Interviewing for a Job? Try Asking This Question
A recently retired BigLaw partner has a suggestion for would-be associates interviewing for jobs with law firms.
Writing for the American Lawyer, former Kirkland & Ellis partner Steven Harper says job hunters may be trying to figure out whether a law firm is a good fit. Toward that end, he says one question, posed about the interviewer’s own career, may tell you a lot.
Although the question may need to be modified, based on the interviewer’s age, this is it: “Can you briefly sketch your own career highlights at the firm as, say, a second-year associate, a fifth-year associate, a nonequity partner, and now?”
The answers can provide insights into opportunities, mentoring, lifestyle, working environment and firm culture, Harper says. He acknowledges that some job hunters will take any job offer, no matter what the answer. Even so, asking the question might prompt the interviewers to think about their own career choices.
He recalls posing his question some 30 years ago to a young partner at a New York law firm, who said he had spent 10 years on a single large lawsuit and hadn’t seen the inside of a courtroom, or much of his family. With that answer, “I learned everything I needed to know about the place,” Harper writes.
