Training as a lawyer can be an extremely fulfilling and rewarding career. Still, like with any job, it pays not to rest on your laurels and finding the proper role and placement for you and your expertise can afford you a professional career that works for you, not against you.
Being able to do something you love and help people can give you even greater career satisfaction, but how does this apply in the legal industry?
If you’re feeling stuck in your career or you need a new challenge, these tips can help you get more from your job role and achieve a higher level of legal career job satisfaction.
Recruitment Firms
Working with legal recruitment firms can enlighten you about the roles available and what you can expect from changing employment. You can get a feel for the work involved, the salary and the location of your next employer or simply compare the offerings to what you already have. Working with a recruitment agency like Origin Legal can help you stay abreast of vacancies that arise even if you aren’t ready to take up a new job role just yet.
Define your Goals
Defining your goals and knowing what you want to do next will allow you to see what path you can take and how your current expertise and skill set can be further utilised. It might be that you want to switch to an entirely new area of law requiring you to go back to the books to study what you need to know and fill gaps in your knowledge, or it might mean chasing promotions and heading into more leadership-based roles. Whatever you define success to be and what your goal area should be clear in your mind to avoid making mistakes.
Create A Timeline
Having goals can be helpful, but if they’re not defined in any way, then chances are they might simply become something you wished you had done, not something you achieved. Set yourself goals and a timeline for doing this so you can move forward with your plans and not just wish you were able to do it.
Don’t Limit Yourself
Limiting yourself or putting yourself in a box with labels will likely impact your ability to see what you’re capable of and what you can achieve. Just because this is what you are trained in, it doesn’t define who you are and what you can achieve. It might be that practising law isn’t all you are about, and if you have a passion for pets and helping animal rescues, then you can combine these skills to help you add increased satisfaction to what you do. But by removing the scope of what you can do and allowing yourself to reach your full potential, you can carve a more rewarding legal career for yourself.
Improving your prospects as a lawyer doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. You need to define what success means to you, what you want from your life and your career and put a timeline in place to make the changes you wish to a fulfilling life and job in your position.
