Going through an interview process can be a really stressful experience. It’s easy to feel like you answered a question “wrong” or you didn’t give the perfect answer that you should have. Rest assured, everyone has felt this way before. But interviews don’t have to be traumatizing experiences. Here are some things I keep in mind whenever I’m interviewing somewhere:
First & foremost, I treat every interview like it’s a casual chat over coffee with an acquaintance. Obviously, you must always remain respectful & professional, but there is nothing wrong with telling yourself that the interview is just a friendly, low-stakes way for the interviewer to get to know you better. If you ensure that you aren’t treating the interview like it’s the end-all-be-all of your legal career, you’ll be able to relax into the conversation more & really show the interviewer your best qualities.
This tip might be more controversial, but I never take an interview too seriously. I’ve interviewed for jobs that I have really, really wanted. It can be particularly heartbreaking if you convince yourself that this opportunity is the only one you’ll get & you have to land this job or else you’re doomed. That is rarely, if ever, actually the case. The law is constantly changing, & you never know what the next opportunity you will encounter will be; it could even be better than the one you’re interviewing for now! All of this is just to say that you shouldn’t put too much weight into your “performance” or the interview itself. What is meant to be will be, & the world doesn’t begin & end at the firm you’re hoping to join.
On the same thread of not taking things too seriously – I like to think of interviews as the greatest quizzes ever because I already know all of the answers! The questions will be about you: who you are as a student, as an employee, & as a person. You know all of those answers. The key is just being able to articulate properly what qualities & traits you want to present, & that skill just comes with practice.
Speaking of practice, talking out potential interview questions with a friend is always helpful. It’s just like giving a presentation – if you get in there & go off the cuff while thinking on your feet, you’ll probably do fine, but you’d likely do even better if you’d lightly practiced what you wanted to say first. I don’t suggest that you should go into an interview with a predetermined script of what you HAVE to say. I just mean that you might have a lot of ideas swirling around about how to best encapsulate yourself, & practicing what you want to say makes executing the conversation that much easier in the moment, which will help you feel less stressed.
Finally, my favorite tactic is the positive sandwich. If you have a fact that you want to minimize (like maybe your GPA wasn’t as high as you wanted, or maybe you have a gap in your resume, or literally anything!), use the positive sandwich technique. Start your answer with your first piece of bread: a highlight or positive takeaway you got from the negative experience. Then, the meat of your sandwich will be the fact that you want to minimize. Immediately follow it up with a second, even bigger, piece of bread filled with positive aspects about yourself that will make you a great employee & someone worth hiring. It might feel clunky putting the sandwich together at first, but this is a scenario where practicing with friends comes in handy.
Above all else, remember to have fun & be yourself! The right opportunity will come along. Good luck!
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