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Moving as a partner

As you move up your career ladder, each move takes on a greater importance – especially at partner level. So making the right preparation is more crucial than ever. Here are a few tips that can help make sure your move goes smoothly and successfully.

Putting together your CV

You might think that at partner level you don’t need a CV – but while it’s very different to an Assistant’s or Associate’s, your CV will still form the basis of your interview. Putting the right thought into it at the beginning helps keep you in control and perform better at interview, and even if you’re a well-known Partner it helps show that you’ve taken the interview seriously (besides, you’ll have to produce a CV and Business Plan at some point anyway).

Make sure your CV starts with a full academic and career history, and outline your experience and any notable cases for discussion; the second half should be a summary of your Business Plan to form the basis of the conversation (for help in putting one together, click here).

Don’t present it in full at this stage (that’s usually after the first or second meeting), but include the Client Partner billings you’re currently responsible for, a brief outline of the relationships and clients, an estimation of how much work would follow you and an outline of how you might grow your practice.

Be confident in your presentation – remember there’s always risk when a Partner’s migrating his clients, and the interviewing firm will be trying to determine the strength of the relationship to be able to make a commercial decision. Don’t sit on the fence when it comes to figures either (constant caveats come across as a lack of confidence); simply present the facts clearly and let the recruiting firm draw its own conclusions.

The process

As a Partner, you’ll no doubt feel you’re highly successful and driven – but don’t overlook the importance of preparing for your interview. Have your Business Plan fully worked out, then you’ll have all the facts and figures at your fingertips. Remember there’s a fine line between overpromising and underdelivering and being too cautious and not getting the package you were hoping for.

The whole process may well last months – each firm will have its own internal process (some more formal than others), and your consultant will give you an idea of what to expect. They’ll also advise you on what to expect when the recruiting firm carries out due diligence on your clients, which you can expect at the end of the process when everyone’s happy with the details of the offer.

What to expect in the interview

Be prepared for questions about your current firm, your frustrations and what you want from a move, as well as your Business Plan and your ideas on growing your client base. Be clear on what you can add to the firm you’re looking to join, and find out as much as possible about how your client base will fit in. Think about any added value, and whether any of their existing clients could benefit from your skills, too.