Submitted by Deb Volberg Pagnotta
Deb Volberg Pagnotta, an AV-rated lawyer, is President of Interfacet, Inc., which trains employers and employees on various employment issues, and provides career transition resources to employees, past, present and future.
Contact info: 914.997.8888 or info@interfacet.com
The bad news keeps coming. “White & Case's Black Monday: 200 Associates and 200 Staffers Axed,” blares the New York Lawyer on March 9, 2009. The 2000+ lawyer firm is laying off 200 associates and 200 administrative staff; and last November they had laid off 70 associates. In fact, since January 1, 2009, over 3000 lawyers in the U.S. have been laid off. So what do you do if you’ve been laid off?
One of the things you should be doing, as you transition into your new world and career, is bringing yourself up to date technologically. It is a brave new world out here, for those of you who have been slogging away in law firms. You may already be adept at Word, or billing software, or Westlaw, but now is the time to explore what else is happening in the techie world that can be of use to you moving forward (or even just sitting still). A simple yet elegant new technology is podcasts (from iPOD broadCAST):
An audio broadcast that has been converted to an MP3 file or other audio file format for playback in a digital music player. Although many podcasts are played in a regular computer, the original idea was to listen on a portable device; hence, the "pod" name from "iPod." Although podcasts are mostly verbal, they may contain music, images and video.
I listen to three podcast “series” in particular:
• I’ve been trying to learn Mandarin for the last 8 years, not very successfully. However, Chinesepod (www.chinesepod.com) is a fantastic site as a model for eLearning (the fancy name for digitalized, computer-based learning). Each podcast is about 8 to 15 minutes long. The “newbie” and “beginner” podcasts give a brief conversation or a few words in Chinese, with banter between the “podcasters” Ken and Jennie. I listen to these podcasts over and over and over when I’m driving. It is very soothing, and the only place I can repeat several hundred times the Chinese phrase “Wo xiang he idianr pijiu” (“I would like to drink some beer.”).
• I also listen to “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me,” a weekly political humor show from National Public Radio (http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait), with some great guests like Leonard Nimoy (yes, Mr. Spock!). I listen to this in order to laugh. These days, whatever makes you laugh, you should do it often. Watch funny movies, read funny books, spend time with friends who help you laugh. Being out of work is depressing, and humor will help you through it.
• Finally, I also recommend www.zencast.org, from which you can download remarkable presentations by various Buddhist teachers. Most recently, one of the presenters told a wonderful story about his experience as a Western monk living in a monastery in Asia. As the monastery was being upgraded, the head monk requested the monks to move a vast pile of dirt from one location to another. They did so willingly, albeit in miserable heat and, being Buddhists, unable even to swat at the thousands of mosquitos who joined the party. Once the pile was moved, the assistant to the chief monk directed the monks to move the pile to another location altogether. They did so, enduring the heat and insects yet again. The chief monk returned from his trip, and promptly told the monks to move the pile back to his original target location. The presenter, deeply unhappy with this situation, stuck to his task, but protesting internally every miserable and back-breaking step of the way. While not vocalizing his anger, his body language must have reflected some distress. Finally, another, much more seasoned monk came over to him, and gently pointed out “you know, shoveling is easy, but thinking about it is hard.” This concept struck me as particularly useful for lawyers in transition. In my own, involuntary transition in 1995, I was deeply angry about the political events which had transpired leaving me jobless, and that anger stayed for quite some time. The seasoned monk’s message resonates with me: it is the thinking about the pain of loss and separation and uncontrollable events which is truly difficult and hurtful. Let go of the endless re-looping about what you “coulda, woulda, shoulda” done differently. Instead, focus on here and now, your present. That way, you can more easily begin to look at what your present options are. Concentrate today on the immediate tasks you should undertake to help you move forward.
One final note: for those who’ve been laid-off, I recently found this excellent article: http://www.jobs.state.ak.us/TAA/survive.htm
In the meantime, post your favorite podcasts. I’m always looking for new ones.