-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Am I taking this too personally?
- Thread starter John Doe
- Start date
Don't talk politics in the workplace, and especially, don't talk politics during a job interview. That's just asking for trouble.
OP
OP
That isn't information my interviewer would be privy to because I never talk about my family situation. I will say this, I was fortunate enough to have my father pay my university and law school tuition.
Although I'm not really sure what the relevance is, whether or not a person is poor or wealthy doesn't necessarily determine whether they have legal work that needs to be done.
So without being in the interview, we're working with imperfect information.
That said, there's a sense of being reactive in your depiction of your history. If you interviewed following anything close to how you've posted here, I can see what the interviewer was picking on.
I still don't like the questions mind you, but I think she was looking for more assertiveness and when she wasn't getting it, decided to instigate a bit.
My advice is this— you passed the bar so you clearly have the academic skill. Control the narrative around what has happened since. I don't want to hear the committees rarely meet. I want to hear what you've done upon realizing their infrequent meetings weren't enough. I don't want to hear you followed someone into politics. I want to hear you sought a new opportunity and used your networking ability to pursue it.
That said, there's a sense of being reactive in your depiction of your history. If you interviewed following anything close to how you've posted here, I can see what the interviewer was picking on.
I still don't like the questions mind you, but I think she was looking for more assertiveness and when she wasn't getting it, decided to instigate a bit.
My advice is this— you passed the bar so you clearly have the academic skill. Control the narrative around what has happened since. I don't want to hear the committees rarely meet. I want to hear what you've done upon realizing their infrequent meetings weren't enough. I don't want to hear you followed someone into politics. I want to hear you sought a new opportunity and used your networking ability to pursue it.
Sometimes you'll take a few licks on the chin to get to where you need to be. Stick with it for 2-3 years then find a new place.
Well, you have been jobless for more than a year. It sounds to me that the interviewer was trying to strike at the greater issue of what have you even been trying to do for over a year, and then it unfortunately boiled down to not even friends or family?
Essentially, is your joblessness due to a lack of initiative. Not a question of if your family won't give you anything to do, but if you've made yourself available to your family. Or friends. Or anyone. With that in mind, your answer of "I'm a baby" could be better..
In the end the interviewer's remark was condescending but again, it's been more than a year and sometimes you're not even in a position to take things personally.
Essentially, is your joblessness due to a lack of initiative. Not a question of if your family won't give you anything to do, but if you've made yourself available to your family. Or friends. Or anyone. With that in mind, your answer of "I'm a baby" could be better..
In the end the interviewer's remark was condescending but again, it's been more than a year and sometimes you're not even in a position to take things personally.
Poor people can't afford to have a lawyer, even a family one, on retainer all year 'round.
Could it have been a test to see how you'd react to such a question? I don't know what branch of law the job is in but could it be that it might be an aggressive field so they're seeing how you handle comments aimed at undermining you?
You might be overreacting, but I'd be pretty pissed if I were in your shoes too. That's a rude thing to ask.
I was in an interview for a data entry job a few years ago. I had been temping at the place and knew their software and whatnot. Was pretty fast at paying bills. So I go to interview to get HIRED hired, and the boss above mine goes, "Oh you majored in English." I say "yeah" because I did and it's on my resume. Then she goes "I tried to do that too, but then I decided I wanted to be useful so I switched to business."
And I fucked up the rest of that interview because I was seething mad and didn't want to start swearing because I needed the job. I did not get it.
place sucked asshole though, so I'm glad I got fired in the long run. Just a bunch of miserable motherfuckers working mandatory overtime because BILLZ BILLZ BILLZ
I was in an interview for a data entry job a few years ago. I had been temping at the place and knew their software and whatnot. Was pretty fast at paying bills. So I go to interview to get HIRED hired, and the boss above mine goes, "Oh you majored in English." I say "yeah" because I did and it's on my resume. Then she goes "I tried to do that too, but then I decided I wanted to be useful so I switched to business."
