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Sigh, this is my final post for Ms. JD as a 2018 Writer in Residence.  I want to close with a dose of good cheer and optimism for your career, in 2019 and beyond, by offering up a career cocktail recipe and toast to send you off merrily into the New Year!

First, allow me to give due credit to the source of my inspiration for this post.  I have not met or spoken with Cheryl Rich Heisler, who runs Chicago-based Lawternatives (a career consultancy), but I watched her entertaining and insightful webinar from the ABA Alternative Career Advice Series entitled ‘Pouring Over Your Next Career’ (citation below).  In addition to sharing stories of her own JD Preferred career (from BigLaw to Brand Management to Career Coaching and now Mixology under her business Mixed MetaPours), the webinar is chock full of deep insights and lays out a path for other lawyers exploring a career transition.  Aside from the thought provoking content, it is full of delightful cocktail puns and metaphors: “Are you pouring over your career future?  Muddling through your next steps?  Straining to shake things up?"  I urge you to watch this webinar as your next step (and peruse all of the ABA's Alternative Career Advice Series thereafter), which expands on the many topics I’ve been discussing throughout the year.

Finally, tying together all of my previous blog posts and building on Ms. Heisler’s cocktail analogies, I present you with my official JD Preferred Cocktail Recipe:

1. Learn the JD Preferred landscape: The Big Picture
2. Pick your ingredients (strengths): JD Skill Drill
3. Find your spirit of choice: JD Preferred Career Quiz
4. Muddle together a plan: A Career Planning Primer
5. Shake it up (seek out other JD Preferred professionals): e.g., Compliance Officer, Data & Tech Consultant, Recruiter, Business Owner & Real Estate Agent.   
6. Garnish with a recruiter: Straight from the Source
7. Combine all of the above and be patient with the process.
8. Take a sip and enjoy the fruits of your labor! 

Note that most JD Preferred careers are muddled and shaken, rarely do they come neat and smooth!

Now what shall we call it: JDtini?  Blawdy Mary?  JD & Tonic?  Lawng Island Iced Tea?  How about a Sidebar?! 

Ok, ok, before you write me off as a total cheeseball, allow me to leave you with a toast:

Thank you dear readers for joining me on this JD Preferred writing project over the past year.  I hope it was helpful in guiding your journey.  I wish you many successes, both personally and professionally.  Please feel free to write me a comment below or connect with me on LinkedIn.  I’d love to hear from you!

You can access all of my archived Ms. JD blog posts here.

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Webinar citation: Heisler, Cheryl Rich (2018, February 12). Alternative Careers: Pouring Over Your Next Career [Webinar]. American Bar Association Alternative Career Advice Series. Retrieved from http://www.abalcc.org/2018/02/12/video-alternative-careers-pouring-next-career/.