‘We have a pre-employment project we’d like you to complete, Mr. Sisyphus.’
When people apply for jobs within the legal profession, they usually need to submit their resume, cover letter, and perhaps a few references and writing samples. These relatively easily assembled materials give prospective employers a good sense of an applicant’s background. However, sometimes prospective employers ask job candidates to complete pre-employment projects to gauge a job candidate’s skill. In most instances, these tasks are a waste of time and can add to the stress experienced by job candidates.
From speaking with friends, pre-employment projects are common in some industries such as finance. When applying to a high-level job in finance, candidates might be asked to complete a case study or a similar task so that prospective employers can see if the job candidate has what it takes to excel at a job. Since many jobs in finance do not have many barriers to entry, it might make sense to use pre-employment projects to separate good candidates from average ones during the interview process.
According to various colleagues I have within the legal profession, pre-employment projects in the legal industry take a few different forms. A prospective employer may require that a job candidate mark up a common document used in a particular line of work, such as a shareholder’s agreement or license agreement, and see how the job candidate does. In other instances, prospective employers might give a document to a job candidate at the interview and ask them to either mark up the document on the spot or be able to speak about the document and how it might impact a deal.
For various reasons, pre-employment projects may not be helpful in the legal profession. Take-home projects might not be an accurate reflection of a job candidate’s abilities. Job candidates are likely to spend tons of time on a pre-employment project since they are not billing their hours and may wish to do an outstanding job to impress a prospective employer. Since it is impossible to regulate the amount of time spent on a take-home project, this might not be an accurate reflection of the job candidate’s abilities in a real-world setting. Even if a project is done at the interview itself, this environment may not afford the job candidate enough time to digest the issues involved in the project and provide a response.
Furthermore, it is somewhat selfish for prospective employers to require job candidates to complete pre-employment projects. Most job candidates take a shotgun approach to the hiring process, and lawyers may apply to dozens of jobs to ensure that they have a number of employment options. Interviewing at numerous employers can take significant time since job candidates may need to travel to complete an interview, draft the follow-up emails, and complete other interviewing steps. Adding a pre-employment project makes the hiring process more time-consuming and might make it more difficult for job candidates to seek a number of employment options.
A variety of substitutes to requiring job candidates to complete pre-employment projects are available. For instance, prospective employers can require job candidates to submit writing samples. If the writing sample is a part of a public filing, it can likely be submitted in full without redactions for confidentiality, and employers can evaluate the work an attorney did for a client facing an actual legal issue.
Moreover, prospective employers can use the interview itself to assess a job candidate’s abilities with respect to a given area of the law. I remember one interviewer in my own past quizzing me about black letter law in order to evaluate my understanding of legal issues, and this may or may not be warranted depending on the position for which an employer is hiring. However, a skilled interviewer should be able to size up a lawyer’s abilities without requiring a pre-employment project.
In any case, pre-employment projects are usually just a waste of time in the legal industry. Prospective employers should not ask job candidates to complete pre-employment projects, and hiring managers can rely on writing samples and interview questions to evaluate a lawyer’s abilities.
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothman.law.
