Round the Wicket

Having tried his luck with ‘catastrophic’ consequences and a paltry sum for ‘trial’, the pure blood decided to go round the wicket…began considering and applying for in-house roles. This seemed easier said than done. There were many opportunities available but none of the descriptions were attractive enough to grab his attention. He was not interested in being a mere ‘postman’ between the company and the external counsel…neither did he care for a compliance profile. His expectation remained of a creative career and dotted/filled with transactions. He continued to scan through various job portals on a regular basis and would refresh his job profile daily.

After quite a few days (looked like eternity, although probably only a month or so), he received a call from a recruitment consultant. He was intrigued when the consultant introduced himself as part of a consultancy specialized in legal jobs – something that was unknown in those days. The suave voice on the other side of the line had oodles of confidence and removed any doubt from the pure blood’s mind. He was offered 2 openings and the job descriptions shared through email. Eager to start the process, he went through the email the same night (well past midnight after a long day in office) and though he not quite clear on the role, next morning gave his consent for the interview.

It was almost a month before the interview could be scheduled by the consultant. The pure blood had almost given up when he got a call on a Monday morning. A couple of days later he was on his way to the office of the mid-sized information technology company. He has been warned of the long distance and corresponding time to reach the place where the IT Park was located. A stickler for punctuality, he had planned the journey to the minute. He left home a good 2 hours in advance, boarded the only bus that would take him to his destination. The winding roads seemed never ending and the crowd in the bus slowly thinned. He was wondering whether he was on the wrong track since after almost 90 minutes now, he was the only passenger left! Soon thereafter the speeding bus screeched to a halt and the conductor announced aloud that my stop had come. The pure blood looked around and was baffled since it was in the middle of nowhere. A few houses and small buildings could be seen at a distance. He double checked with the conductor, who with an irritating expression, pointed to a narrow dusty lane across the main road.

The pure blood got off quite reluctantly and ambled along as the May heat nearly engulfed him. After walking for a few minutes the dust gave way to a proper concrete road and the small buildings visible earlier came into view. These were not small anymore but large modern office building bringing relief to his mind. After making enquiries at roadside shops he reached the company’s magnificent four-storey glass building. The décor inside was tastefully done and the floors sparkling clean. The elegance everywhere echoed a sense of being looked after and cared for. After clearing the multiple security checks he was made to sit in a small but plush carpeted meeting room. He was admiring the painting on the wall opposite when there was a knock on the door.

A tall young man with curly hair walked in sharp at the interview time. He had a squarish jaw and a clipped moustache. The pure blood felt quite out of place since the interviewer was dressed in casuals and he was in heavy formals. The interviewer introduced himself in a cool unassuming voice as the human resources manager of the company’s local office. The interview commenced with the usual volley of questions. Next were questions around why the pure blood was interested in leaving a high profile law firm for a corporate job. The pure blood had tailor made answers for all. After almost an hour of discussions the HR manager finally asked if the pure blood had anything to ask. Since he was unsure of the exact role he asked questions concerning that.

The HR manager was instantly on the back foot. He stammered a bit as if trying to gather his thoughts. The role seemed to be coordination with the head legal of the company and finalizing various contracts entered into from the current location. If the contract required negotiation with the counter-party i.e. the company’s clients, then it would require conference calls with the company’s international headquarters. However, direct negotiation with a counter-party was not envisaged. On further probing, it emerged that in most cases the contracts would not require more than few changes to the company’s existing global templates. On enquiring about the team size, he was told that it would be one man show at this location and the incumbent would be entirely responsible for that location’s transactions. Currently they were managing from the company’s India head office and since the volumes were increasing multifold, a ‘helping hand’ was required. The salary package for a ‘helping hand’ was oddly quite high. It would be a 5 day week and sometimes late hours but generally a 9-6 job with cab facility and other perquisites/benefits.

The pure blood absorbed it all like a sponge. The pay perks together with the fixed timings was quite alluring. The opportunity to work with global lawyers was an added advantage. His thoughts were broken by the HR manager asking him a rather blunt question “Is it acceptable?” The pure blood almost blurted out ‘yes’ in a reflex action. “You can complete the formalities today and join from Monday” were the interviewer’s next words, possibly after having read the temptation on the pure blood’s expressive face. The perplexed pure blood protested “But I have to give notice”. “We do not have much time for that son. We’ve already selected a candidate who’s due to join on Monday but he’s not that experienced and we may need to recruit another lawyer…but your coming from a more renowned law firm will justify our argument for not hiring him or anyone else and save considerable cost”.

The pure blood felt a gun has been placed on his forehead, quite a formidable reason to meekly surrender his lofty corporate ambitions and beat a hasty retreat. 

