Client Engagements | Positive Counsel

Unhappy General Counsel Fearful to Leave a New Job which is a Poor Cultural Fit Finds Better Job Quickly

A General Counsel at a start-up just started her new position but after a few months, discovered that the position under-utilized her skills and culturally, the fit was off. She engaged Positive Counsel to discuss her career options and obtain objective feedback about her situation. After the consultation, the General Counsel realized her job situation would unlikely improve and she decided to search for a new job immediately. In less than a day, Positive Counsel reviewed and revised the General Counsel’s resume, cover letter, and application materials, updating and targeting them towards other in-house counsel positions. The General Counsel received several job offers and accepted a new position at a large, well-established publicly traded corporation in less than a month’s time. She credits Positive Counsel with helping her realize that hoping a job will get better is just that – hoping. Instead, she made a move to improve her situation and found herself in a better job with a highly regarded company. She got over her fear of change with support and encouragement from Positive Counsel and got positive results!

From No Response to Craigslist’s Job Application Submissions to “When it Rains, It Pours”

A father seeking to re-enter the work force after the birth of his first child had been searching for a job for eight months and had only received one interview. His job search consisted of applying for jobs online. He grew increasingly frustrated his applications disappeared into a “big black hole” and his confidence level was at an all-time low. Positive Counsel helped him create a job search plan with a heavy concentration on networking and informational interviewing. We revamped his entire resume, taught him to write standout cover letters, and began making strategic introductions to attorneys in his fields of interest. Within a few months, the client has now received more interview opportunities, contract work, and inquiries from corporate recruiters who directly sourced him on LinkedIn. With Positive Counsel’s help and support, he is now performing contract outside counsel work for a start-up while waiting to hear back from Facebook, Genentech, and Cisco. As the client says, “When it rains, it pours.”

Senior Associate Learns How to Pitch Herself without Bragging and Makes Partner

A Senior Associate up for partnership engages Positive Counsel to help her maximize her chances of becoming a partner and to create an exit strategy in the event she did not make partner. The Senior Associate asked for help in marketing and pitching herself to partnership and key firm leaders. In particular, she needed to overcome her dislike for “bragging” or talking about herself, feeling that her work should speak for itself. After several coaching sessions, she realized she needed to speak up as she could not assume everyone knew what she had done. Positive Counsel helped her create “Talking Points” – career vignettes to highlight her skills and accomplishments in an authentic, story-like way that would engage and interest her audience instead of distancing them. She used her newfound confidence at a litigation retreat and used law-firm wide celebration to connect with her colleagues and partners. The Senior Associate became a partner in December 2012 and credits Positive Counsel’s encouragement, support, and confidence-building techniques in helping her achieve her goal.

Solo Goes from Unfocused Business Developer to Rain-Making Machine

With his practice thriving such that he hired another attorney, the solo found himself spending more time managing his employees and his practice than developing his client base. We started with a 360-Reach personal branding assessment to determine why clients should hire him. Based on the branding feedback, we created a business development plan that capitalized on the solo’s inherent skills and abilities. The solo enjoyed face-to-face meetings, writing articles and giving presentations. His engaging personality drew people towards him and we capitalized on opportunities for networking that put him in front of an audience. We booked him speaking engagements over the course of the year. With weekly coaching calls, the solo focused on activities that gave him the “biggest bang for his networking buck.” By working the network he already had, he obtained referrals from the circle of professionals he had nurtured over the years. “Positive Counsel has helped me grow my business by keeping me accountable to my goals and timetable. With a marketing strategy developed for me, I’m not only achieving my goals, I’m surpassing them!”