Brian Potts - Partner, Inventor, Author, Founder. He literally wrote the book on job searching. Listen here!
This month we welcome Brian H. Potts, a Partner at Perkins Coie LLP, to Hiring Insights, presented by Top Talent Advocates. In addition to being a lawyer, Brian is also the inventor of a keyboard for lawyers, a writer who has been featured in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, POLITICO, Bloomberg, the Wisconsin State Journal, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the The Weekly Standard and is author of the book The Jobless Lawyer’s Handbook: How to Get Hired as a Lawyer. He is also a professor and helped found The Legal Mentor Network (LMN), the first nation-wide, free mentorship program for law students and recently barred attorneys. He has also recently launched the Legal Influencer Marketing Agency.
Brian joined us to provide insights into the changing landscape for law students, how to translate rejection in a job search to motivation, and what you can do to maximize your job search strategy.
Brian's advice and insights are valuable for any professional, at any phase of their career.
THE LEGAL MENTOR NETWORK
Brian went viral on LinkedIn when, as a partner in the firm, he shared the framed rejection letter he receive from Perkins Coie 20 years ago. His message was simple: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Listen to Brian here.
Over 5 million people saw that post and he found himself as resource for young or aspiring lawyers seeking advice and mentorship. He spent countless hours on video calls, phone calls, emailing, and managing spreadsheets tracking the relationships he was building. The Legal Mentor Network was created to fill the very obvious demand for mentors that he couldn’t handle on his own.
The Legal Mentor Network
Mentors must be barred lawyers with more than five years of experience, and all current law students and young lawyers are eligible for free mentorship on a first-come, first-serve basis. You can find out more information and join LMN here or subscribe to the LMN newsletter here. You can also contact any of LMN's Board Members here:
Brian H. Potts, Founder and Co-Chair; Partner, Perkins Coie LLP. Matt Schwartz, Founder and Strategic Advisor; Partner, DLA Piper. Chrystal Mauro, Executive Director, Founder and Board Member; Attorney, IBM. Lenora Ausbon-Odom, Founder and Board Member; Chief Talent Development and Inclusion Officer, DLA Piper.
ADVICE FOR LAW STUDENTS... AND ALL JOB SEEKERS!
Brian also wrote a book, The Jobless Lawyer’s Handbook: How to Get Hired as a Lawyer. His book is intended for law students and those less than 5 years out of school, but many of the chapters (how to prepare for an interview, how to network effectively) are applicable to anyone undergoing a job search.
One of the hardest times for a law student to get a job is directly out of law school. What many law students fail to think about is strategy. They assume they need to go right into the dream firm or company, and can get frustrated when it doesn’t work out. “The only time in your entire life that all 35,000 people of your vintage are going to be applying for jobs is when you graduate from law school.” Law students rarely think about geography in the immediate job search strategy. Learn more about this from Brian here.
Everyone is shooting for the obvious: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles. Brian suggests people consider somewhere slightly off the radar, but somewhere that would be enjoyable to spend a few years. This might help you get something on your resume to serve as a stepping stone to the dream role later on. Brian was rejected from every Am Law 100 firm in New York, DC, and Chicago, but he got an offer at a good size firm in Kentucky. He was able to put a larger name, larger firm on his resume by being flexible and working towards the Am Law 100 firm.
We have deployed similar strategy with some of our executive search clients. It can be hard to make the leap from Director to VP, CRO to CEO, if your goals are to be in the C-Suite at a Fortune 500 company.
We agree with Brian’s theory that “If you're a Deputy GC in New York, but you can get a GC job in Cincinnati, right, you go to Cincinnati for three or four years as a GC, and then now you go back to New York and you can move up the chain.”
NETWORKING
In today’s market 80-85% of all jobs are secured through networking and some estimates suggest that up to 70% of all jobs are not on public job search sites. We couldn’t agree more with Brian’s view that if you aren’t out there meeting a lot of people, then you are hugely limiting your opportunities. Learn more by listening here.
One of the most common fears about networking is being rejected or “ghosted.” It will happen. You have to approach it knowing that not everyone wants to network. A key to moving past the “cold outreach” is finding an opportunity to provide value for the person on the other end. For Brian, with every person he meets, he thinks of all of the other people he knows that could help them, and introduces them via email. Learn more here.
Brian developed a framework for networking that applies to anyone, regardless of experience or job title:
1. Meet lots of new people. Set a goal for a specific number of zoom meetings each week.
2. Have a lunch or some form of social, in-person, event with a professional once a week. Invite them for a round of golf, grab a drink, or lunch. It could even be a small group of people.
3. Do nice things for the people you have met. The gesture can be as small as sending them an article you saw relevant to their industry.
The end result is that you’ve built a network of people, over time, that think fondly of you. That is what opens up opportunities for you later in your career. It makes them want to help you when you need it AND keeps you top of mind when they come across opportunities.
