New York Lawyer
June 12, 2001

Q:
I know I�m leaving law practice, but I�m not quite sure what I�ll do next. So how do I tell people I�m networking with what I want to do, if I haven�t narrowed it down yet?

Submit Your Question

Find More Answers

A:
This is the classic career-shifter�s question. It�s a real bind, because the three questions you ARE going to be asked a lot are: 1) Tell me about yourself 2) Why are your changing jobs/careers? and 3) Exactly what do you want to do next?

It�s very, very important to be able to project as much focus as you can, or else you look like you�re careening around half-baked and half-cocked � which is very alarming to friends and potential employers alike. A common, but simply horrible networking opener (and closer, unfortunately) is this: �If you hear of anything that would be a good fit for someone like me, would you give me a call?� Think of what you�ve just said: �I�ll take anything.� More important, what does the phrase, �someone like me� mean? Your friends know you only the way they know you, so to them it means six-foot redhead with a good short game who will never live down the time he drove the car into the swimming pool. To everyone else out there, you are what you did last. If your last job was with Skadden as a poison-pill expert, you are likely to be branded as; Genus: lawyer. Species: large-firm animal. Sub-species: poison pill expert. Definitely NOT what you�re now selling, right?

Look, if you�re going to un-become a lawyer, you have to really un-become a lawyer. Don�t say, �I�m a lawyer, but I�m thinking about making a change.� Don�t write the phrase �large firm lawyer� anywhere on your resume. In networking, you can say what you were; that�s helpful: �until recently I was a lawyer doing anti-takeover work at a big firm. But now . . . �

Oops. Now what? Unless you are blessed with a tight, narrow, easily-described career change objective (�I want to be a venture-capitalist making seed-stage investments in technology-oriented start-ups between Boston and Washington, D.C.), you may not have a succinct career goal to rattle off. But there�s a lot of middle ground between a precise objective and �I haven�t a clue.�

Many career shifters are looking at several options or, more accurately, types of employment. You can try describing several things to others to gauge their reaction about desirability or your employability. Almost anyone, even your idiot cousin Myron, can remember three things � if you prioritize them. The highest priority is � at least in the eyes of the job market � the move that is least dramatic. So you can say, �Perhaps the most logical, the most marketable thing I�m exploring is . . . � Second might be something your rational acquaintances think is a good fit for you: �Some people who know me and my experience well have suggested that I would be a good fit for . . . � Last should be the most gonzo, most offbeat option: �And as long as I�m making a fundamental career change, I also want to explore my longstanding interest in being a circus clown.�

It is all right to tell people that you�re still in process of framing and focusing � that it ain�t soup yet. So instead of saying, �Do you know of anyone who has an opening for an ex-poison pill lawyer,� you might say, �Look, I�m in the process of actively exploring some specific alternatives and getting as much focus as I can, so I don�t seem like some loose cannon. I wanted to talk with you to get a better, more realistic (Ooh! Great phrase: by all means, stress reality!) view of what seed-stage venture-capitalists do, how the industry looks right now in this area, and what the requirements for -- or barriers to -- entry are.�

Also, you can describe a set of �transferable abilities� that you can demonstrate by your experience (a litigator is, after all, merely a specialized consultant or a particular type of project manager), and ask people to think of what kind of role or setting would be a fertile playing field for those competencies.

While you�re in this exploratory stage, however, please don�t saying, �I�m thinking about . . . � Too passive; many will say (or think), �well, when you�re done thinking and have figured out what you�re going to dot me know.� Use good action phrases like: �I�m actively exploring . . .� or �I�m testing the waters in the blahblah industry . . . � or �I�m in the process of deciding between several promising and attractive alternatives; a, b and c.� Don�t tell people you�re �taking time off:� They�ll fear you�re burned out and will never get back on the clock. Don�t say you�re taking a sabbatical unless you really are. A sabbatical is not a rest. It is a designed, planned stage of activity with a focus.

Finally, another way to think about focus is in terms of what doctors call a �rule-out diagnosis.� They don�t try initially to figure out what you�ve got; they try to rule out all the things you haven�t got. So in your self-assessment and networking, try to determine those sectors, settings, roles, or functions that are truly �no way� for you � and draw a big black line through �em. The universe of possibilities will shrink exponentially, and you feel yourself feeling a lot less unfocused and freaked out.

Sincerely,
Douglas B. Richardson
President, The Richardson Group