Ann Israel is the legal profession's Dear Abby. A New York legal recruiter since 1979, Ann is a past president of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants. Advice for the Lawlorn is updated every week.

Q: I am a 40-something Mom who graduated law school almost twenty years ago. After working solo in real estate, I took a 10-year break to raise my kids. How do I get back into the workforce now?

Dear Back-To-Work: Dust off your resume, call some recruiters, press your interviewing suit and get ready to return to the working world.

Is that what you thought you might hear from me? Have you been listening to the news lately? Do you have any idea as to what is going on in the legal community these days?

I need to mention a few other things to you -- your practice area of real estate is not the most vibrant practice area at this time. Although I hate to make assumptions, I am going to assume that working as a sole practitioner, your practice more than likely focused on residential real estate rather than commercial. Residential real estate at the moment is not a booming area of the law, just in case you hadn't noticed.

Additionally, working as a solo practitioner doesn't provide you with the greatest resume to get back into the market, particularly at this time -- especially when you left that practice 10 years ago.

Yes, I understand that you did it to raise your family, but employers don't really take that under consideration when they are comparing candidates.

So, am I telling you that it is too late and you will never work again? No, of course not.

All I am saying is that you need to be realistic, understand the job market conditions at this time, and know that the ideas you had for the type of employer you planned to work for might have to be scaled down a bit.

In other words, if you thought that you wanted to work for a BigLaw firm in their burgeoning real estate department, you might want to rethink those dreams. Right now what you want is a company or firm that is hiring, paying a fair wage and seems to be solid. What more could anyone ask for at this time?

First of all, what you need to do is be prepared for a lot of work involved with your job search. Right now, any job search is not for the faint of heart. Although I generally believe that cover letters are not really read, in your specific situation, a cover letter is going to be critical for you to get an interview. This is where you need to plead your case, so to speak.

I might suggest trying to work with a resume service, and I expect that there are some excellent ones in New York. As part of their service, one would assume that they do not just do resumes, but also can help you with a strong cover letter. If not, find another company. In your case, I believe that the cover letter is actually going to be as important, if not more important, than the resume.

Once you have your resume and cover letter finalized, send it off to anyone -- and everyone -- you can imagine. Then get out there and network, network, network. Get to every event, bar happening and anything that has to do with lawyers. Call all the headhunters even though they might tell you they can't help you. One of them might know someone.

Call your law school's career services office as many times as you feel is necessary. Be that squeaky wheel.

Right now you do have a job -- and that job is finding a job as an attorney, so think of yourself as working full-time. Leave no stone unturned. This isn't going to be easy, but then, nothing worthwhile is ever easy.

Someone somewhere is going to want your legal services, if for no other reason than for your tenacious personality in trying to find a job.

And for those of you reading this column today, if you haven't figured it out yet -- I am writing this column for all of you out there who are unemployed and looking for work, not just for the one person who wrote this question to me this week. Best wishes!

Sincerely,
Ann Israel
President, Ann Israel & Associates