How to Land a Law Job

Like most professional fields, law has taken a big hit in the recession. Law firms, once considered safe havens, have laid of employees in droves. And, of course, new jobs are hard to come by — especially for law students.

That means once a student (or recent grad) lands an interview, she has to be ready to nail it. Looking for interviewing advice last year, I found many websites and blogs had the same old rules — show up early, dress impeccably, ask good questions. We go beyond the standard protocol, with tips will push your interviewing skills to the next level and will help you land the job.

Talk about Your Non-Legal Experience

Just because you are interviewing for a legal job does not mean that you can or should only talk about your legal experience. Discuss your non-legal experience that relates to the work you will do at the firm. Since I worked as an executive recruiter before law school, I would talk about the parallels between recruiting and practicing law.

Recession Briefing: Why Yellow Lights Are Shorter

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

Some cash-strapped cities have been shortening yellow lights in order to nab more drivers with tickets — and raise revenue. (AlterNet)

A little-noticed effect of the recession is the incredible shrinking work shift. Millions of workers are taking multiple part-time or freelance jobs, jumping back and forth repeatedly between work, other pursuits and more work. These weird schedules are creating new challenges. (Wall Street Journal)

In an era of populist outrage and nearly double-digit unemployment, the average Wall Street bonus jumped 25% in 2009 to $123,850 as financial firms rebounded from the recession with help from U.S. taxpayers’ money. (USA Today)…

ABC to Lay Off 300

A Recessionwire reader sends this tip about a looming mass layoff at ABC:

High level sources at ABC News say that large staff cuts are pending, with the announcements coming as early as Wednesday. One ABC network anchor said that 300-400 permanent staffers will be let go. The cuts will come from staff positions at all of the networks news shows, including This Week with Diane Sawyer, Good Morning America, Nightline and 20/20. It’s also expected that some executive producers will get the axe along with the network’s entire special events department…

Screwed: 600 at Continental Airlines

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s Total: 1, 277

Continental Airlines is eliminating 600 reservation agents by April 11 since online flight-booking has surpassed call-in reservations…In Houston, TX, Innovative Consultants LLC are cutting 287 jobs this month…Last week, Monster Worldwide Inc. began laying off 200 employees out of their 5,600 global workforce…In Illinois, Bunge North America will cut production of a soybean production line by April 23, and laying off 100 employees in the process…Meanwhile, Goodrich Crop is cutting 60 workers at a manufacturing plant in Virginia…In North Carolina, Invista will be eliminating 30 jobs in the next 60 days as it shuts down a production line.

Recession Briefing: Flying the Private Skies Again

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

Gingerly, some business travelers are venturing back into private aircraft after the battered economy — and a public outcry against that perk of fat cats, the corporate jet — walloped the general aviation industry starting in 2008. (New York Times)

The longest and deepest U.S. economic slump in seven decades has been dubbed the “Great Recession” by the Associated Press. The AP Stylebook Online notified subscribers this month it had added the term as a reference for the downturn that began in December 2007. (Bloomberg)

Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. workforce lacked adequate employment in January and struggled to make ends meet with reduced resources and bleak job prospects, according to a Gallup poll released on Tuesday. (Reuters)…

Recession Briefing: Outlook Bleak for Long-Term Unemployed

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed. (New York Times)

Bernard Madoff’s top lieutenant may get “extraordinary” leniency from prosecutors for his help in unraveling the largest Ponzi scheme on record. In a letter released on Friday, federal prosecutors in New York praised the efforts of Madoff associate Frank DiPascali in providing “substantial assistance to the government in its investigation and prosecution of others.” (Reuters)

Both domestic mobility and immigration were sharply down in 2007 to 2009 from the levels recorded during most of the decade. (The American)…

Screwed: 1,020 at Boeing

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s Total: 1,196

Boeing gave 60-day layoff notices to 1,020 workers in Washington, California, and St. Louis, Missouri last Friday as part of a larger plan to cut 10,000 jobs…In Nevada, Anheuser-Busch InBev cut 90 jobs last week and plans on cutting another 350 in the next few months…In Williston, VT, Triosyn laid off 35 employees and attributed the decision to a low demand of their anti-bacterial product caused by the marked end of the swine flu pandemic…In California, the city of Corona eliminated 31 government workers and a few city buildings…After having cut more than a quarter of their workforce, Viking Range Corp in Mississippi laid off another 20 employees.

Screwed: Up to 4,000 in L.A.

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s Total: 4,527

Municipal layoffs in L.A. may run as high as 4,000 workers as the city council tries to resolve the budget deficit… Florida A&M University faces the possibility of up to 247 staff layoffs… HealthMarkets insurance company in North Richland Hills i terminating 130 positions… 80 police officers and firefighters face unemployment in Flint, Michigan… In another round of layoffs, Fork Township, PA pipe fitting manufacturer, Victaulic, is laying off up to 40 workers… In New Jersey’s Union Township 30 police officers face layoffs effective March 29 unless they agree to cheaper health plans…

Recession Briefing: Monkey See, Monkey Do

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

Dr. Laurie Santos’s studies of monkey “economics” suggest that greedy, loss-averse human behavior — the kind in large part responsible for the recession — may have deep evolutionary origins. (Big Think)

While the Great Recession was tough on just about everyone, rookie CEOs were faced with what will likely be the biggest crisis of their careers. Here’s how four of them handled it. (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

The nation’s health insurers have come under sharp attack by the Obama administration for seeking seemingly staggering rate increases on policies they sell to individuals. But the weak economy and the unrelenting rise in the cost of medical care make it increasingly difficult for companies to avoid substantial rate increases. (New York Times)…

Recession Briefing: Failure to Green

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

A new report due out this morning will show the $5-billion Obama administration program to make homes more energy efficient is so riddled with problems that so far it’s weatherized only about 9,000 homes. (Los Angeles Times)

Thousands are discovering an unexpected kink in the system that can mean drastic cuts in their unemployment benefits. Workers who seek to renew their benefits for a second year are finding that their new benefits are based on their most recent wages, even if it was low pay for temporary or part-time work. (Boston Globe)

Federal and state officials, many facing record budget deficits, are starting to aggressively pursue companies that try to pass off regular employees as independent contractors. (New York Times)