Academic

I love to read "Corner Office" in the Sunday NYT Business section, which presents micro-interviews with interesting executives.  On Sunday, Corner Office featured Aaron Levie, who is 25 years old and a co-founder of Box.net.  Box.net is a successful venture capital-funded start-up that provides a web-based platform for companies to store and share documents.

I like to read the answers to question about what the executive looks for in hiring, particularly if there are any nuggest of wisdom we can use in the law firm hiring world.  Two things stood out here.

One, Levie says that he looks for are "energy and persistence. . . in addition to just having a clean résumé where there's nothing crazy going on.  In a business like ours, we have to be super, super competitive."  What does that mean?  I'm not sure.  The "clean résumé" says to me that he looks for a very linear, driven personality.  Someone that goes from high school to college to grad school to being CEO in one swoop without any veering off path.  The résumé that doesn't show you switching colleges or jobs multiple times.  Most people tend to look for people who remind them of themselves, and he is an energetic, persistent person who followed a pretty straight course. 

Unfortunately, I think a lot of folks hiring, even in the law school world, look for the "clean résumé."  Why do I think this is unfortunate?  Because you can't fix a muddy résumé once it's muddy.  You can try to make the most recent part as clean as possible, and maybe over time early stuff can fall off the résumé, but it's tough.  Is the clean résumé a good proxy for energetic and persistent?  Maybe, but one can also grow in energy and persistence over time.

Second, Levie values curiosity as a proxy for "who's going to be energetic and have the right attitude."  He wants to interview people who are curious about his business.  This reminds me of the dreaded law firm interview question "So, do you have any questions for us?"  (Also related to the dreaded law school interview question.)  Yes, great questions would show curiosity.  But, a few obstacles.  One, most law firms have the same business model, so coming up with an authentic question here is difficult.  Second, law firm life is fairly conservative and hierarchical, and there may be a fine line between curious and intermeddling.  Levie may be looking for someone who'll come in and think outside to improve the business model.  Most law firms are not.  And maybe that's a problem.