And I fucked up the rest of that interview because I was seething mad and didn't want to start swearing because I needed the job. I did not get it.
place sucked asshole though, so I'm glad I got fired in the long run. Just a bunch of miserable motherfuckers working mandatory overtime because BILLZ BILLZ BILLZ
What the fuck kind of question is that? What if your family didn't need attorneys (do people just have legal work they need done just sitting around...what?)? Also not everyone lives in a world where you get experience thanks to nepotism.
This person sounds so out of touch.
This person sounds so out of touch.
They have thier own reality and don't realise it. "Let them eat cake"
Not litigation, but I'm sure there's stuff that an attorney can help with. I've had times where family and friends need help sending letters contesting debts, filling out government forms, applying for disability, writing contracts to sell a car or something, suing someone in small claims court, mediating disputes, etc. Or they may know someone.
The bigger picture is that she was asking a question to see what he's been doing since graduation if not working. "I'm the baby in the family" isn't a good answer. Explaining gaps in employment is like interviewing 101.
They don't need to have him on retainer. Just have him help them out with things, as I said above. People of all walks of life need lawyers. That's why they have legal clinics.
what if as a developer you've never debugged a particularly difficult issue? what if as a marketer you've never launched an unsuccessful campaign to learn from? as with all these questions it's about how you answer.
This is my exact take on it, and you worded it much more eloquently than I ever could have. OP, I hope you're taking this and all other responses into consideration. I'm no lawyer, but I'm assuming that you are expected to be able to handle potentially emotional situations with objectivity and restraint. If you are not able to handle this tame of a question (however tactless), how can you be trusted to protect the lives of your clients?
I would never expect my manager to ask me why my family hasn't hired me to work on software for them.
Good advice.
Don't hang up on people who don't know you have to say about you..
OP, nearly every lawyer I met is a total asshole in some way. Lawyers say things like that to you because they want to see you think on your feet.
Get accustomed to arguing with people, even those who interview you. They want to see you not back down.
source - I'm a lawyer.
Get accustomed to arguing with people, even those who interview you. They want to see you not back down.
source - I'm a lawyer.
OP, in regards to not taking an offer that comes your way, I actually disagree with other people on this issue. If you have the means to support yourself, do NOT simply say yes to a firm that you have genuine reservations about. Law firms have a way of shaping you in ways that other employers do not. They are extremely toxic environments by their very nature. They are obsessed with academia, pedigrees, appearances, and other superficialities in all aspects.
You have to find one that aligns with your goals, personality, and the image you want to project. This is why the interview process can be rather intrusive and often inappropriate. They want to see whether you're poised in every situation. And even after you get the job, they will continue to poke, prod, test, and push you to see what you can handle. Develop some very thick skin.
You will be in adversarial situations on a daily basis, even from people who are supposed to be on your side. It's a grim profession.
You have to find one that aligns with your goals, personality, and the image you want to project. This is why the interview process can be rather intrusive and often inappropriate. They want to see whether you're poised in every situation. And even after you get the job, they will continue to poke, prod, test, and push you to see what you can handle. Develop some very thick skin.
You will be in adversarial situations on a daily basis, even from people who are supposed to be on your side. It's a grim profession.
To have that much of it is.
You should have told her you didn't take their case because you didn't want your first job to be a murder trial.
True, true. Just keep plugging away, OP. Feel free to send a PM if you want any advice.
What?! That comment the interviewer made makes no sense to me. I would avoid giving work to my lawyer family members. And getting work from family has no correlation to how good you are, no matter the job. Besides, it's a 1-year time period, how fucked up should your family be for you to be knees deep into lawyer work just for them?
back then the only cure for being so disconnected from reality was death.
I don't know if things have changed much.
OP
OP
Bull fucking shit. You think her comment would have annoyed me so if I wasn't bothered about not working?
Besides you don't know anything about me or how much I've been struggling over the last year to find work. Or the mental toll its taken on me.
You think its easy trying to find work? All day I spend doing everything I can think of to help in my job search, all fucking day.
100% she was gauging your reaction to see if you had the "right stuff", in spite of your unemployment since graduation.