Questioning Your Roadmap

Informational interviews are essential for making connections with people and putting the pieces together for your own life roadmap. In this post, I'd like to share an interview I conducted to try to learn more about a possible career interest of mine.

Law school is still possibly in the cards for me at this time, as the law occupation has continually interested me along with finance and real estate. So, I decided to interview an immigration lawyer, combining my interests of law and social justice, in order to learn more about the field. In my discussion with Richard Harding, an alumni of UCLA Law School, I was able to get a better insight on what his job looks like day to day.

Q: How did you get started in your career?

A: I got started in my career through a connection I made with Global Immigration Partners. They had an internship for students at Cal State Northridge, so I applied for it. I did small tasks for them for a couple of months and then a job opening at their firm opened up, and then I got the job.

Q: Describe a typical workday.

A: A typical workday. Well, I come in at the office at around eight or nine in the morning and sit at a computer for like ten to twelve hours. It’s really not that exciting. I have to do a lot of communication by phone or email to clients because most of them are not very close. I do a lot of researching, follow ups, and meeting with correspondents from the government. I talk to other attorneys and really do a lot of writing and communication mostly, just in different forms.

Q: How many hours do you work a day/how many days a week?

A: I work approximately nine to ten hours per day. I mean that’s pretty common, but it can vary from eight hours to even fourteen. Regular weeks I work 5 days, but I can also work the weekends if there is more that needs to be done.

Q: How much vacation time do you receive a year?

A: I receive twelve vacation days, about ten to twelve paid holidays, and five paid sick days per year.

Q: Do you do a lot of paperwork/computer work?

A: Yes. I do a ton of computer work and some paperwork. About 90% of my day is spent doing computer work and paperwork. It really takes up a bulk of my day.

Q: Favorite parts of your career?

A: Really what makes me enjoy my job is knowing that I’m helping a person and or family from being deported and taken out of this country. I like the satisfaction I get from winning a case and making a difference in someone else’s life.

Q: What are the challenges?

A: The challenges are that it is very fast-paced. You always need to stay on top of deadlines. Also, working with clients can be a major problem, especially if they are super demanding. Communication can be really difficult if the client does not speak English as their first language, which can happen quite often. This line of work is also very detail-intensive as everything must be worded correctly to send it to the government.

Q: What is something most people do not know about your career?

A: There is a general misconception of lawyers and attorneys as a whole. They are not always in court, as most TV shows and movies display. Most of the time they are actually researching and writing reports.

Q: What skills are needed to be successful in this career?

A: The specific skill set needed to be successful in my career includes a good comprehension of the English language. You need to be able to write and speak well to be able to excel in this career. Written and verbal communication skills are key to an attorney’s success in addition to being able to do research. I have also learned that being good at computers, meaning email, Microsoft Office, Excel, and Outlook can really help. Also, you must be flexible, as many changes to law will happen and you just have to roll with it as you go along with your case.

This interview really gave me good insight on what this career and career path might look like. It has given me needed information to help me make a decision on whether I would like to pursue a career in law. Corporate law is a possible area I thought I might want to pursue.

I have practiced, first of all, how to get started in a job search. That is to take every opportunity given to you, including every internship that will put yourself out there for people to find. It is important for a person to allow other people to get the chance to know you, understand the things you know and do, and be able to show what you are capable of accomplishing so you have more connections available to you for the future. It is possible one of these connections that you establish early in your life may turn into a job opportunity some day in the future.

Nothing happens by accident and you have to put yourself out there to get a job, make connections with people that can help you or notice your skills whether it be in business, law, or some other field. After reading this, I hope you are inspired to take a risk and ask someone in a career that interests you some of these questions to help push you forward on your amazing life journey.