have talent, drive and dedication, which is pretty much all that most startups ever set out with, along with your own unique life experiences. Now you need to build your personal law business, from the ground up.
Like other start-ups, it might have to be a part-time effort, since you might need to take a non-lawyer position (or even one outside the profession altogether) to pay the bills. But that full-time job is just a source of income; your part-time start-up is your calling and your passion, and it will occupy your nights and weekends. If you think that sounds like a lot of work and not much life, you’re absolutely right.
Don’t leave your student lifestyle behind yet: the long hours and tight budgets will probably continue for a while, and the discipline they impose, while absolutely a short-term pain, will prove to be a long-term benefit.
By Jordan Furlong, Editor-in-Chief of National Magazine. This article is adapted from a post on his blog Law21 (http://law21.ca ).
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