In a sea of black and white resumes, it can be difficult to stand out, and standing out is what every job seeker needs to do. Even a great resume does not guarantee candidates a job, according to Kelly Aldridge, who writes job-seekers advice for graduates on her blog, New Grad Life and conducts research for a number of recruitment agencies.  Ricky Mui, manager, legal division, Robert Walters Hong Kong, agrees. Mui also said that the best calibre of candidate are usually found through networking opportunities and are headhunted, as opposed to applying cold as a complete unknown.

To help lawyers who may not have an address book full of contacts become one of the top prospects for a job offer, Aldridge offers legal job-seekers three useful tips:

1) Personal brand is what lands the new job – According to Aldridge, in a perfect world presenting a CV to an interview would just be a formality. The interviewer would want to get to know the candidate better straight away with an interview. A candidate’s personal brand should be the same both on-line and off-line, in personality and in appearance. The important thing is to be professional and consistent, said Aldridge.

2) Don’t limit job searching activities to the internet – Many workplaces no longer allow access to job-seeker websites but that doesn’t mean new opportunities can’t be discovered by talking openly with colleagues and gaining their trust face to face while at work. Aldridge has been doing research for Job Search Boot Camp and the recruitment consultants interviewed all told her that 80% of open positions are not posted on-line.

3) Get active off-line – This means picking up the phone, dealing with people who may not want to talk to you, calling again when no return call comes and attending any and all meetings for coffee and introduction that are offered. In the beginning, starting on-line can be helpful because a list of desired companies can be created and job-seekers can look up companies to see who is connected to them. Then the rest should be taken off-line, as above, according to Aldridge.

Once the meetings are secured, it is important to listen and learn. “Ask everyone you met a lot of questions about themselves and what they do. People love talking about themselves. The more you like them, the more they like you and want to help you,” said Aldridge.

Ricky Mui offered the following list of networking venues for lawyers:

Law Society events
Legal Seminars/CPD events
Chambers of Commerce – Australia/NZ/Irish/Belgian etc all have lawyers within these Chambers
Social events attended by boss (i.e. can be high level social networking/sporting events)
Groups on LinkedIn/Facebook