Some people have yet to realize that one of the keys to maximize the utility of LinkedIn as a career tool, is to utilize it as a search tool for networking. Search based on connections, alumni, industry, location… try to find common ground.
THE SEARCH
Everyone wants to find the next perfect role as quickly as possible. There are a lot of factors that come into play when guesstimating a timeline:
How are your career tools (resume, cover letter, pitch decks, etc.)?
How much time are you willing to commit to your search each week?
Are you limited to a particular geography?
What level role are you looking for? A c-suite position can take much longer to find than a manager position.
The first thing to remember is patience. Brian points out you have to hustle, you have to continuously apply, but you have to be smart about it. If you are accepting something out of desperation, chances are that 6 months down the road you are going to be unhappy.
If we could tell potential clients one thing, it would be to prepare so you don’t have to panic. If you are getting the sense that your position a) has no upward mobility b) is in jeopardy for being eliminated OR c) is no longer fulfilling to you, start planning your search now.
In general terms, the higher your position, the longer the search is going to take and the more connections/introductions that need to be made to find that perfect opportunity.
How can you differentiate yourself as a candidate in the job search?
“Having an interesting story that you can tell about yourself in up to two minutes that will be remembered way more than where you went to law school, what your academic credentials are, what your professional credentials are.”
Do you love to travel? Were you a collegiate athlete? Do you invest in real estate on the side? Raise chickens in your backyard? Find your unique, but brief, story to share. When you walk out of the room, they may not remember which university you attended, but they will remember an interesting story that differentiated you from the other interviewees. Learn more about this from Brian here.
LINKEDIN TIPS
One of the most important features of your LinkedIn profile is your headline. Type your name into the LinkedIn search bar; you see your profile, picture, name, and headline. Does your headline tell someone enough to make them want to know more?
Following your name, it’s the first descriptor of who you are and what you do. If you leave this blank, it will automatically be defaulted to your current job title and employer. While this is sufficient, it adds little value to telling your story or benefitting the search algorithms for someone to find you (especially if you are a job seeker).
Clearly state what you do. This is not the time to exaggerate or choose a title that you are hoping to attain. What, specifically, is your role? General Counsel, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Attorney, Vice President, Senior Relationship Manager?
Use keywords relevant to your industry or potential job searches. Include specialty areas. Ask yourself... what is a recruiter typing in the search bar that could help them find me? Have you been recognized on industry specific lists? Mergers & Acquisitions, Board Member, Executive Leader, FinTech, Bankruptcy, Healthcare, ESG, Fastcase 50, Top 40 Under 40,
There is much debate on whether to keep it strictly professional, or add a bit of your personality/creativity to the headline section. Aside from personal preference, keep in mind the industry and profession you are in, and if that creativity adds value to a first impression of who you are.
Are you searching for a job or prospecting for clients? The search function comes into play here. If I am a client looking for a bankruptcy attorney, I’m not going to type in “bankruptcy partner” to the search tab, I’m going to search lawyer or attorney. If your title is defaulted to Partner at xyz firm, you aren’t showing up in my search.
Headline Examples:
General Counsel | Mergers & Acquisitions | Corporate Governance | Top 100 Magazine’s Top 100 Attorneys
Chief Financial Officer | Global Markets | SaaS | Board Member
For more insights on all things LinkedIn, please contact Lindsay Hofbauer.
COMING UP NEXT...
Stay tuned for our next episode featuring Jenny Wood. Jenny is an executive at Google running a large operations team that helps drive tens of billions of revenue per year. She is also the founder of Own Your Career, one of the largest career development programs in Google’s history with tens of thousands of people benefitting. Jenny is a graduate of Brandeis University and has worked and studied at Harvard University.
Thank you to everyone who subscribes to this newsletter. You can find more information about Top Talent Advocates on our website here, by following us on our LinkedIn page here, or by emailing us at TTA@TopTalentAdvocates.com. We encourage you to provide feedback on the podcast by posting comments, forwarding to others in your network, and encouraging others to gain insights into the hiring process for executives and attorneys. Don't forget to listen and subscribe here. You can also find the transcript for each episode of Hiring Insights here.
If you are thinking about a career move or want support on your executive branding and social media management, let's have a conversation. Leverage our network of recruiters, hiring managers, business leaders, and our personalized coaching to get noticed and carve your personalized path to success.
As always, thanks to Lindsay Hofbauer and our previous guests: Ricardo A. Watson of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Kristi Stepp of Sigred Group, Dimitri Mastrocola of Major, Lindsey & Africa, Bill George of Harvard University, Matt Miller of Uptake, Jennifer Champlin of National Association of Women Lawyers and Edward Jones, Robert W. Jones of Gavilon Group, LLC, and Alex Su of Ironclad.