5 Simple Steps to Fight Age Discrimination June 2014 | Page 22

Just like a salesperson, you need to develop a Pain
Hypothesis for your hiring manager or supervising legal
professional. If you answer questions in sheep-like
fashion, trying hard to please, you are going to fail. Or, if
you are seeking to carve a new position in your firm’s
present structure, you will be rejected.
This isn’t about your needs. It’s about what needs you can
fill missing within the firm. It’s in the comparison process
where topics like age can hurt you. “We could hire Philip,
who could do this job in his sleep,” the manager might say,
“Or Sarah, who’s going to grow into it but who could be
here for years to come.”
You don’t want to be in that police lineup, and the way out
of it is to use your time to probe for business pain.

Get your manager talking about what’s really
going on behind the scenes. You’ll find that
the quality of the conversation shifts dramatically. Here’s the perfect opportunity to
allow your experience and recent continuing
legal education work for you.

Strategy: Put your experience and recent continuing legal
education to work for you.