When Should I Start My Job Search If I Am Looking to Move in December?

1
When Should I Start My Job Search If I Am Looking
to Move in December?

• Question For personal reasons I plan to relocate
  to Chicago in December. I am a first-year
  associate in Atlanta at a large regional law firm
  with an excellent reputation in the Southeast. I
  am not sure that I want to continue working at a
  large firm in Chicago. I am interested in a less
  stressful lifestyle. What opportunities are
  available to me? In addition, when should I start
  my job search if I am looking to move in December?

BCG ATTORNEY SEARCH
2

• Answer Many things will be different by
  December. Some of these things are predictable,
  others are not. For example, we know that by next
  December you will have a little over a full year
  of practice experience behind you and that you
  will be considered a second-year associate. What
  we cannot know is what the employment market will
  be like in Chicago for second-year associates in
  your particular practice area (which you did not
  disclose to us).There are also certain factors
  about your background that we do not know and
  because you did not tell us, I cannot fully
  advise you. Here are some of the facts that
  prevent us from knowing the full picture where
  you went to law school, how you did there in
  terms of your grades and class ranking, your
  current practice area, and how well you are doing
  at your current firm. All of these facts will
  contribute to your success or failure in your job
  search.

BCG ATTORNEY SEARCH
3

• I am willing to take a guess on some of these
  unanswered questions simply based on the fact
  that you are working at a large regional firm
  with, as you have told us, an excellent
  reputation. My guess is that you either went to a
  top rated national law school or, at the very
  least, one of the top regional law schools and
  your grades were quite decent at the very
  worst.Based on this supposition, and still
  without knowing your practice area, let's fast
  forward to a Chicago job search. If you went to a
  top ten national law school, you should be a
  viable candidate as long as your practice area is
  flourishing. However, if you went to a regional
  school, your viability diminishes in comparison
  to your competition that may have attended
  University of Chicago or some of the
  well-regarded regional law schools in the Chicago
  area.Then if you factor in a practice area that
  is not in demand, you will find that you job
  search will be less than fast track.

BCG ATTORNEY SEARCH
4

• Now let's throw in a major unknown the economy.
  Based on predictions along with obvious
  observations, the economy is certainly slowing
  down. How will that affect the attorney job
  market in Chicago over the next ten months? That
  is anybody's guess, but what if there truly is a
  dramatic slowdown? What if the only opportunities
  available to you at the time of your job search
  are those in the major law firms? Are you going
  to hold out for a "less stressful" environment or
  will you need to go to work shortly after you
  make the move to Chicago? And by the way, if you
  decide to make the move without having a job
  lined up, it will be that much harder to find a
  new employer.One more item to add to the list
  as a second-year associate, there may not be as
  many opportunities available to you as you might
  be thinking. Depending on the economy, there
  should be a fair amount of open job requisitions
  by the spring for second-year associates but then
  again, the question comes up as to how long you
  can be unemployed (and each day that you are
  unemployed makes your job search that more
  difficult).So, here is what I am getting at.
  Before you close the door to the large firms,
  wait until you see what the job market for your
  practice area, years of experience and
  credentials in Chicago are like later in the
  year. Which leads me to the second part of your
  question as to when you should start your job
  search.

BCG ATTORNEY SEARCH
5

• If you are moving to Chicago in December, that
  generally means that you will be starting your
  new job right after New Year's Day. I would
  suggest that you start your search in September
  or, at the very latest in the early part of
  October for a projected January start date. You
  certainly do not want to wait until November when
  we are getting into the holiday season.All of
  this is based on the assumption that you are
  willing to take some time off from your job to
  spend a week to ten days in Chicago for the
  interviewing process. You need to let prospective
  employers (or your recruiter) know that you are
  currently employed and that you would like to
  have your new job tied down before you move to
  Chicago in December. Therefore, it would be
  preferable to have screening interviews scheduled
  with a tentative time and date for advanced
  interviews for that same week (or even the same
  day) if there is mutual interest. Pick a definite
  week that you plan to be in Chicago and let the
  firms know the date as early as possible.

BCG ATTORNEY SEARCH
6

• The bottom line before you determine that you
  are not going to interview with the large firms
  in Chicago, understand that you would be well
  served to keep an open mind so far in advance of
  your moving date. You are a very junior attorney
  and may not be able to pick and choose the kind
  of lifestyle you want at this stage when you
  couple that desire with a geographical move and
  perhaps not the most viable credentials or
  economic conditions for the Chicago market.The
  good news is this might be moot if the economy
  heats up again and junior lawyers in just about
  every practice area are in high demand. Just hold
  up from making any hard and firm decisions until
  it gets closer to the time when you should begin
  your search.Summary Planning on making a move
  to another law firm requires careful planning and
  thought before making your move. Learn how far
  ahead to plan when making a move.

BCG ATTORNEY SEARCH