How to Address Salary History Questions as a High-Paid Global Law Firm Associate?

Description

• Q&A clip by Harrison: Young attorneys' goal is to continue working and be happy.
• Concentrating only on salary is insane, staying employed is important.
• When asked about salary, say it was very high in previous firm, but goal is to work in a happy place and be rewarded in the long run.
• Being honest in statements is important.

Transcript

Transcript:

Okay, so the first thing to understand is if you're a young attorney in your twenties, your goal is to continue working. It's not to get the highest salary in as much money as you can right now. Now, there's nothing wrong with wanting to make a high salary. That's, of course, everyone wants to do. But your goal is to continue working, and your goal is to be happy working.

So if you're concentrating on your salary, that's insane. People do this again, and you're making that the only thing you're trying to do is get a high salary. That's not going to help you. What you need to do is you need to worry about trying to stay employed, all these sorts of things that are important to you.

If a law firm asks you about your salary, you say your salary is very high. That is what you said. It was very high in my previous big law firm. I don't want to scare anybody away, and I was fortunate enough to get this job. I realized that these sorts of salaries are unique in the market. My goal is to work at a place where I'm happy, where I have potential, all these sorts of things, and to be rewarded for my efforts in the long run.

Those sorts of statements you're saying here are very honest. This is all you need to say is what you've said.