By Eric Ganci
CaseyGerry
Alright! You got the new job or scored the internship you really worked for! Sweet! Everything you did to get the spot was amazing, but now you need to consider what it means to be a new employee.
I’ve been on many sides of this equation, as a firm owner, as a firm co-owner, and as an entry and mid-level employee. These are some things to consider when starting the new work to set yourself up for success.
I’ll start with an overarching approach: reverse roles with your boss (or any/all of your superiors and colleagues). Probably everything you do will impact them either directly or indirectly. You have many jobs as an employee: be a good lawyer, be a good writer, keep deadlines, show up on time. Oh, and be a decent person to be around. But specifically, how can we do that? What are some things to consider? Hopefully this will help.
Are you a good trainee?
I’ll start with another more-overarching theme, as it’s close to my heart. I used to be a teacher and with that experience, something I have always focused on is how people take in information. Not all teachers “perform” equally. And yes, some bosses can be difficult to learn from. But the trainee also needs to know how they learn to perform their duties.
Bosses usually want to teach something once. If they taught it, and if you say you understand it, then you should be off to the races to then perform that new task. However, many times I know I’ve been guilty of having zero idea of what I was supposed to do, then to be cut loose to aimlessly wander for the next few hours. I look at my notes and think, “Hmm, I think they were talking about this…but I don’t know really what the this is.”
This can be especially difficult with lawyers, because we as a profession can love to just talk and tell stories. Ok, but sometimes an audience doesn’t soak in the material if you’re just talking at them. Sometimes your audience needs to have things listed or spelled out to know exactly what to do.
So, with this, when getting new assignments or training, do what you need to do to understand things at a first pass. Things that can help:
- When you know what the meeting/assignment will be in general about: Google the topic, so you have a working base knowledge of ideas, vocabulary, etc.
- Take notes in whatever way works for you. Some people can write quickly and understand everything they wrote. But some cannot — some absorb more by just listening and not taking notes. If that’s the case, ask your boss if you can record what she is explaining so you can review that recording later.
- Repeat tasks back to your boss to make sure you’re understanding it the way you’re being taught.
Is it your best work?
Ok, now that you have your assignment, fast forward. You’re about to turn in your assignment to your boss. Stop! Reverse roles with your boss. Look at what you’re about to turn in. Does it answer the call of the question? If so, does it answer it at the very beginning, or does the boss have to search for the answer? Hint: if there is no clear answer, say so in the beginning. And then neatly organize the topics and explain your research.
You want to make life easier for your boss and not actually create more work to decipher what you turned in.
Are you being consistent and timely?
A great question to end a meeting with is, “when do you need this by?” Or “how much time should I spend on this?” And then stick to those timelines.
Time management is key for you so the boss knows it can be key for her too. Sometimes you’ll find the estimated timeframe is not realistic. Well, say so. Many times as a boss, I knew when I gave an assignment that I didn’t understand how deep that area of law was, but I still wanted an answer by my given timeline, even if the answer included an acknowledgement that further research on a particular issue was necessary. As the boss, a timely response helped me understand where I needed to spend my resources if something was turning into a bigger issue. Many times it would be an issue for a trial that I thought was small but was actually something that was going to explode into a much bigger issue.
Do you need to send that email?
That email you’re about to send … does it need to be sent? Again, reverse roles with your boss. She is going to get that email, and then guess what: she’ll need to reply to it, which takes time.
Now reverse roles with yourself at a time when you’re super busy and you open your email to see you have a bazillion new emails.
Make sending emails an art. Remember that emails replaced the letter, so try to treat writing an email with the preparation, thoughtfulness, and possibly brevity as if you were sending a letter.