The newly launched Job Support Service Center is bringing together legal professionals to support government lawyers and political employees who have lost their jobs.
Call to Action
The legal community has been ablaze with commentary about executive orders and rule-of-law threats. But little attention has been given to the thousands of lawyers and legal professionals — across multiple federal departments and agencies — who have lost their jobs since January, including many political appointees.
To help our colleagues in the legal sector, I’m leveraging my network of in-house and law firm relationships to launch a Job Support Service Center — a voluntary initiative focused on connecting these professionals with support for their search and potential new opportunities.
What We’re Doing and How It Works
We’re building a contact database of affected legal professionals — that is the hardest part! If you know any of these lawyers, please contact me (see below) with their full name and email and we will invite them to participate.
We are collaborating with the excellent existing LinkedIn groups and initiatives already offering help to legal professionals in certain departments and agencies.
A LinkedIn Group for the Job Support Service Center is in the works, and we hope to build a simple website to share resources, job search guidance, and promote our activities. These activities will include workshops on topics for former government lawyers and legal professionals, such as:
- What recruiters seek for in-house and law firm roles
- Job search strategies to land the right role faster
- Enhance your professional presence on social media
- Craft standout cover letters, CVs and interview skills
How You Can Help
To date, we’ve gathered 18 volunteers but we will need at least double or triple that number. If you’re a legal professional, recruiter or coach, email me at eldance@eldinternational.com to volunteer.
When you contact me to volunteer, please choose the areas where you want to help. These are the areas, with descriptions:
- Reviewing CVs. Provide feedback to sharpen job applications.
- Mini-Mentoring. Three (30-45 minute) Zoom calls to guide a job-seeking former federal lawyer in your practice area.
- Career Coaching. Coach two structured sessions to help each interested lawyer map an effective job search.
- Virtual Coffee Hours. Help organize or moderate casual networking and job-hunt discussions and spotlight what’s working best and what’s most challenging.
- Speaking at a Workshop. Share your expertise as a legal leader, recruiter, qualified coach, social media expert, resume writer or presenter on one of the four workshop topics above.
We will honor your time constraints, as we understand most of you have limited time for this. Briefing materials will be provided, and optional virtual meetings will help volunteers share best practices.
Get Involved, Even If You Can’t Volunteer!
If you can’t volunteer but want to help, please:
- Share this article and encourage colleagues to get involved.
- Pass along to us contact info for former federal lawyers who may need support.
- Suggest ways to reach more affected professionals.
This Job Support Service Center initiative is fully voluntary, and services are offered at no cost. Together, we can help these legal professionals navigate their next career steps.
Thank you for your support!
GET IN TOUCH
Volunteer
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