Success Stories

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.

Performance / Success Stories — No Comments
9
Nov 10

Law Student Grabs Attention of Prominent Legal Blogs

by Jack Whittington, 3L at Tulsa Law

jack whittington

NOTE:  The following blog post is the second in the on-going series, Success Stories, which profiles law students’ and lawyers’ positive results from social networking. Jack Whittington, a third-year law student at Tulsa Law, shared the following post.  You can follow Jack on Twitter – @j2_whittington, or read his blog – World Wide Whit.

Social media has permanently changed the way we do business and network in the professional world. I attended Amanda Ellis’s seminar on The 6P’s of the BIG 3™ in August at the University of Tulsa, College of Law Professionalism Day and was intrigued at the notion of using Facebook and Twitter (I wasn’t familiar with LinkedIn at the time) for career networking opportunities. The suggestions she made for Twitter use particularly struck me. I previously had only used Twitter during live sporting events to see what people were saying about the games and then to converse with other fans. The thought of using Twitter as a networking tool never even crossed my mind.

So with Amanda’s seminar fresh in mind I began to reach out to law school students and attorneys on Twitter. One of the first things I noticed was that a vast number of attorneys and law students had blogs. After reading several different blogs by law school students, I decided to venture into the blogging world myself. I felt it would be a good way to get my name out there and perhaps I could offer something to someone, somewhere, that would make a difference, regardless of how small. My first blogs were viewed by a hand full of people with readers seldom commenting on the posts. I didn’t expect overnight success and knew it would be a long road and made points to reach out to people who tweeted solid information about blogging techniques and strategies. Through a Twitter chat, #blogchat, I began to connect with some great people who offered some great advice to help me get through the lean times when I was wondering if it was all worth it. Particularly, Dawn Westerberg, Margie Clayman, Scott Zucker, and Betsy Munnell. All of these people were more than willing to help me and offered sound advice. It is amazing that so many people out there are willing to help; all you have to do is ask.

Blogging on a regular basis has challenged me in a lot ways and made me analyze real life situations in such a manner that it has shifted my thinking and certain aspects of my worldview. Two of my blog posts have been met with tremendous success in the legal community. My post entitled “Law School Mean Girls (And Guys) and Why They’ve Got to Go” made Wordpress.com’s Freshly Pressed page and I saw my readership skyrocket. Another post, “Dear Legal Community, Enough With the Cynicism” was a hot topic within the online legal community. In my observation it seemed that an inordinate amount of commentators had nothing but cynical and cryptic words directed at law school students and nothing positive to contribute to the conversation. Met with foreboding warnings of “get out while you can” and horror stories about debt and addiction did nothing to help me or direct me in what I needed to do to be successful in the field.  So I issued an open letter to the legal community to tell them enough with the noise and that you’re either part of the problem or part of the solution. I want to work with people who are part of the solution, and apparently they want to work with me too.

First, I received a direct message from Rocky Dhir of Atlas Legal Services – and he wanted to speak with me – he called and the first words out of his mouth were- “How can I help?” – It was so refreshing to hear a voice on the other end of the line wanting to actively do something about the “culture of unhappiness” within the legal field. The second thing to come out of this blog post was my partnership with Susan Cartier Liebel and Solo Practice University. Susan had been looking to bring a law school student on board to her site as a monthly columnist and my blog post was exactly the type of voice she was looking for. I am now authoring a monthly column entitled “Coming of Age in the New Economy” for SPU which chronicles my transition from law school into the legal profession. The opportunities that social media have already presented me in just a few short months are truly amazing. This is the wave of the future and I am truly thankful for Amanda pointing me in the right direction.

#LawJobChat / Performance / Success Stories — 1 Comment
5
Nov 10

Law Student Meets GC on Twitter

by Jason Tenenbaum, 2L at Hofstra Law School jason t

While many students use Twitter to follow celebrities or communicate with friends, I’ve discovered that Twitter is an incredible professional resource where I can build relationships with legal professionals. I recently participated in a Twitter chat, #LawJobChat, about in-house legal careers. I was intrigued with the chat, so I tweeted that I was a law student interested in learning more about the role of an in-house attorney.

The general counsel of a professional sports team responded to my tweet. I asked him how he got started and he answered, “too long of a story for 140 characters, let’s set up a time and talk on the phone.” Our conversation was great. We discussed the details of his job, how he got to his current position, and skills that are useful for an in-house attorney. He spent over 45 minutes on the phone with me, and offered advice on classes to take, organizations to join and other attorneys to contact to learn more about being an in-house attorney.

After talking with the general counsel, I realized the importance of networking and interacting with others. The general counsel emphasized that employers want to know law students can work in a team, and law students can demonstrate this skill by meeting and interacting with attorneys. The general counsel added that it is great to have good grades, but you need to be able to carry on a conversation and interact with other attorneys, clients, secretaries, and paralegals in order to thrive.

Perhaps the best result of my conversation with the general counsel is our new friendship. Now, we talk regularly, tweeting back and forth about sports, technology and of course, the law. I can ask him any questions I have about sports, sports law, books to read or law school classes. He is an additional resource in my professional network. Relationships like the one I now have with this attorney are the greatest benefit one can obtain from Twitter.