« BlawgThink 2005 | Main | Housekeeping »
November 17, 2005
Job Prospects for New Law School Graduates
I have several friends that are graduating from law school in December or May and very few of them have any idea of where they are going to work. In fact, many of them do not even have a single prospect and are openly planning to be looking for a legal job for several months. Many of them have little or no value to add at this point. This is a problem.
The first couple years when I was an engineering undergrad, seniors would routinely post a dozen or two job offers on their doors. By the time I was a senior, people were getting one, two, or maybe a handful of offers. But of course, that was back in the 1980’s, when most of my current law school friends were still in diapers.
From my perspective, there are just as many opportunities in today’s economy as there were when I was a newly minted engineer. Before, there seemed to be more opportunities with large companies, and there were always opportunities for entrepreneurs. Today, the landscape for entrepreneurs seems to be even more fertile even as the large companies have downsized.
There is a key to being an entrepreneur: you have to deliver something of value. No longer is it enough to be a little cog in a big wheel. On a macro scale, the entrepreneur has to add more value than cost. It is as simple as that.
I witnessed the transition from the domination of large corporations over a person’s career to one of strict scrutiny of each person’s value added to a company. The corporate downsizings over the last couple decades were exercises in evaluating every person’s contribution and whether that contribution was worth the value paid.
In essence, the economic landscape has forced employees into a freelance mentality. My joke has been that the first day on your new job is the first day of your new job search. There was no loyalty from the employee to the employer and vice versa.
The freelance entrepreneur mentality works a phenomenal magic when the person begins to see themselves as having a product or service to deliver. They begin to position themselves to deliver more value than cost. They become adept at pitching their qualifications and honing their resume and experience for a particular job.
The problem my law school friends have is that they do not yet have a marketable skill in law, since they have no experience in the field. The value that they provide is much less than the cost of having them around. Maybe after a couple years, their value added will surpass their cost, but who is going to invest their time to make that happen?
All of my law school friends have considerable talent, drive, and intelligence. The job market is a rough playground sometimes. Hopefully, they can find their own way through the maze without getting too disheartened. There are plenty of opportunities, but they take some work to uncover.
Posted by krajec at November 17, 2005 09:09 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.krajec.com/mt/mt-tb.pl/195