Interview question - biglaw associate interviewing for in-house and government jobs

[Anonymous]

So the bottom line here: Focus on the professional expertise, career challenge aspects of why you want to change and tread lightly on the quality of life issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous



So the bottom line here: Focus on the professional expertise, career challenge aspects of why you want to change and tread lightly on the quality of life issue.

+1.

[Anonymous]

I am a former Biglaw associate and am now at the SEC where i am on the hiring committee for my office. Many SEC attorneys are Biglaw refugees and will read between the lines. The quality of life however should not be brought up as people will think you lack judgment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous



So the bottom line here: Focus on the professional expertise, career challenge aspects of why you want to change and tread lightly on the quality of life issue.

+1.

Thanks all for the helpful advice. To respond to a few questions, I definitely want to contribute to and work hard for a new organization - just a little less hard - and I haven't posted on this topic before, but I know several women in my position so I think it's pretty common these days. Thanks again! --OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a former Biglaw associate and am now at the SEC where i am on the hiring committee for my office. Many SEC attorneys are Biglaw refugees and will read between the lines. The quality of life however should not be brought up as people will think you lack judgment.

True. After I joined my agency people would ask me for weeks how it compared to Biglaw, with the expectation of hearing how awful Biglaw hours were, etc. It was entertaining for them and they were all very aware of that many people left for that reason. But it was not part of the interview.

What shocked me, actually, was not that the hours were so much less -- although they were -- but how nice my new colleagues were. I had gotten used to the Biglaw model where when someone asked you in the elevator how your weekend was, the answer was always (and was always supposed to be) a roll of the eyes and a moan about working the whole weekend. At my agency, people actually do things other than work over the weekend, talk about them, and are interested in hearing what other people did. Actually interested, not just putting on a show. I've been there almost 3 years and it still surprises me sometimes. I love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a former Biglaw associate and am now at the SEC where i am on the hiring committee for my office. Many SEC attorneys are Biglaw refugees and will read between the lines. The quality of life however should not be brought up as people will think you lack judgment.

True. After I joined my agency people would ask me for weeks how it compared to Biglaw, with the expectation of hearing how awful Biglaw hours were, etc. It was entertaining for them and they were all very aware of that many people left for that reason. But it was not part of the interview.

What shocked me, actually, was not that the hours were so much less -- although they were -- but how nice my new colleagues were. I had gotten used to the Biglaw model where when someone asked you in the elevator how your weekend was, the answer was always (and was always supposed to be) a roll of the eyes and a moan about working the whole weekend. At my agency, people actually do things other than work over the weekend, talk about them, and are interested in hearing what other people did. Actually interested, not just putting on a show. I've been there almost 3 years and it still surprises me sometimes. I love it.

+1000. The people are so much nicer here. It's also nice not feeling like your boss is trying to grind every last billable hour out of you. Almost every day I walk out of here with a smile on my face and I haven't looked back once.

[Anonymous]

OP, another spin on the hours issues if you are interviewing in-house is that you are tired of having your relationship with the client tied to how many billable hours you can extract from them. It's a variation on the "and I want to understand the business" line of responses. As someone who has gone between in-house and firm life (including biglaw)---my experiences in-house have always made me a more time and cost efficient lawyer who can now ask useful questions regarding the business aspect of a deal which I would have never even known to ask when I was in a firm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a former Biglaw associate and am now at the SEC where i am on the hiring committee for my office. Many SEC attorneys are Biglaw refugees and will read between the lines. The quality of life however should not be brought up as people will think you lack judgment.

I am at another agency that gets a lot of BigLaw candidates. This is spot on! Hopefully, you will have some insight regarding the work culture when you interview. If I am interviewing a candidate, I am more interested in how they would help my team. I would automatically assume that are not interested in working law firm hours so they do not need to mention it. That MIGHT be a question you ask the HR contact, but i would not mention it in an interview with an attorney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, another spin on the hours issues if you are interviewing in-house is that you are tired of having your relationship with the client tied to how many billable hours you can extract from them. It's a variation on the "and I want to understand the business" line of responses. As someone who has gone between in-house and firm life (including biglaw)---my experiences in-house have always made me a more time and cost efficient lawyer who can now ask useful questions regarding the business aspect of a deal which I would have never even known to ask when I was in a firm.

Good point.

[Anonymous]

I agree that everyone will assume you don't want to work law firm hours, so what you need to sell is why you want to work for this agency. When you applied to law firms you had to explain why you wants to work for that firm over others, same deal.

When I made the jump, I was surprised that people focused on making sure I was certain about the pay cut. This happened at two agencies. I now realize how many hoops you have to jump through to hire someone in the federal government and how annoying it is to make an offer and have it rejected because the person then realized she could not handle the cut in income.

It is important for you to convey that you are serious about leaving your firm and that you are not interviewing just to check out your options or because you had a bad month.

[Anonymous]

this was years ago, but I definitely mentioned work/life balance as one of the reasons I wanted to leave my Big Law job in interviews. It wasn't the first thing I mentioned, but I didn't shy away from it, and I got several offers - both govt and in-house. Job market was a lot better then though.

As an in-house lawyer who does interviews, I would definitely not hold it against you if you mentioned work/life balance as a reason you're looking to leave. That's the reality of why most of us left. Of course - it shouldn't be the first or only reason. But it's perfectly normal to like what you do, but just not want to do it for 80 hours a week.

[Anonymous]

For the PPs above who said they work in agencies with really nice people, do you mind sharing where you work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the PPs above who said they work in agencies with really nice people, do you mind sharing where you work?

I was one of those PPs -- I work at MSPB. Love the people.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I think a great angle would be how you really want to help clients solve problems on the front end before their problems turn into big-law style litigation. Say your fave part of the job is working with clients and you would love to take your Excellent Understanding of X Subject and apply it in a position that involves more teamwork with the client.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the PPs above who said they work in agencies with really nice people, do you mind sharing where you work?

I was one of those PPs -- I work at MSPB. Love the people.

OMG - I'd die of boredom there.