Using My Soft Skills in Law School
School is never easy, early wake-up times, long days, active listening, taking notes, etc. Now imagine trying to get back into that routine after graduating from undergrad and taking a two-year hiatus. You must be thinking, wow that must be tough! And you’re right it is, but let me tell you why I believe that it will help me and succeed in law school and in the real world.
In the two years between graduation from undergrad and beginning law school, I worked a variety of jobs ranging from sales, marketing, management, and even physical labour. Each one of these roles has changed my outlook on life and has allowed me to develop skills I would have never had the privilege of developing had I gone straight from undergrad to law school. Let’s go through what each job taught me. I promise I’ll tell you why I’m spending my time writing about this at the end, so keep reading.
Working in sales is where I learned the most important lesson that has stuck with me and will continue to benefit me in law school and beyond. Sales taught me what rejection really felt like. There was no worse feeling in the world than cold calling someone and having them call you every name in the book before they hung up on you. But what this experience taught me is that having a strong backbone is necessary in the real world and that rejection only makes you stronger.
In fact, I strongly believe that the rejection I faced during my time as a glorified telemarketer actually helped me cope with the stress of law school rejection. Had I not had that experience, who knows how the stress and anxiety I felt when facing law school rejection would have impacted me had I not build up that backbone.
When I retired from my career in sales I moved on to a role as an event staff member at a party rentals company. I managed to stay at this company for over a year and work my way up to a management role in the special partnerships and marketing division of the business. Working physical labour, as one may imagine was not only physically demanding but mentally draining. The crew would spend half our day loading and unloading trucks with heavy equipment then setting up and tearing down events, this commonly led to days of 11 to 12-hour shifts.
My time in this role was not only humbling but also led me to appreciate just how important a good education is in this world. All those years I spent in school wishing I could just go out into the workforce and make money or when I had the “no more school” mentality as so many young people do, went right out the window. Working in this role actually made me miss school and the ability it has to open doors and opportunities that would otherwise never be available.
Without this experience, I would not have the appreciation and respect for academia as I do now. I certainly believe that I would not be as determined to reach my career goals and truly appreciate how hard it is to earn a dollar had I not worked in physical labour.
With that being said, I was lucky enough to have had my boss notice that I was capable of more, and was given the amazing opportunity to spearhead the development of a Canada wide marketing program working with fortune 500 companies and Canadian universities and colleges across the country. This provided me with the opportunity to network with executives of some of the biggest consumer brands in Canada and develop and lead a team of 40+ brand ambassadors representing our clients on university campuses countrywide.
This experience allowed me to develop many skills such as high-level communication abilities including face to face, over the phone, and electronically (all necessities for the legal profession). I was also able to hone in on improving my organizational, time management, and leadership skills which allowed me to succeed in this position. Without this opportunity, I would have never been able to develop these skills and would have entered law school with a much more juvenile mind frame and skill set than I currently possess.
So you must be wondering, Ryan why are you telling me about your past non-legal jobs? Great question! The point I am trying to convey here is that there is no rush to enter into higher education right after undergrad unless you truly feel ready.
Law school requires a level of maturity I certainly did not possess at 22 years old. I’m not saying I’m some mature, old, serious guy now, but I definitely have developed and grown as a human being in the modern world after having experienced two years of being in the workforce.
The other lesson I am trying to convey is that, if you want to go to law school, you do not need to have a job at a law firm beforehand, sure it may be helpful, but it is by no means a necessity. I developed the maturity and skillset in positions completely unrelated to law that I know will help me succeed in my legal career and as a law student.
There is a lot of pressure these days to get our lives started fast and make decisions about what we want to do with our futures from a young age, whether that begins in high school, in university, or afterward.
My take on all this is: know what’s best for you. By that, I mean to think about what you’re good at and what your weaknesses are. Use the time before you attend law school to develop these aspects of yourself.
Life as a law student and as a lawyer require a diverse number of skills that are developed through any kind of work experience, so don’t stress if you don’t have any legal experience when applying to law because I sure didn’t…yet here I am.
