My Ideal Job Exercise - Hastings College of the Law

My Ideal Job
Office of Career & Professional Development
© 2011, U.C. Hastings College of the Law
Understanding the components of your ideal job helps you evaluate opportunities as they arise.
Criteria What I really want/need What I really don’t want/need
Interests
(specialties, areas of
practice, types of
assignments, etc.,
characteristics of some
jobs)
Why did you go to law
school? What do you
enjoy doing?
Skills you want to use
(those generally used in
job settings)
What skills have you
acquired that you enjoy
using?
Identify interests which realistically
could be explored and satisfied in
an ideal job. Examples: patents,
nature conservancy, immigration.
Legal or other skills you have
acquired and those you want to
learn and use in my ideal job.
Examples: research, client
relations, oral advocacy.
List areas which you don’t
especially enjoy or wouldn’t want
to work on in your job. Examples:
child custody issues, public
speaking.
Skills you have acquired but don’t
particularly want to use on a job
or to use only incidentally.
Examples: business
development, written advocacy.
Values
What is really important
to you?
People
What kinds of people
do you enjoy spending
time with? What kinds
of people do you
generally avoid?
List values you want embodied in
your ideal organization. Examples:
work/life balance, job security.
Types of people you would really
enjoy as colleagues or clients.
Examples: inventors seeking
patents, the elderly.
List values you don’t value.
Examples: high financial rewards,
serving the public interest.
Types of people you would not
enjoy as colleagues or clients.
Examples: scientists, people
accused of crimes.
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Criteria What I really want/need What I really don’t want/need
Working Environment
(tangible & intangible
characteristics)
What’s important to you
on a daily basis?
List concrete examples of where
your ideal job would be located,
the hours, mode of commuting,
what people wear there to work,
etc.
Examples: suburban office
building with parking adjacent.
Informal communications and
dress code.
List characteristics which turn
you off, such as specific
locations, types of clients, etc.
Examples: high rise office
building accessible by public
transportation; formal
communications via voice and e-
mail.
Salary and Benefits
Reviewing your post-JD
budget, what do you
need to meet fixed
monthly expenses (rent,
food, loan repayments,
commuting costs, etc.)?
What else do you want
to do with your salary?
Specify what you want to support
your fixed expenses and lifestyle.
Suggestion: Figure out your fixed
expenses (housing, insurances,
transportation, food, clothing, etc.)
and estimate your discretionary
spending for how you want to live
(eating out, vacations, etc.)
Know the salary/benefits on
which you won’t compromise—
your bottom line! Suggestion:
you don’t need to share this
number or information, but you
need to know the minimum salary
and benefits you are able to
accept.
Long Term Goals
Where would you like to
be professionally in 5
years?
What are these goals? What is your legal focus? How do/don’t you
expect this first job to help move you towards your ideal job?
Lifestyle & Motivation
What do you really want
to do in your life and
how hard are you
willing to work in order
to achieve it?
What do you want to be able to enjoy outside of the job? Realistically,
how hard are you willing to work? How much of a trade-off are you
willing to accept between lifestyle and the realistic demands of the
ideal job? Are there internal conflicts (what you want vs. what you feel
is expected of you; what you feel you should want vs. what you really
want?)
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