"Hello Tia. This is Michael Carson. I am calling to conduct a telephone interview for the position of Junior Commercial Lawyer that was advertised with DirectLink Recruitment. Do you have maybe 20 minutes to spare?"
Hmm he sounded young and cute. (Is it possible to judge a guy by their voice?).
Ok get back on track, Tia. Twenty minutes? Well, I had until 1.00pm til my lunch break finished. Twenty minutes should cut it.
After all, I had been waiting for Michael's phone call all day - I'd been "prepping" my answers to his imaginary questions all morning.
"Hi Michael, nice to hear from you. Twenty minutes is fine."
Wow I sounded so professional. *Inner giggle*.
"Well, first things first. I would like to tell you a little bit about this firm, my role here, and why we're seeking to recruit...."
Michael told me he was a partner at a boutique firm on the city fringe. The firm specialised in commercial transactions, as well as having a strong litigation department. Because of the great property boom, the firm was experiencing a lack of staff to meet the needs of their commercial clients. Michael said they were also looking to expand in environmental law (a great thing for me, because I've always wanted to practice in that area), to make their practice more diversified.
"So basically, we're really hoping to find someone to work closely with me in the commercial department. We've got a very low turnover, and the workplace environment is quite laid back. We encourage a work-life balance, because we understand that young lawyers, like yourself, need "me" time..."
Geez, he's got me sold.
Michael kept talking for a few more minutes before he said, "Now I'll turn the attention to you. I see from your curriculum vitae that you've got some experience in commercial and succession law..."
Here we go, Tia. Summon all your "prepped" answers for the ready.
"Do you have much client contact in relation to the files that you run?"
Oooh I hadn't expected this question.
"Yes. I have 100% client contact with all my files. The partners at work encourage client contact - a notion that I absolutely agree with - since it "personalises" the matter and gives me a chance to understand the clients that I work for."
*Inner giggle*. Not bad, not bad.
"That's fantastic. We also encourage as much client contact as possible. Now, in terms of client management, how would you approach an irate client?"
Yikes. If I told the truth, he'd laugh at me. I've had to deal with a few irate clients. It's not the best thing to look forward to, really.
I chose to respond with the "theoritical" answer: "I would ask what made the client irate in the first place (if the client hadn't told me already) and then suggest solutions to his/ her problem."
Pffft. Sounded great in theory. Quite a different story when you have a client shouting at you over the phone and telling you how "incompetent" you are - even when the problem arose because of the client's incompetence. It's also almost impossible to calm a client down when they're emotional. Although, you do get the occassional nice client who sends you wine or flowers for all the hard work that you've done. It's only because of those clients that I hang on to my job. Otherwise, I would've quit a long time ago. Ahhh the joys of client interaction.
"I see. That's a great approach."
Michael reallyyyy sounded nice. Hmmm.
"And how often do you come to the city, Tia? Once a month? Once every two months?"
Oh. Wonder why he's asking?
"Well I usually come to the city once every month to visit my family. But I only spend the weekend - well, because of work...you know how it is."
"Yeah, I know how it is. Well, if we decide to take you on board, would you like to catch up with me and the other partners one weekend that you're in the city, so we can get to know you?"
Gee, how do you take that?!
"Sure. That'd be great."
Michael then told me he'd speak with DirectLink Recruitment Dan about my application, and that "we'd go from there".
Fingers crossed. I guess I'll be waiting by my cell phone again...
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