Building a Better Interview Process for Smarter E- Discovery! Wednesday, March 4 th 2015
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Jared Coseglia TRU Staffing Partners Jared Michael Coseglia, founder and President of TRU Staffing Partners, has over twelve years of experience representing talent in e-discovery, Litigation Support, and broadly throughout legal technology staffing. He has successfully placed over 1700 professionals in full-time and temporary positions at the AmLaw 200, Fortune 1000, and within the consultancy and service provider community. His ability to identify, deliver, and help retain talent has allowed him the privilege of quickly becoming the globally recognized go-to individual for clients and candidates in need of staffing solutions or career guidance and management in ediscovery. Coseglia s unique style of representation, vast network of relationships, and subject matter expertise has helped earn TRU a host of awards including Top 3 Best National Legal Recruiter in Best of The National Law Journal Awards, 2012, 2013 & 2014, as well as a Top 3 Best Legal & Litigation Support Agency by the New York Law Journal 2013 & 2014, and #1 Litigation Support Staffing Agency in Chicago 2014. Mr. Coseglia is an active member of the Litigation Support community and frequently writes and speaks about the state of the legal technology job market with ACEDS, WiE, Peer-to-Peer, LTN, and other publications and organizations. Visit www.trustaffingpartners.com. 4
Overview: Deciding to hire Preparing to hire Deciding who to interview Preparing for an interview The Interview Follow-up Making the right hire 5
Part 1 Deciding to hire It all begins with the need for another person to lease their talents to a team. 6
Why am I hiring? Someone has left and I need to replace them right away Someone has left and this gives me an opportunity to make a strategic hire Someone has been promoted, and we need to backfill the position Add to staff, increased client demand requires more resources Add to staff, anticipation of increased demand, proactively hiring Add to staff, non-billable administrative resource Add to staff, business development resources to grow the business 7
Why defines process, timing and target talent. Someone has left and I need to replace them right away Immediately available resource, possibly a temp Very specific skill set to plug and play Needs resumes fast, no time for casual shopping May need to pay top dollar to get exactly what you want quickly! Someone has left and this gives me an opportunity to make a strategic hire Role definition might be an organic process, I ll know it when I see it. Buy-in from peers and partners on change in human capital strategy Requires a passive & patient candidate Temp-to-perm option, the try-and-buy 8
Why defines process, timing and target talent. Someone has been promoted, and we need to backfill the position Clearly defined expectations and role definition Replacing your future manager syndrome, the micromanagement trap Compensation limitations, vertical growth limitations Wise to hire someone also stepping up into the role! Add to staff, increased client demand requires more resources What will they inherit that needs service? Fit to client Rapid indoctrination of institutional knowledge Ready for fast pace, high demand, can roll with the punches 9
Why defines process, timing and target talent. Add to staff, anticipation of increased demand, proactively hiring How available is the bench for shadowing? Training functionality and formality More time to ramp/train, longer to be billable Can hire less expensive talent! Add to staff, non-billable administrative resource Industry experience required? Creating career path or hire to retire Brand ambassador or behind the scenes! Add to staff, business development resources to grow the business 10
Part Two Preparing to hire Knowing what you want is half the battle. 11
Crafting the Perfect Job Description Open or close with culture Unique differentiator Detail, detail, detail Include tool specific brands ( Must vs Proficient vs Exposure ) Where in EDRM, breadth of service offering Role evolution Goals, measures of success 12
Job Description: Should I include salary information? include bonus/commission plan details? include reporting structure? include degree requirements? include overtime expectations? included benefit information? require a cover letter? be broad or go narrow? 13
Job Boards: To Post or Not to Post (aka playing the Field ) Exploring the market or looking to fill the role quickly? Sole sourcing source or supplemental? Who will go through all the applicants? Do you want competitors knowing you are hiring for this role? Cost saving or time sucking? Do you post compensation ranges to attract talent? Free marketing or sign of desperation? The 72 day rule 14
When to Work With External Agencies Immediate needs Contract hiring New role to the organization Niche expertise No time to self-source Volume hiring Targeted recruitment Inside scoop 15
Part Three Deciding who to interview Judging a person on paper. 16
Interpreting an e-discovery Resume Organizational flow Technical Skills, Experience, Education Education, Experience, Technical skills Milestones, Technical skills, Education, Experience Chronology Proficiency vs Expertise Tech time vs Client time EDRM breadth Size and scope Technology in context to experience Tenure, gaps, promoted Sales statistics Stigma of contract attorney Does the resume leave you with more questions than answers? 17
Due Diligence beyond the resume Check LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook Professional photo(s)? Resume matches online profile, DOE, nothing omitted or added? FB on private? What kinds of tweets are they creating? Retweeting? Simple Google search Do not call references before first interview How well does your recruiter know the candidate? 18
Personality Testing Terrible way to start the process/relationship with a new applicant Terrible way to determine whether or not to interview someone Great way to validate your experience with a candidate at the end of the process prior to offer Great way to gather information about areas of strength and weakness prior to hire Great way to have an employee/employer conversation about personal performance and perception once hired 19
Part Four Preparing for an interview The preparation you put into your search will be reflected in the talent you attract. 20
Crafting Your Process Before It Starts What will the process be? How many rounds? Value of phone interviews for ediscovery hires Who are the key stakeholders? Will you do peer interviews? One-on-one vs group interviews? Will they need to meet the attorneys? Will there be a technical test? HR integration and collaboration? 21
