DLA Piper Specialist Interview Questions
& Process

The interview process involved a digital interview, then a telepresence interview at the DLA Piper office. Before the interview, references were checked via a questionnaire. If that went well, it moved to a second interview in the office. The process was pretty fast. After the final interview, I was told to contact recruiters for benefits info and that a recommendation would go to the hiring manager. I followed up with recruiters three times, and emailed interviewers to thank them, but got no response. It's not okay to leave candidates hanging after they've gone through the process, especially after getting references to complete questionnaires. Recruiters should give feedback either way.

First, I got an email for a digital interview using Hireview. I had to download an app and answer 7 questions, which took about 25 minutes. It felt a bit weird recording myself, wondering if I was looking into the camera right. After finishing that, I got another email for an assessment that lasted about an hour to an hour and a half. They didn't tell me beforehand which Microsoft Office programs would be on it, so I had to be really good with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. I don't use Excel much in my current job and only used PowerPoint once in college, so I felt kind of blindsided. If your computer messes up and you can't finish a part, and you email them for help, they don't reply. Then, I got an email saying I wasn't selected to move on. I've done their digital interviews a few times before, and once I didn't get a response when I followed up. My advice to the hiring team would be to change their interview process. Maybe start with a phone screen so candidates can talk to a real person, and then invite them in person if they want to move forward. The way your interview process is set up seems like you don't have to waste time meeting someone; instead, they can interview from home, and you can decide if you want to meet them. Everyone is busy, but time can be made to meet candidates in person. Reading other reviews, it seems like many people feel the same way, and I've seen that they're accurate because almost no one got an offer. You might be missing out on good employees.

So, there were three interviews for this Specialist - DC Office role. It kicked off with an outsourced employment agency, I think they work with DLA Piper. They sent me instructions for a test to check my Excel and grammar skills. The first interview was a phone call with this agency. After that, I was invited to the firm for an interview with the hiring manager, who asked me a bunch of questions in a really nice conference room. The final interview was with two partners I'd be working closely with, a paralegal, a section leader, and the HM from the second interview. It was a bit intimidating at first, seeing this big group of people I might work with daily, but they were super welcoming and professional. It's a massive firm with tons of employees, so I get why they had such a diverse panel. The whole three-interview thing wrapped up pretty fast. I got the first interview two weeks after applying, and all three were done within about a week and a half. The offered pay was kinda low, though.