Trial of an Experienced Lawyer!

The pure blood continued his search for that proverbial grape fruit after his first brush with an interview. In the process his meticulous research and par excellent timing landed him with another interview. This time the opportunity was with a smaller office of arguably the second best law firm of this country.

 

Having learnt his lesson from the earlier experience, he was careful to dot the i’s and cross t’s and scan every comma, semi-colon and full stop before taking the final print. The almost endless printouts in the waste paper bin, evidence of the high degree of precision in his presentation, were enough to raise a mini environmental concern. With the final print on bond paper, he could wipe the sweat off his brow.

 

On D-day, there was torrential downpour soon after the pure blood got into the public bus. Although he thanked his stars that his clothes were saved, nonetheless the bumper to bumper traffic was slowly getting on his nerves. The half hour journey had prolonged to more than an hour, what with the waterlogged roads and endless vehicles - he wondered what the government was doing to fulfill its election promises of clean drains and widening of road space for smooth travel. When his stop was approaching he was horrified at the knee deep water on the road. Some part of his mind which was still calm tried to explore workable solutions. Just then he spotted an empty auto rickshaw a little ahead where the water level seemed much lower. He gathered all his vocal strength and hailed it (the passenger beside him jumped in utter shock!). In a flash the pure blood was off the bus and had hopped into the auto with very minimal damage to his immaculate attire.

 

The auto carried the pure blood to the relative safety of the prospective firm’s office, which took some time to be located, considering the not so friendly neighbourhood coupled with the inclement weather. Once protected from the natural ‘calamity’, he took out his wrist watch from this waist pocket. He could not believe what he saw – nothing short of a man-made ‘calamity’ to him. He was not only behind time, not 5 or 10 minutes, but 45 minutes beyond the scheduled time. For a few seconds he froze, but fortunately regained his composure and decided to go ahead and still give it a shot.

 

He slowly pushed open the heavy glass door and entered. With his voice quivering a bit, he informed the front desk his name and purpose. The middle-aged sharp-looking bespectacled receptionist gave him a surprised look and his heart sank. ‘Not sure if you’re lucky, Mr. so and so (interviewer being a partner) has not yet returned from his morning meeting’. The simultaneous feeling of disbelief and relief made a weird combination on his countenance. He was asked to wait in the adjacent library.

 

As the thunderstorm raged outside, with every passing minute the pure blood’s anxiousness slowly began to show on his expressive face. He grew restless as minutes turned to hours. After 2 hours and a couple of inquiries for any message regarding his interview, the receptionist at last ushered him to the partner’s room.

 

The relatively young looking partner’s volley of questions was directed towards the pure blood’s general legal knowledge. It was turning into more of bookish knowledge until he was asked to apply them to the transactions captured in his CV. This was also not difficult as the pure blood’s high natural curiosity had ensured his application skills were considerably sharpened.

 

Impressed with the pure blood’s interaction, the partner referred him to the other partner in that office, the senior and more thoroughbred of the two. With a tinge of excitement bubbling within him, the pure blood followed the partner into the senior’s room. There was a brief introductory discussion after which the junior partner left softly closing the wooden door behind him.

 

The senior grilled the pure blood on all aspects of the work done by him. He further went on to explain the kind of work which their office primarily handled. Slowly the monologue veered towards whether the pure blood’s past experience would match or even supplement the firm’s current areas of practice. This was the question the pure blood had been preparing for quite some time, since he was aware that he was aspiring to move into a new area of practice and he may not have the advantage of his past experience. He made a strong pitch on his ability to quickly grasp new things as well as his high adaptability level. Moreover the fact remained that he had worked hard to equip himself with legal knowledge and had sufficient experience to deliver in his current firm. Further, to his credit, as a fresher he had no past experience and had learnt it all on the job! So he was prepared to do it all over again and perhaps put in more effort. The senior seemed convinced since the interaction went into deeper aspects and continued for close to an hour (generally considered an indication of the level of interest of the interviewer).

 

The pure blood was out in the open after almost 4 hours, the rain had stopped, water level had receded although rumbling of thunder could be distantly heard. Carefully avoiding the little puddles and the slush of passing water on the sloping roads, he made his way to the nearest bus stop. Throughout the return journey to his temporary residence he kept reflecting on the day’s various discussions, questions, answers, trying to gauge the impression of his interviewers from the various changing expressions as the interview progressed. Although he didn’t want to count his chickens before they hatched, he felt much better to conclude that he definitely stood a bright chance to make it through.

 

It was a week later that the pure blood received a response from the junior partner. The one line response read ‘We are happy to try you for a period of three months on a salary of .... per month.’ The bolt from the blue left him speechless and rooted to the spot for what appeared to be eternity.