Friday, September 29, 2006
Career Counseling
I've been interviewing a lot of candidates for my firm lately, and I have to admit it's sort of been a challenge. Believe it or not, I find it kind of difficult to sum up someone's worth after talking to them for only half an hour about how being a counselor at a tennis camp gave them leadership skills or how their lifelong dream has been to help large corporations essentially dig at each other with rusty knives. I find myself saying generic things like "Kevin had good communication skills" (translation: Kevin did not scream obscenities during the interview) or "Michelle seemed to have a genuine interest in corporate litigation" (Michelle stayed awake the whole time). And I end up recommending everyone for an offer. I mean, seriously, if I feel like saying bad things about people I'll just turn on the E! network, okay?
I do sometimes think about the fun ways I could freak people out during the interviews, though. Like by greeting them in German. Or breaking out in song halfway through. (My choice would be "The Rose" by Bette Midler.) Or posing elaborate scenarios as questions, for instance forcing them to choose between saving a bus full of orphans that's about to go over a cliff and drafting a super, super important appellate brief. Or taking off my pants.
If I keep thinking like this, I'LL be interviewing soon.
I've been interviewing a lot of candidates for my firm lately, and I have to admit it's sort of been a challenge. Believe it or not, I find it kind of difficult to sum up someone's worth after talking to them for only half an hour about how being a counselor at a tennis camp gave them leadership skills or how their lifelong dream has been to help large corporations essentially dig at each other with rusty knives. I find myself saying generic things like "Kevin had good communication skills" (translation: Kevin did not scream obscenities during the interview) or "Michelle seemed to have a genuine interest in corporate litigation" (Michelle stayed awake the whole time). And I end up recommending everyone for an offer. I mean, seriously, if I feel like saying bad things about people I'll just turn on the E! network, okay?
I do sometimes think about the fun ways I could freak people out during the interviews, though. Like by greeting them in German. Or breaking out in song halfway through. (My choice would be "The Rose" by Bette Midler.) Or posing elaborate scenarios as questions, for instance forcing them to choose between saving a bus full of orphans that's about to go over a cliff and drafting a super, super important appellate brief. Or taking off my pants.
If I keep thinking like this, I'LL be interviewing soon.
