In 2015, I left the practice of law to run my career branding and executive resume writing business. I spent a lot of time in the early years defending my decision and explaining why I left law to pursue what I had always dreamed of doing.
My father often shared a quote with me that his own father had passed down to him: “Choose a job you will love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” That Confucius quote sat in a frame on the wall of my father’s office for nearly 20 years. As a young attorney, I understood the words intellectually. Yet, it took me years, and a significant career pivot of my own, to truly understand what they meant in practice.
Just as I had to reimagine my own career and rediscover my purpose, my executive clients face the same dilemma.
They worked hard, climbed the corporate ladder, and built something impressive. Some have hit the ceiling. Others are seeking a career change as the antidote to years of career fatigue or a spark that has dimmed. What I’ve learned from working with over 1,750 senior legal and business leaders is this: before you make a move, you need to diagnose the root of the problem.
Understand Your Career Crossroad Before You Decide
Before you update your resume or fire off a message to a recruiter, ask yourself the question: is it the environment, or is it the work itself? These are two very different career crossroads with two very different solutions.
You might not fit in with the culture of Biglaw, but thrive in an in-house environment. You might love complex M&A work but feel depleted by the billable hour and the volume that comes with it. You might be at the right company but in the wrong role, or at the right career level but the wrong industry. Or you might be ready to step outside the practice of law altogether and explore an alternative legal career.
Identifying the root of your dissatisfaction with candor is the essential first step, because without it, you risk making a lateral move that relocates your unhappiness to a new address.
Reconnect With What Energizes You
One of the most powerful exercises I recommend to those who feel lost or uninspired is to identify the common threads of their career. Look back at every role, every project, every assignment that energized you. Where did you feel most passionate? What drove that passion?
For me, the common thread was writing and public speaking. In high school, I competed at local and national speech and debate tournaments. In college, I did pro bono writing and tutoring. In law school, I gravitated toward research and writing for the dean of students and several professors, as well as undertook courses focused on jurisprudence and advanced legal writing techniques. In my legal career, I was the designated brief writer. Every one of those threads pointed me toward the same thing, and yet it took more than a decade for me to connect those dots and reimagine my career around them.
You have your own common theme. The question is whether you’ve paused long enough to discover it.
Take a moment and reflect on your top skills and talents. Think about the things you’re not only good at, but that also energize you when you do them. Write down a list of what’s missing in your current role, and what you need from your next one. Don’t be afraid to pursue a path that feels like a departure from where you are now. With risk comes great reward, but you have to prepare adequately.
Tackle The Burnout Before You Make A Career Move
Career burnout is often accompanied by chronic stress, exhaustion, depleted energy, decreased motivation, and a growing negativity surrounding your work. You may be experiencing the infamous “Sunday Scaries.” You may feel lost, deflated, or withdrawn, not because you lack ambition, but because you’ve given so much for so long that you’ve lost sight of yourself in the process.
Before you take the leap into a new role or a new career path, take stock of where you are mentally and physically. Set and communicate clear boundaries. Consider working with an executive coach who can provide support and an outside perspective. Sometimes, we are so consumed by our own emotions that we cannot see ourselves objectively. An executive coach sees the 30,000-foot view of your career, and can help you identify roadblocks, create clarity from chaos, and develop a strategic plan for what comes next.
More than 85% of my senior executive and C-suite clients have worked with, or are concurrently working with, an executive or leadership coach. There is no shame in asking for support, and there is immeasurable value in it.
Invest In Your Skills And Your Career Value
One of the most powerful things you can do when you feel stagnant is to invest in yourself, which means growing new skills in emerging practice areas or expanding your executive acumen. Even if you’ve reached the C-suite, there is always room to learn and grow. Certificate programs and targeted online courses give you specialized training without the long-term time or financial commitment of a degree. They also give you something equally valuable: a renewed sense of purpose and engagement in your work.
Whether you’re pursuing an executive leadership certificate, board governance training, or ramping up your data privacy knowledge through the CIPP/US certification, investing in your skills signals to the market, and to yourself, that you’re deeply committed to professional growth and advancement.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping every industry, and the legal profession is no exception. Understanding the intersection of AI and your career is no longer optional for senior legal and business leaders. For a deeper look at how AI is affecting the job search process specifically, reference a recent webinar I co-presented with BarkerGilmore.
Build Your Strategy And Take Action
Your career is a marathon, not a sprint. If you haven’t already done a career and brand audit, start there. Review your performance evaluations. Build your brag sheet. Audit your resume and LinkedIn profile for brand clarity. Begin strengthening your network now, before you need it. As I’ve written previously, the Q4 job search rewards those who prepared in advance, not those who scrambled when the calendar flipped.
Make a list of targeted companies, firms, or leaders you want to reach out to. Seek out informational interviews — they remain one of the most underutilized yet powerful tools in your job search arsenal. Organize your outreach. Be sure to follow up. Nurture the relationships you build. The most effective job searches are organized, prepared, and proactive.
Reigniting That Spark
The career you love is not some distant, unreachable destination. It has been there in the background this entire time, waving at you. Sometimes all it takes is the courage and clarity to recognize it. You just have to decide it’s time to find that spark again.
Wendi Weiner is an attorney, career expert, and founder of The Writing Guru, an award-winning executive resume writing services company. Wendi creates powerful career and personal brands for attorneys, executives, and C-suite/Board leaders for their job search and digital footprint. She also writes for major publications about alternative careers for lawyers, personal branding, LinkedIn storytelling, career strategy, and the job search process. You can reach her by email at wendi@writingguru.net, connect with her on LinkedIn, and follow her on Twitter @thewritingguru.
The post When The Spark Is Gone: How To Reimagine Your Career And Rediscover Your Purpose appeared first on Above the Law.
