The pressure to find the perfect job, and land the best internship possible can sometimes feel overwhelming—especially in the current challenging job market. Not surprisingly, the Collection actually has quite a few books, both print and electronic, related to career planning and getting a job.
A subject search for “job hunting” returns 28 titles, including: Be Prepared! Getting Ready for Job Interviews ; Killer Cover Letters and Resumes! . Another subject search for “law-vocational guidance” returns 84 diverse titles including Managing your Legal Career : Best Practices for Creating the Career you Want and Fifty Unique Legal Paths.
The Collection is also filled with books related to law careers in specific fields and work environments, like the federal government, firms, tax law, and more. Explore the collection with various key word searches to find items for your specific needs. Below is a brief selection of some print titles.
Sheila Nielsen authored Job Quest for Lawyers which offers strategies for landing a job using a fun “quest” motif. Nielsen offers steps for preparing for the “quest” which includes creating “a master list of people and places you want to explore.” Next she provides strategies for “starting the quest” which means one must identify the “knights and wizards” and “gatekeepers.” The book continues through meetings with “knights and wizards,” and “common pitfalls and how to avoid them.” Nielsen claims the compilation of her creative and thoughtful strategies creates the “essential guide to finding and landing the job you want.”
Beyond the Big Firm: Profiles of Lawyer Who Want Something More is a collection of interviews which demonstrates the wide range of non-traditional practices and opportunities for attorneys who want to “use their degree to pursue a social justice agenda.” Profiled attorneys include a Voting Rights Litigator, Toxic Exposure Lawyer, Children’s Rights Advocate and Habeous Corpus Specialist.
The Legal Career Guide: From Law Student to Lawyer is comprised of four parts: Planning for a Legal Career, Career Assessment, The Job Search, and the Market Place for Legal Services. Unlike others, this book, in part two, provides tools for identifying your skills, values, work values, and priorities—this component is helpful when considering the parameters of the job search.
Green Careers: Choosing Work for a Sustainable Future offers profiles of diverse “green jobs” which are defined as jobs “which focus on sustainability and/or environmental protection and preservation.” The books is categorized by industry, and then by occupation and provides information on the occupational salary ranges, job outlook, and where the jobs are. Jobs profiled are diverse and include transportation planners, green chemical technicians, and consultants. The book also includes many websites to pursue your job search and learn more about different professions.
For more information and institutional support on career planning and getting a job or internship, check out VLS Career Services.
And finally, since I work in a library, and generally love it, I want to make a plug for considering a career in libraries. Imagine, you love the library now, but you could actually get paid to be here! Check out some the of job opportunities in the field, and feel free to stop by and chat with any of us about possible careers in law libraries.
Julien & Virginia Cornell Library 