Description
- Deciphering Silence: Not hearing back after a big law firm interview could imply various scenarios, such as waiting on another offer, ongoing interviews, or a business slowdown. Understanding these possibilities helps alleviate concerns.
- Strategic Follow-Up: Crafting a follow-up email requires finesse. Express genuine enjoyment from the interview, acknowledge the decision process, and convey hope for future discussions. Keep it brief to avoid appearing desperate.
- Maintaining a Chase: Striking a balance between showcasing interest and avoiding desperation is crucial. Law firms prefer candidates who appear in demand, creating a sense of pursuit.
- Dating Analogy: Harrison emphasizes maintaining a sense of chase by drawing parallels to dating. Acting like you're in demand can make you more appealing to potential employers.
- Establishing Dialogue: Powerful candidates can establish an immediate dialogue with employers, showcasing value and comfort. While not everyone may achieve this, making an effort to connect personally can leave a lasting impression.
- Projecting Strength: Like representing a client, projecting strength and value is crucial. Avoiding desperation and projecting strength are vital elements in post-interview follow-ups.
- Personal Connections: Drawing from experiences, Harrison highlights the power of establishing a dialogue with the employer. Making personal connections, being comfortable on calls, and projecting value can significantly enhance your chances.
- Striking a Balance: The key is to balance showcasing interest and maintaining a level of demand. Avoiding desperation and projecting strength are vital elements in post-interview follow-ups.
Transcript:
I had an interview for a lateral position a few weeks ago at a big law firm. I am still waiting to hear back. What is the best way to follow up without seeming desperate? Should I wait for another job offer and tell them they are my first choice? I also did not ask. I also was not asked for references.
Should I follow up with information? So, the idea, the follow-up, is that firms often will be small or not be ample. So, what's going on? Let's talk about that. So, what's going on? This is something that people should understand when they are waiting to hear from a firm. I heard from a firm after an interview.
So, what does that mean? So, it could mean a lot of things. Made another offer waiting, which has happened a lot of the time. It means no one has met to discuss you or no approval for hiring you. It can mean that you are still interviewing people; it could mean business is slow and waiting to see if it picks up.
So, who knows, it could be a bunch of things. And so, it's nothing you can be too concerned about when you don't hear from someone after an interview; that's just what's happening. So, it would help if you were very careful about how you follow up because you don't know what's happening. So, what do you do?
What's the best way to follow up? You can say. People who follow up, you don't want to appear desperate, but at the same time, you want to ensure that the law firm still knows that you are interested in them. So, what would a follow-up look like if you want to do that? So, follow-up might be along the lines of I just wanted to drop you a short note.
I'm just telling you what I would do. Suppose you want me to drop you a short note to tell you. I enjoyed speaking with you and understand that you may be moving. I don't know, maybe I understand you may have not made a decision and, but I hope, but I don't know, something along, it's something concise.
That's all I'm saying. I just wanted to express how much you enjoyed meeting with me. I'm hoping for mutual and. And the board to discussing, to discussing, or I don't know, to meet with you in the future, I don't know, to speak, to look forward to learning more or hearing more, I don't know, too, to hearing back from Ayrton.
It's something concise, and then you just sign your name. It doesn't have to be a long email. You can just send something like that, and that's probably enough. If you want, but the idea is when someone's working for you, when you're trying to, when you're trying to have someone hire you, you don't necessarily want to be. You don't want to act desperate because other people want to feel like they're doing the chase, like they're chasing you, like you're in demand, they have to get you now instead of in the future, like all those sorts of things.
So, it's just imagined dating. Does it make sense to you? I don't know if a woman meets a man and she likes him. To send an email saying, I just wanted you to know how much I enjoyed meeting you. I guess you could do that.
Would a man like that? He would probably think, no, whatever. I don't know, but you need to have a little bit of a chase going on here. However, you can maintain that as the best, but if someone's not getting back to you, I think you're better off interviewing with a place that wants you and likes you and where you may be the first choice.
That's something to be quite aware of; there must be some sort of chase. It's that the firm's doing that, that, that you're a hot commodity, and they're like, they're lucky to get you. We're just like the whole example that I've given earlier is when a lot, when you're trying to.
Get hired when you're an attorney; your job is to act like you're in front of. I don't know. But your job is to represent yourself and your clients. So, you want your client to be strong and make your client look like the strongest person. So anytime you're giving them, you're not looking, you don't look that way, then that's a problem.
I think this is a very question because I'm just trying to think. I want to give you the best answer to this and tell you about it. I've had some experiences with people who are very good at that. So, I've interviewed some influential people to work with me before that.
Essentially, they were the kind of people who were so good that they would come in and act. They wanted to be my partner and could achieve that. And those sorts of people somehow, I don't know how they did it. But they came in, and they established a dialogue with me right away; where I was, they were, I was comfortable taking calls with them where from them I was.
And so, I don't know that a young associate can do that with a law firm, but the more you can connect and get on a personal basis with someone somehow, or with a. Creating personnel or whatever, the better off you're going to be. But if you start looking desperate, that will hurt you.
But having a connection where you look like you have many options, and I'd like to, is essential. So, I hope that answers things. But I can just tell you that. Some of the most influential people I've ever interviewed could establish a dialogue with me, call me on the phone, it was perfectly fine, and all that sort of stuff.
So, I just, if you can do that, it's fantastic, but most people can't. And I've seen, by the way, I've seen very talented. Associates can do the same thing with a law firm. They come in, and they're just like, they talk about all the value they can provide, connect with a partner, look like they're going to, and then somehow, they're on this dialogue.
Now, most people aren't, but if you get to that stage, then that's the way to follow up, as a big boy, I guess, is an excellent way to put it instead of a big girl instead of, I don't know, that's, I hope that's a good answer. It gives you a little bit of detail about how it's done.
