How to answer "why do you want to work at this firm?"

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Firm motivation questions

Once you’ve convinced a firm that you want to work within its industry, the next challenge is to convince them that there’s nowhere else you would rather train. Now, I know that researching firms and differentiating them from competitors can be an onerous task, but you must remember that there are fewer roles available than the number of people good enough to successfully take on those roles.

?When carrying out firm research and articulating your answers to firm motivation questions (or the “why the firm” section of a cover letter), don’t focus on fairly generic attributes and insights that merely reflect a quick skim of the firm’s website and marketing materials. Instead, try to identify features that genuinely and convincingly distinguish the firm.

Then, perhaps more importantly, relate these elements back to you. Tell the firm why you care. Why the selling points you have highlighted genuinely appeal. Why they align with or link to your interests, motivations, ambitions and/or previous experiences. Why they will, together, provide a better training experience than the firm’s competitors are able to offer.

Reputation and capabilities

It’s fine to mention that you are attracted to a firm as a result of its reputation, the awards it has received, the sectors it services, the work it carries out, and the types of clients it attracts. However, don’t linger on these points for too long if you’re not able to identify factors that truly distinguish the firm from most (or all) of its competitors.

Perhaps consider whether the firm is highly ranked across a broader range of departments or practice areas than most of its competitors. For example, not just corporate and finance (which many firms might demonstrate strength in), but also real estate, disputes and intellectual property? Does it have a leading reputation in the areas that interest you most? Has the firm worked on a particularly unique, groundbreaking or interesting matter?

Does the firm work with specific types of clients – or carry out work in specific sectors – that differentiates it from most competitors? For example, whilst many large firms might carry out corporate and finance-related work for large corporations, some might also work with sporting, gaming, media or shipping clients, or carry out work for earlier stage businesses. If you mention points like these, then make sure you explain why you care.

Training and development

Does the firm’s training programme enable you to experience a?broader range?of departments than its competitors’ training programmes, for example by allowing shorter rotations between departments? Or does the firm?offer seats across a greater variety of teams??If a firm’s approach is distinctively flexible (or offers more variety), does this mean you’ll be able to experience a greater range of work? If so, will this increase your chances of identifying the type of work that best aligns with your skills and interests, and help you to make a more informed decision about where to qualify or specialise post-training? Could experiencing more areas also give you a uniquely holistic insight into how various aspects of matters fit together, and in doing so, further your commercial awareness and broader professional development?

To give another training-related example, you could look at whether the firm guarantees you a seat in the practice area that most interests you. Note that firms have different policies regarding "mandatory" seats. ?Some firms might require all trainees to spend at least one seat in a specific team – often corporate, finance or disputes – whereas others might designate two or three mandatory seats (or require you to choose two out of three options).?Whether you see mandatory seats as a pro or a con will depend somewhat on whether your interests align with the designated practice area(s). If your interests do align, then explain this. You could even refer to a "mandatory" seat as a "guaranteed" seat, as this puts a more positive spin on the requirement.

Values

A firm’s values might also help to differentiate it. However, if you mention a firm’s values, make sure you know what these are, and how the firm defines each. Then explain why these values align with your own, perhaps by drawing on personal experiences to evidence where you have previous demonstrated or upheld these values.

Tech and innovation

To give a final example, you could talk about the firm’s investment in tech and innovation, if you’re then able to explain why you want to work for a firm that effectively integrates technology into its processes. You could do this, for example, by highlighting your own genuine interest in technology. Perhaps you studied technology-related courses, or you code in your spare time. Hopefully you get the picture.

We go into key differentiators in much more detail in our “Law firm research, profiles and interview insights ” course, including consideration of a firm's reputation, work, clients, international footprint, approach to training, intake size, supervision structure, secondments, people, culture, working environment, CSR commitments and more. Plus - importantly - we provide loads of hypothetical examples of how you could link these differentiators back to yourself.

The course also offers dozens of firm profiles; detailed assessment centre insights; example (verified) successful applications and cover letters; and more (this?animated explainer video gives a brief overview).