Doing Good During Downtime

by Liz O’Donnell (Boston)

Imagine you’re graduating from law school and have a job lined up with a well-respected law firm. You’re one of the lucky ones, right? Not necessarily. According to the AM Law Daily, several law firms have delayed the start for their first-year associates. Some are bringing a percentage of the new hires on in 2010 instead of 2009, and some are delaying a percentage of the hires, but not all. Given the current economic climate, firms have to adjust plans in order to weather the situation.

Goodwin Procter is one of the firms delaying starts from fall 2009 to fall 2010. However, the deferred associates have an interesting option for how to spend their year of delayed employment. The firm has partnered with NewProfit and CommonGood Careers, to place first-year associates in non-profit jobs for the year. CommonGood Careers is working closely with the non-profits to develop specific job descriptions that are applicable and attractive to the future attorneys. Goodwin Procter will pay the associates a stipend for the year of work.

According to Mike Kendall, Goodwin Procter’s Hiring Partner in Boston: “When we first began to consider the idea of deferring some of our associates, it occurred to us right away that it would be very difficult for a student to embrace the program unless it was very easy to participate. To us, that meant doing the legwork in advance to line up interesting and meaningful positions. A group that included our managing partner, the office hiring partners, heads of departments and the recruiting staff considered various ways to generate leads for public interest jobs. It was a fairly obvious idea to look to our existing pro bono client base for help in that process. New Profit, one of our pro bono clients, embraced the idea and connected us with their partner, Commongood Careers, a nonprofit search firm. Together we designed the Make a Difference initiative with the goal of making our program as compelling as possible for our incoming associates. The reaction we have gotten, both from our incoming students as well as law schools, pro bono organizations and others, has been remarkable.”

“It’s a win-win-win for the firm, the potential hires and the organizations,” said Mike Wilmot, Director, Fellowship Programs, Commongood Careers.

The Goodwin Procter associates will most likely realize some of the same benefits many displaced workers are getting from volunteering. Professionals used to fast-paced, achievement-focused careers are turning to volunteer work after losing their jobs due to the recession.

“Being unemployed has afforded me the opportunity to devote more time to volunteering,” says Marleen Graham, an IT professional. Graham volunteers with three non-profit organizations.

“Volunteering helps me to focus on the more important things in life and is a great distraction. It helps me to remain positive because I am thinking about helping others instead of sulking or worrying about my unemployed situation. I think about them and not me. It is very rewarding and you meet a lot of great people who also love helping others,” says Graham.

A lay off or a deferred start date can also give professionals some much needed breathing space to set priorities and gain exposure to organizations and people they may not have encountered on a traditional corporate trajectory.

Says one displaced female professional, “The economy shaping up to be what it is today, leaving my job voluntarily was not an option, though I thought of it many times as it was not very satisfying. Yet, when I was told to stop working after two years this February, and after a bit of readjusting mentally to my new status, my first thought was to finally not pass up the next volunteer opportunity that came my way.”

This woman found peace in planting trees for an edible landscape. “I was covered in poison oak for the next week and I scratched with pride,” she says.