January, 2011

#LawJobChat / Performance — No Comments
25
Jan 11

Jobs in Sports Law (#LawJobChat No. 7)

In the spirit of the upcoming Super Bowl (also known as the biggest annual sporting event held in the United States), we thought it was appropriate to focus on jobs in sports law for the January #LawJobChat.

Join #LawJobChat on Thursday, January 27 at 9pm EST.  Our sports law expert guests include David Cohen, a sports lawyer in Los Angeles, and June Casalmir, an in-house lawyer at Sprint Nextel where she provides legal support for NASCAR.

Join #LawJobChat on Thursday to tweet your own questions to David and June.  Or, email your questions to me in advance (amanda@aellislegal.com), and I’ll tweet them during the chat.

Click here for details about how to participate in a Twitter Chat.  As always, I’ll post the #LawJobChat transcript following the live chat.

Performance / The 6Ps of the BIG 3 Book — No Comments
21
Jan 11

Interview Prep with Twitter to Gain Industry Insights

I was helping an out-of-state real estate candidate prepare for an interview yesterday, and she commented, “I’ve tapped all the usual sources – Martindale, NALP Directory, Chambers and Partners, Google, LinkedIn, and Vault.”  I asked if she was prepared to ask or answer questions about the real estate industry in Texas (where she’s interviewing), and I suggested she turn to Twitter.

In my book, I discuss how law students and lawyers can use Twitter to learn about specific attorneys (page 207), firms (page 208), and practice areas (page 209).  They can also use Twitter to gain insight about the industries the firms and attorneys represent.

I suggested that this candidate start with the local business journal’s Twitter feed.  As you can see, three of the six tweets from January 19 alone contain information about real estate industry.  And, the Twitter feed is user-friendly – simply skim the stream, identify relevant tweets, and read linked articles.

Twitter interview prep DBJ RE

I also recommended the candidate review the Twitter feed of a local real estate attorney who frequently tweets about the industry.  While my candidate was not interviewing with this particular attorney or firm, she can still learn from the attorney’s tweets.  Moreover, she can glance at the users the real estate attorney is following and read their Twitter feeds.  For example, we found that the attorney followed a hotel broker and investment banker, medical real estate developer, Dallas-based commercial real estate broker, and Dallas-based property tax consulting firm.  All of these users had informative tweets about the real estate industry.

Bottom line – even if the attorneys and firms are not on Twitter, you can still use Twitter to learn about the industries they represent.

Performance / Success Stories / The 6Ps of the BIG 3 Book — 1 Comment
16
Jan 11

Yes, Law Firms Can Use Social Media in Recruiting

I obtained four qualified candidates through social networking last week.  I posted a status update on Facebook and LinkedIn early in the week about a position for which I am recruiting.  Within hours, I received replies from friends of friends, relatives of friends, and former colleagues who were interested and qualified in the position.

Law firms can take the same steps to attract candidates from their existing networks.  In my book, I discuss several free ways law firms can share job openings on social networking sites, including:

  1. Facebook Note (page. 126). The Facebook Note allows you to use more characters than a status update.  You can also tag friends who may be interested in the position you post in the Note.  And, your friends can share the Note so that it appears on their Facebook pages.
  2. Facebook Marketplace (p. 129). Firms can post job openings in the Facebook classifieds.
  3. Facebook Firm Page (p. 131). Firms can post job openings on their own Facebook page, and the posting can be shared by fans of the page.
  4. LinkedIn Group Job Posting (p. 171). Identify the LinkedIn Groups that will contain candidates you are seeking and post jobs in the relevant Groups.
  5. Facebook or LinkedIn Status Update (p. 174). Firm recruiters and hiring personnel can share job openings in their individual status updates on Facebook and LinkedIn.
  6. Tweet Job Openings (p. 201). Share your job openings on Twitter.

Of course, the above efforts won’t work without connections and strategies.  I have over 500 Facebook “friends” and over 500 LinkedIn “connections.”  I probably would not have obtained the same results if I had only 100 friends and 200 connections.

And, notice that I posted the job opening on Facebook and LinkedIn but not on Twitter.  There was a strategic reason for not posting on Twitter.  I wanted to reach out to people I knew well and trusted for this particular position.   I don’t know the majority of my Twitter contacts that well (that’s the purpose of Twitter).

So, yes, law firms can use social networking sites in their own recruiting practices.  But, they must first understand the sites, build their connections, and formulate their own social networking strategies before diving in.