Are You Sure You Want to Work There?
By: Jennifer Taylor Chan
Tags: Self Improvement, Work, Productivity, Life, Life Lessons

When I was in law school, I attended a seminar that was “highly encouraged” for women-identifying law students: The do’s and don’ts of professionalism from a ‘professional’ career coach. I had a nose ring and a handful of tattoos (I’ve accumulated a few more since then), but I was eager to see how I could fit into the industry. Despite that I normally wouldn’t care at all to be accepted by Big Law firms, I felt obliged to go because, well, my employability hinged on playing the part.

Amongst the warnings of our intonation (“women tend to intonate at the end of the sentences!”) and what the appropriate length of our skirts and dresses should be, chills ran down my spine. What will seasoned lawyers think of me? Is it time to enroll in golf lessons? Do I need to ‘invest’ in a $500 suit for interviews? While these questions seem ridiculous now, these were my genuine fears as the thought of repaying my student debt loomed in the distance.

When you’re just beginning your career you, understandably, don’t have much leverage with future employers. In other words, you can’t get away with as much shit because you don’t have the experience to back up your skills. Employers are looking at you with fresh eyes. But before you go and make ‘investment purchases’ and suppress the best parts of your personality, ask yourself a few questions.

Does this job appeal to me?

Before you spend an ungodly amount of time preparing hundreds of cover letters, ask yourself this: Do you actually want to work in this position? Do you like the job because of the salary or because you think it’ll genuinely advance your career?

When I was in law school the Canadian legal market was bad (although it’s probably worse now), but law students were applying to hundreds of random places in hopes that they’ll get something. The scarcity mindset was real. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t immune either. The time that I went in for an interview at a personal injury firm, somewhere I had no desire to be, and was asked, “Why do you want to work here?” in which I responded with a ten-second pause, still haunts me. In hindsight it’s now obvious that I wasted both of our time, but at the time I needed work and naively thought that firms would take any student with a vague interest (or at least that’s what I told myself). What I didn’t realize is that no one was going to hire me if I didn’t have a demonstrated interest or a compelling reason to be there.

Instead, focus on the handful of organizations that you actually want to work at and devote your energy to mastering the hiring process. If you prepare 10x more than the other applicants, you’ll stand out during the interview and show that you’ve put in real effort into landing the job.

Do I want to work with these people?

Workplace culture matters more to worker satisfaction than we think. There will be times where you will get discouraged at work, and that’s when it’s important that you have supportive colleagues and mentors that will get you through it.

I hear horror stories about partners at law firms throwing their junior associates under the bus when mistakes are made for the sake of appeasing clients.

I also know plenty of lawyers who work long hours solely because their managers expect that they work late every single day. Although most associates don’t mind, I’ve always been skeptical towards measuring productivity in terms of hours worked. Lots of successful people end work at 5:00 p.m.

On the flip side, I’ve seen firsthand the impact that collegial & collaborative work environments have on superior work. Although at times inconvenient, maintaining an open-door policy fosters a culture where workers can bounce ideas off one another. I can attest that some of my strongest arguments were developed after multiple conversations with smart people I respect.

Remember: You are spending the majority of your time with these people. Depending on your industry, you might yourself stuck eating dinner, having drinks, or participating in whatever other unpleasant social obligation that your office calls for. Choose your environment carefully.

What direction (not destination) do you want to be going?

We can’t control the labour market, but we can control what industry we’d like to work in or what skills we’d like to acquire. Sure, you’re not qualified for your ideal job today, but what can you do today that will make you qualified for that job in 5 or 10 or 15 years?

We’re not floating specs of dust moving whichever way the wind blows.

We have the cognitive capacity to loosely conceptualize where we want to end up, and then create a comprehensive strategy as to how to get there. We can ask those who have already accomplished what we hope to accomplish. We can go to school or find a mentor and develop the skills that the job necessitates. We can accept an entry-level job in that field today, so that we can move up the ladder and come within arms’ reach of where we hope to end up.

Establish boundaries for your career but remain flexible on the specifics.

I knew that I wanted to earn a living by helping marginalized populations, but I wasn’t too picky about how or where that would happen. I was open to whatever opportunities that came my way, but I was dead set on where I didn’t want to end up: At a private law firm focusing on profit over impact. Real estate, corporate commercial, and other transactions between two entities didn’t interest me.

Falling into workplace law was a happy accident, but it’s the fact that I get to help a specific vulnerable community (which falls within the boundaries of what I wanted) and work in an environment that doesn’t care about tattoos or expensive suits, that makes my job so well-fitted to me. I get to be me, doing work that I find meaningful.

Reject career ambivalence. Review your current job, where you’d like to end up, and whether what you’re doing now is pushing you in the right direction. A rewarding career can be yours, but it’s a mistake if you think you can stumble your way to get there.