In 2015, I left the practice of law to run my career branding and executive resume writing business. I spent a lot of time in the early years defending my decision and explaining why I left law to pursue what I had always dreamed of doing.
My father often shared a quote with me that his own father had passed down to him: “Choose a job you will love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” That Confucius quote sat in a frame on the wall of my father’s office for nearly 20 years. As a young attorney, I understood the words intellectually. Yet, it took me years, and a significant career pivot of my own, to truly understand what they meant in practice.
Just as I had to reimagine my own career and rediscover my purpose, my executive clients face the same dilemma.
They worked hard, climbed the corporate ladder, and built something impressive. Some have hit the ceiling. Others are seeking a career change as the antidote to years of career fatigue or a spark that has dimmed. What I’ve learned from working with over 1,750 senior legal and business leaders is this: before you make a move, you need to diagnose the root of the problem.
Understand Your Career Crossroad Before You Decide
Before you update your resume or fire off a message to a recruiter, ask yourself the question: is it the environment, or is it the work itself? These are two very different career crossroads with two very different solutions.
You might not fit in with the culture of Biglaw, but thrive in an in-house environment. You might love complex M&A work but feel depleted by the billable hour and the volume that comes with it. You might be at the right company but in the wrong role, or at the right career level but the wrong industry. Or you might be ready to step outside the practice of law altogether and explore an alternative legal career.
Identifying the root of your dissatisfaction with candor is the essential first step, because without it, you risk making a lateral move that relocates your unhappiness to a new address.
Reconnect With What Energizes You
One of the most powerful exercises I recommend to those who feel lost or uninspired is to identify the common threads of their career. Look back at every role, every project, every assignment that energized you. Where did you feel most passionate? What drove that passion?
For me, the common thread was writing and public speaking. In high school, I competed at local and national speech and debate tournaments. In college, I did pro bono writing and tutoring. In law school, I gravitated toward research and writing for the dean of students and several professors, as well as undertook courses focused on jurisprudence and advanced legal writing techniques. In my legal career, I was the designated brief writer. Every one of those threads pointed me toward the same thing, and yet it took more than a decade for me to connect those dots and reimagine my career around them.
You have your own common theme. The question is whether you’ve paused long enough to discover it.
Take a moment and reflect on your top skills and talents. Think about the things you’re not only good at, but that also energize you when you do them. Write down a list of what’s missing in your current role, and what you need from your next one. Don’t be afraid to pursue a path that feels like a departure from where you are now. With risk comes great reward, but you have to prepare adequately.
Tackle The Burnout Before You Make A Career Move
Career burnout is often accompanied by chronic stress, exhaustion, depleted energy, decreased motivation, and a growing negativity surrounding your work. You may be experiencing the infamous “Sunday Scaries.” You may feel lost, deflated, or withdrawn, not because you lack ambition, but because you’ve given so much for so long that you’ve lost sight of yourself in the process.
Before you take the leap into a new role or a new career path, take stock of where you are mentally and physically. Set and communicate clear boundaries. Consider working with an executive coach who can provide support and an outside perspective. Sometimes, we are so consumed by our own emotions that we cannot see ourselves objectively. An executive coach sees the 30,000-foot view of your career, and can help you identify roadblocks, create clarity from chaos, and develop a strategic plan for what comes next.
More than 85% of my senior executive and C-suite clients have worked with, or are concurrently working with, an executive or leadership coach. There is no shame in asking for support, and there is immeasurable value in it.
Invest In Your Skills And Your Career Value
One of the most powerful things you can do when you feel stagnant is to invest in yourself, which means growing new skills in emerging practice areas or expanding your executive acumen. Even if you’ve reached the C-suite, there is always room to learn and grow. Certificate programs and targeted online courses give you specialized training without the long-term time or financial commitment of a degree. They also give you something equally valuable: a renewed sense of purpose and engagement in your work.
Whether you’re pursuing an executive leadership certificate, board governance training, or ramping up your data privacy knowledge through the CIPP/US certification, investing in your skills signals to the market, and to yourself, that you’re deeply committed to professional growth and advancement.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping every industry, and the legal profession is no exception. Understanding the intersection of AI and your career is no longer optional for senior legal and business leaders. For a deeper look at how AI is affecting the job search process specifically, reference a recent webinar I co-presented with BarkerGilmore.
Build Your Strategy And Take Action
Your career is a marathon, not a sprint. If you haven’t already done a career and brand audit, start there. Review your performance evaluations. Build your brag sheet. Audit your resume and LinkedIn profile for brand clarity. Begin strengthening your network now, before you need it. As I’ve written previously, the Q4 job search rewards those who prepared in advance, not those who scrambled when the calendar flipped.
Make a list of targeted companies, firms, or leaders you want to reach out to. Seek out informational interviews — they remain one of the most underutilized yet powerful tools in your job search arsenal. Organize your outreach. Be sure to follow up. Nurture the relationships you build. The most effective job searches are organized, prepared, and proactive.
Reigniting That Spark
The career you love is not some distant, unreachable destination. It has been there in the background this entire time, waving at you. Sometimes all it takes is the courage and clarity to recognize it. You just have to decide it’s time to find that spark again.
Wendi Weiner is an attorney, career expert, and founder of The Writing Guru, an award-winning executive resume writing services company. Wendi creates powerful career and personal brands for attorneys, executives, and C-suite/Board leaders for their job search and digital footprint. She also writes for major publications about alternative careers for lawyers, personal branding, LinkedIn storytelling, career strategy, and the job search process. You can reach her by email at wendi@writingguru.net, connect with her on LinkedIn, and follow her on Twitter @thewritingguru.
The post When The Spark Is Gone: How To Reimagine Your Career And Rediscover Your Purpose appeared first on Above the Law.
