If you are a licensed attorney and cannot obtain a full-time position practicing law because of the economy or fierce competition in the market place, you should look for contract work, also known as temporary work, or volunteer your services.  You should work as a contract attorney or volunteer your services to build your resume by developing skills, honing your interests, and developing an expertise.  This will increase your marketability.  Working as a contract attorney or a volunteer, i.e., pro bono, can also provide numerous networking opportunities to expand your professional contacts, which could increase your chances of finding publicized jobs and/or unpublished positions.  While it has been argued that contract attorneys typically earn less money, receive fewer benefits, and have little job security, the benefits of working as a contract attorney or a volunteer greatly exceeds that of remaining idol and stagnate.

Studies at UCLA and Stoney Brook University[i] found that there is an enduring bias against hiring unemployed job hunters with the same qualifications as the hired person.  Simply stated, an employed job seeker will get hired before an unemployed job seeker with the same credentials.  “Unemployment stigma exists… and leads to hiring bias against the unemployed,” regardless of the candidate’s qualifications.[ii]  In the studies, researchers found that unemployed job candidates were rated less competent than their employed peers.  One of the researchers explained that participants in the study were HR professionals as well as people from the general population who were divided into two groups and given an identical set of resumes of job applicants.[iii]  One group was told that the job applicants were currently employed while the other group was told that the applicants had been unemployed for about a month.[iv]  The participants were then asked to review and evaluate the resume of employed and unemployed job seeker.  The participants rated the unemployed candidate’s resume less favorably than the employed candidate’s resume on both perceived competence and warmth.”[v]  The study provides evidence that the mere status of being unemployed can lower the chances of attaining employment.  The study’s results suggest that unemployment stigma can lower the chances of an unemployed person attaining employment even when the qualifications of the unemployed job seeker and the employed job seeker are the same.

In conclusion, an unemployed attorney should work as a contract attorney or volunteer their services to:  build their skill-set; interests; develop an expertise; network; and importantly, avoid the unemployment stigma.