Wouldn't a patent law office want an examiner to join their team? Why did he stream on YouTube instead?
Honestly? Not really. In my experience law firms are generally not that impressed with ex-Examiners. Certainly not as impressed as you might initially think they would be.
There's several reasons. Firstly,(and maybe most importantly) Examiners are public sector creatures, used to cushy targets, minimal time pressure, working from home, being almost impossible to fire and so on. Are they going to be able to adapt to a very cutthroat career in the private sector after years of that?
Following on from that, being a lawyer is a people business. You will need to be able to communicate well with clients and other stakeholders - you will need to be likeable, since the client could always use a different lawyer if they stop liking you. Patent Examiner on the other hand, is quite isolated, solo work. They don't need to develop those skills, and actually can be complete misanthropes to their "clients" if they choose, with minimum repercussions.
Finally, just knowing the requirements to get a patent does not make you an expert on drafting and prosecuting patent applications. It's easy to criticise. But every patent application started out with a meeting with an inventor and a blank page. Nothing an Examiner does in their role demonstrates the ability to take that meeting and blank page and turn it into a legally enforceable monopoly right of useful scope.
BTW, all of the above are just general observations. I don't know Kurt at all and I've never even watched his streams. I'm just saying becoming a Patent Attorney after a stint as an Examiner isn't a given, although of course it does happen.