Secret in-house lawyer - an employer's perspective on the traineeship interview

Our secret in-house solicitor contemplates what employers could do to help candidates overcome any nerves for that all-important traineeship interview.

“Final question.”

The prospective trainee in front of me perks up. This is it. Make or break or time for their application to join our legal team. 

“Tell me three words to describe yourself.”

 They pause. Then they hesitate. Then a silence descends. I wait. And wait.

Time passes. I check my watch. It’s still Monday. Just.

They open their mouth, then close it. They’re thinking.

I wait.

I check the calendar. It’s still 2018. Just.

“Any three words…” I prompt.

“Decisive!” They say, despite all evidence of the last five minutes/century.

“Excellent. And two other words…”

They pause. Dear God. Not again.

I wait.

I check my pulse. I’ve been waiting so long that I think I must surely have lived my entire life already. 

“Attention to detail!” they exclaim, again, despite all evidence that they had two words, not three.

“That’s three words,” I say, “could you describe yourself using just one word for attention to detail?”

I try and smile and offer a reassuring “don’t worry about it” look as I wait… and wait… and wait.

“Sorry,” they say, “I can’t think of anything else.”

“That’s okay,” I say before mentally crossing them off the list to join the team as a prospective trainee.

It’s pity they failed the final test. On paper they appeared the perfect candidate. Good grades. Relevant subjects. Excellent application form and experience. However, in person, they were nervous and it showed – yet, later that day,  I start to wonder whether there was more I could have done to help them settle. The pressure on students to clinch traineeships is immense. No wonder candidates showed nerves. It wasn’t a job, it was the rest of their life they were applying for.

I remember my own interview to become a trainee. Was I confident? Did I know anything about working as a lawyer? Would I have been able to describe myself in three words? No. No. No. And then I remember the things that I felt most nervous about were not asking questions but were actually more basic than that. Wearing a suit. Going to an office. Sitting in a boardroom. As lawyers we take that for granted (except the suit wearing part, the best bit about being in-house is not having to suit up to meet people!). But for prospective trainees who may have little or no experience of working in offices it can be daunting to just attend an interview.

So, for future trainees, I swear I will do more to think about how they see the interview process: could I meet them informally for coffee? What steps could I take to manage the interview to put them at ease? Because traineeship interviews are not like other interviews and prospective trainees deserve more from their prospective employers - applying to be a trainee is not, using three other words, “just another job”.