Basic Q&A Tips for Success Taking questions out of the hypothetical and into the actual Engage in storytelling Avoid right/wrong or yes/no questions on a first interview Magic 5 Questions: What is motivating you to consider a job move? Why are you interested in our organization? What is a typical day/main responsibilities in your role? What is the most challenging part of your current role? What are your milestones of achievement in your current/recent role(s)? 22
Nuanced Q&A for e-discovery Professionals (the right/wrong questions) What is DeNIST? What fields typically do you use to generate an email MD5HASH? What is an EquiSet? What is the file extension of a Summation load file? Explain a parent/child relationship? Are you configuring and maintaining user accounts in Relativity? Do you create batches and run search terms? 23
Nuanced Q&A for e-discovery Professionals (the current role questions) How much time is computer facing vs client facing? How much time is spent on collections, processing, hosting, review, production, trial support? Hosting your data or externally supported? How many cases do you support at one time? How large are the biggest cases, how small the smallest? Average week in terms of OT? Do you work from home, login remotely, carry a PDA, length of commute? 24
Nuanced Q&A for e-discovery Professionals (the situational questions) How would you explain Unicode compliance to an attorney? What are the unique parameters to consider when working on international matters that require cross-border collaboration? You receive 3rd party data containing single page tiffs, single page text, and a DII file. How would you go about loading for review into Relativity? What are the core differences between processing data in LAW vs Nuix? Why would running the same search terms on the same data set in Nuix or LAW and Relativity yield different results? How do inclusionary and exclusionary forensic culls vary? How do you configure analytics indices for document Categorization and Assisted Review? 25
Nuanced Q&A for e-discovery Professionals (the emotional questions) Who has been your favorite manager and why? Why was the most difficult client you have worked with so challenging, and how did you overcome those challenges? What kind of work environment do you feel you thrive in? Where are the areas you think you can improve upon professionally? Where do you envision your career 3 years from now? What is the hardest part of your job? 26
Part Five The Interview A great interview is like a great stage performance: prepare then leave all the prep in the wings and try to live in the moment. 27
First Interview, First Date (a familiar formula) Amuse Bouche = pleasantries, small talk, weather, You live in the city? Appetizers = candidate work history + company overview Main Course = typical day & main responsibilities Dessert = culture, character The Check = compensation expectations 28
Always good to Have a copy of the resume already printed Offer the candidate water Tell the candidate how long you have to spend with them Listen with your eyes Allow 5 minutes or more for the candidate to ask questions at end Set expectations and timeline for next steps Escort the candidate out 29
Never ever! Interview while sitting behind your laptop or computer Pull out your cell phone to check email during an interview Have music playing during an interview Chew gum, eat (coffee/tea ok) Exit the interview then re-enter Go longer than 1 hour or shorter than 20 minutes on a first interview 30
Second Interview, Second Date (Is this someone we want to marry?) Deeper technical dive (testing) Investigate specific vulnerabilities/weaknesses/strengths Check for consistency Team fit Enthusiasm barometer Top-down buy-in 31
Part Six Follow-up Responsiveness, a sense of urgency, and articulate communication are all requirements for a successful ediscovery career and a successful follow up to any interview. 32
Follow up pitfalls Thank you emails/letters How quickly is the thank you email sent? Does the candidate express themselves articulately in writing? Can the candidate clearly reiterate key points made during the interview? Beware the epic thank you email Does a hand-written letter carry more value? Let your favorites know so Be transparent Meet expectations you set on timeline for next steps Pass on runners-up only when you have an acceptance Acceptances official when the candidate arrives for first day of work 33
Part Seven Making the Hire Seal the deal, and what to expect after. 34
Keys to Closing the Dream Candidate Make your best offer first Be decisive when you find the one Busy seasons: March, April, May, September, October, November Most available jobs, shortest hiring cycles Offer details: bennys, 401K, vaca, contingencies, OT, 35/37.5/40 Always extend offers verbally first, followed by in writing Coaching against a counter offer (the dreaded 80% ) Checklist: start date, pre-planned vaca, non-compete, conflicts, background, signed offer letter, resignation given 35
Dos and Don ts of Sales Talent Don t expect a book of business Do expect measureable activity Don t expect revenue for 6-12 months Do expect RFPs within 3-6 months Don t expect to hire someone currently selling 5MM+ Do expect 750K - 1.5MM in year one (or so) Do look for consultative professionals looking to transition to sales Do not look for seasoned sales reps outside of legal Do talk about revenue, quota, base and total comp on 1 st interview Do not wait until final rounds to put $ discussion on the table 36
Finale Q&A TRU Staffing Partners, Inc www.trustaffingpartners.com jared@trustaffingpartners.com 718.685.2092! Legal Technology Staffing ediscovery Litigation Support Forensics Cyber Security Information Governance Managed Review Sales and Business Development Privacy And more.! 37
ACEDS/TRU Affinity Partnership TRU2015 The CEDS Certification Package includes: - A one-year individual ACEDS membership - Access to live and recorded versions of CEDS Online Preparation training - A 145-page exam study guide - The CEDS exam (a discounted rate is available for those who need to retake the exam) In addition, as part of the affinity partnership, individuals who register through TRU Staffing Partners will have access to exclusive, geographically-localized TRU study groups and private networking events, and will also receive priority access to TRU's team of recruiters and career management professionals throughout the country. To receive the discounted package, contact your TRU representative, fill out a TRU application, or email info@trustaffingpartners.com. For more information on the CEDS Certification Package, visit http:// www.aceds.org/about-ceds/ 38
TRU Scholarship Program The application process is now open and will continue through March 27, 2015, with the selection process following shortly after that. The recipients will be notified and announced on or around April 10th. http://www.trustaffingpartners.com/site/component/content/article/6-general/223- scholarship.html 39
THANK YOU! Jared Coseglia jared@trustaffingpartners.com 40