Using Martindale.com For Networking

By: Kandice Thorn

In preparing for a small group meeting last week, I was reminded of a fantastic resource that everyone should be aware of for networking purposes.  Martindale.com is a website with a powerful search function that allows you to conduct very specific searches for lawyers or law firms.

For foreign lawyers, Martindale.com can help you connect with lawyers from your home country who have managed to settle into positions in the U.S.  Using the Advanced Search, simply enter the name of a law school from your home country in the "Law School" field (especially look for your own foreign law school!).  Try a few different spellings or formulations if nothing comes up at first.

Start making a list of people who you are interested in meeting and try setting up some informational interviews!

Practical Tips for a Successful Skype Interview

By: Kandice Thorn

"Can you hear me now?"

When I was a kid, my dad had a car phone. Not a cell phone, a car phone with the handset attached to the fixed base with a long spiral cord. To eight-year-old me, it was incredible. This was before even cordless phones had become commonplace, and now I could call my best friend from my dad's truck. The only catch was that it frequently took 3-4 tries for the call to be connected, and once connected, I couldn't actually hear the person on the other end (or they could not hear me). Never mind that - to me it was the coolest thing ever.

Fast forward a few decades. The iPhone is a vast improvement over my dad's old car phone, and the latest technology today is video calling with programs like Facetime and Skype. Yet frequently when I use these programs I feel like I am back in my dad's truck in 1987. The call quality can be atrocious, calls are often dropped, and I sometimes find myself shouting "Can you hear me?" at my computer monitor.

Nevertheless, employers have embraced this new technology as a way of screening potential candidates without paying for costly plane tickets. This means that job seekers, particularly those who are looking for jobs remotely, must embrace this technology in the job-search realm too. The following tips will help make your Skype interviews as successful and glitch-free as possible and will make your interview feel less like 1987 and more like 2025.

Facebook Follies

By: Kandice Thorn

As Google searches become a routine aspect of the interview process, it has become crucial for job seekers to know and control what information employers will be able to access about you.  In particular, Facebook profiles seem to land a lot of candidates in hot water - virtually everyone has a Facebook account, and Facebook's ever-shifting privacy policies make your "private" information difficult to control.  In this post, I will discuss some common "Facebook Follies," and then I will discuss how you can avoid them.

Your LinkedIn Profile

By: Kandice Thorn

Because many employers these days use Google searches to learn more about prospective candidates, it is crucial to make sure that your internet image is squeaky clean.  In a previous post, I discussed how to Google yourself and clean up any extraneous information that you might not want floating around for an employer to see.  In this post, I will discuss your LinkedIn profile.  LinkedIn is usually the first thing a potential employer will click on if it comes up in a Google search of you, and it is also a valuable networking tool, so it is crucial that your LinkedIn profile be polished and professional.

Google Yourself

By: Kandice Thorn

Many employers these days like to do a Google search of candidates to look for red flags, so it is very important for you to manage your internet image.