any attorneys out there who can offer advice about seeking job from out of state (Clarksville: renter) - Nashville - Tennessee (TN) - City-Data Forum

WantingoutofAz · 01-27-2009, 04:05 PM

Hi,

My husband and I have been wanting to relocate to the Nashville area for a while now. We first visited in Aug. of 2005 and fell in love with it. We then visited again in April of 2007 and quickly put our house on the market upon returning. Sadly, the market had already tanked here in Phx. and it took a year and a half for us to just rent out our house. We were not in a position to move without having our house here at least rented out. That was October of this year. As soon as we knew we had a renter my husband started applying for attorney positions in Nashville and Clarksville (we have friends in Pleasant View and would like to live in that area). Sadly, he has gotten only one phone interview in that whole time and there have been a good number of jobs he has applied for. One recruiter told him that the Nashville area firms/businesses do not really look at out of state applicants and that he would have a better chance of getting a job if he already lived there. Well, we have 5 children and I mostly stay home so there is no way for us to relocate without my husband having a job. We are both very disheartened as we are excited to move our family from Phoenix to Nashville.

Does anyone have any advice or ideas for my husband to make himself more marketable from out of state? He is in his 7th year of practicing law and has a wide range of areas he has worked in so it is not like he is a first year attorney looking for a job.

Thanks for any ideas. We are very anxious to not have to spend another hot summer here in Phx.

jbmill3 · 01-27-2009, 07:46 PM

Has he considered applying for a judicial clerkship in Nashville? Relatively low salary (for legal work), but it would get you here and open up many doors. He would probably have no trouble finding a job after a year of clerking.

Otherwise, though, the legal job market in Nashville is as bad as every other job market right now. There's not a lot of hiring going on.

bluesky42day · 01-27-2009, 09:11 PM

You could try a temp agency, my office has utilized attorneys & paralegals from Counsel on Call.

Big TR · 01-29-2009, 09:38 AM

I'm in corporate finance and I can tell you most places just aren't interested in interviewing out of state people. I just relocated in March and had the same issue. I was able to get a few interviews before I moved but that was only because I could tell them my wife already had a job. Had I not had that, I'm sure I wouldn't have even gotten a sniff.

The problem is that companies get burned interviewing out of towners who really want to move somewhere. The company says they'll hire them, then the person bails at the last minute. Usually it's because of cold feet and family.

Sorry to say it's probably not going to happen, especially given the job market.

DaveM123 · 01-29-2009, 10:11 AM

Another problem that companies face in hiring from out of state is that the employee gets hired, relocates, and then looks for another job once they relocate. Especially frustrating if the employer assisted with the relocation costs.

Nashter · 01-29-2009, 10:52 AM

wantingoutofaz,

i would say companies as a whole would interview candidates but most fell out of the competition against in-State candidates. it took a while for this to sink in to me and then I just decided to offer to the companies a huge pay cut plus just an initial 6-month contract to try me out. I just used this to level my chances against in-State candidates. it took time but I got one offer after close to 1 year of seeking. throughout the process I got to visit nashville 3 times for each final interviews. 3rd time's the charm for me.

i'm not an attorney so what i just said may not matter to you.

lokahi · 01-30-2009, 08:14 PM

I would contact the career services department at your husband's law school and get a list of alumni who might be living in the TN area. Even if he's been out of school for a while, this is a great resource. From there, your husband can talk with them over the phone and possibly fly out to meet them for an informational interview. This is a great way to start networking.

Also, if he's already a member of the TN Bar, he should be getting resources like the TN Bar News, etc. - he should look into joining the Nashville Bar Association and attending a few meetings, socials, etc. (even tho he might have to fly out to do it) - here's their website: Nashville Bar*Association Home

Also, if you have a friend or family member in the TN area, he could use their address when applying for jobs on his resume. PO Boxes look suspicious, tho. This way, it would look like he lives in the area.

The temp agency idea is good too. Special Counsel is another legal temp agency.

Is your husband barred in TN? He must be if he's applying for jobs there...if not, he needs to get his bar first and then apply, b/c firms def. won't hire him if he doesn't have his TN bar first.

Best of luck!

WantingoutofAz · 02-02-2009, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lokahi

I would contact the career services department at your husband's law school and get a list of alumni who might be living in the TN area. Even if he's been out of school for a while, this is a great resource. From there, your husband can talk with them over the phone and possibly fly out to meet them for an informational interview. This is a great way to start networking.

Also, if he's already a member of the TN Bar, he should be getting resources like the TN Bar News, etc. - he should look into joining the Nashville Bar Association and attending a few meetings, socials, etc. (even tho he might have to fly out to do it) - here's their website: Nashville Bar*Association Home

Also, if you have a friend or family member in the TN area, he could use their address when applying for jobs on his resume. PO Boxes look suspicious, tho. This way, it would look like he lives in the area.

The temp agency idea is good too. Special Counsel is another legal temp agency.

Is your husband barred in TN? He must be if he's applying for jobs there...if not, he needs to get his bar first and then apply, b/c firms def. won't hire him if he doesn't have his TN bar first.

Best of luck!

Lokahi,

Thanks for all of your advice. I appreciate everyone else's responses but it is nice to get at least one response that is not doom and gloom. My huband is barred in Tn. It was nice because he was able to waive in and did not have to take another bar exam. However, he said that he has not been receiving the Tn Bar News. He will have to look into that. He also looked into finding fellow alumni in Nashville but there were very few. He is a University of San Diego grad.

We do have good friends that live in Pleasant View and they have told us that my husband can use their address on his resume however I thought it would look a little odd that he has a Tn address but is currently working in Phx. He has even thought about getting a cell phone with a Tn area code. We are very serious about moving and it is frustrating to not be given the time of day.

My husband is going to start looking into even taking a contract job if there are any available. I am also a physical therapist but not yet licensed in Tn so we are toying with the idea of having me go back to work temporarily with a traveling company just to get us over there. But that is a last resort. Health care has much better job opportunities than law.

Thanks again for all of your advice. If you have anything else, I would love to hear it.

lokahi · 02-03-2009, 04:07 PM

You're welcome!

I'm glad that I was able to help...

Would your husband be interested in broadening his job search to the entire state of TN? That may not be your ideal situation, but most firms are at least national or statewide (unless he's looking for smaller firms) and he could get in with a statewide firm and then transfer to another part of the state once he's been there for awhile.

Another idea is to ask the career services dept. at San Diego State to set him up w/reciprocity for other career services depts in order to view their job listings. Basically, this means that he can view the job postings that other law schools put out, such as Vanderbilt, UT, etc. I can't remember if he needs to sign paperwork for this or not. They'll give him a user name and password for those websites, too.

Pls. feel free to direct message me if you need any additional info!

lokahi · 02-03-2009, 04:08 PM

Oh, has he thought about federal work? USAJobs is the federal job website - and there might be federal legal jobs out there, too.