Many industries suffered greatly during the last few years. And I imagine that anyone in the legal industry knows this fact to be true. The legal job market was ravaged, with layoffs and hiring freezes.

I know several associates who were laid off from top firms. Some hung up their own shingles. Others moved to a different city or even country. Some chose alternative careers to law. And some took to contracting.

A New York Times article presented a very interesting perspective on this “racial inequality” in the workforce.  It seems like the all-American workforce may not be as tolerant as one would hope, according to this article.  And despite the fact that we have a president named “Barack Obama”, sometimes “Barry Obama” would have an easier time landing a job.

Or let’s consider a different New York Times article that speaks of a Chicago woman, Tahani Tomkins, who struggled to get interviews until she changed her resume name to “T.S. Tomkins”, due to the racial inequity in hiring. 

Do you want to have a successful job interview?

First impressions matter. Well, that’s what they say. And if New Yorker writer and bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell has anything to say, it’s that the average human makes decisions within the first two seconds. Macolm Gladwell has written several books, most notably The Tipping Point, about consumer behavior. But Blink is the book that speaks to the phenomenon of first impressions and gut instinct.

According to Gladwell, the subconscious of the human mind processes information that we, ourselves, don’t even realize we are intaking. Basically, we are capable of drawing conclusions at a very early stage in the game.

Many firms have implemented supposed “Diversity Initiatives” in recent years as a response to the underepresentation of minorities in the practice of law. How honest are these initiatives? How many firms honestly care about increasing diversity in the workplace? Lately, many firms have been taking supposed pro-active steps to foster an environment that favors diversity. But do the words “equal opportunity employer” on a firm’s website really mean that they intend to hire visible minorities? Does hiring a Diversity Director exonerate a firm from it’s duty to create a true and reflective environment where diversity can thrive?