Unless a candidate for a law or insurance job commits the unpardonable sin of allowing a resume to spill over to a second page, a resume offers little insight. A glimpse of pedigree, a job history, perhaps—but really nothing telling about the person—and the talent needed to build the winning team. And, I find, the Personal Interests resume blur invariably cites “cooking” as an extracurricular passion. But let that go.

Recently, to help third year students and LLM candidates for the “real world,” my alma mater recruited me to conduct “mock interviews” for legal positions. After years of trial and error, I developed my favorite candidate questions. But the challenge of this pro bono exercise prompted me to get  behind the curtain to find out what “deep thinkers “ deemed to be  telling questions for law and insurance related jobs. What I learned from  my research in the blog sphere may well shape the course of my next interview. Here are some of the thought-provoking teasers (with my brief editorial comments):

• How would your friends describe you? (Tricky because it invites a third person perspective)
• What is the latest non-business book you’ve read? (Is the candidate well-read and well-rounded?)
• Who is your hero/heroine? (Can they think on their feet, or do they revert to the hackneyed?)
• What would make you a good advocate? (Is creativity a component?)
• What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made? (Can a mistake be spun into a positive outcome?)
• What constitutes success in your mind? (Practical results or pie-in-the sky thinking?)
• What qualifications do you have that will make you successful at this job? (Is humility a virtue?)
• What two or three things are most important to you in a job?  (Are growth and challenge in the response?)
• What qualities do you think a good lawyer/ claim professional should have?  (Open-ended, very telling, and I can’t wait for answers to his one)

In the end, the search for claims or legal talent is hard work. And while there is no substitute for due diligence, the decision to hire is an act of faith, a matter of gut-instinct, and a firm belief that the new hire will be an asset to the team. Credentials are important. But as sport often teaches, the wholly subjective criterion, sometimes called “fit,” is often what leads to a winning combination. And that’s it for this This and That. If you have any comments about this post, please call or email Dennis.