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A few months ago, readers had a good discussion about job interview strategies in the comments on this post, and we decided to compile them for today's post — and ask for more of your best interview tips. (We also included some helpful advice from our open thread on interviews that we did several years ago because commenters shared lots of useful tips there too!) So, let's hear your advice about job interviewing, readers: phone interviews, video interviews, in-person interviews, informational interviews, and more! What is the best and worst advice you've gotten about job interviews? What interview advice can you share that is specific to your field?
{related: If you're on the hunt for all the interview suits, check out our roundup of the best women's suits of 2024!}
Here are some of Corporette® readers' best interview tips:
How to Prepare Before the Interview
- Practice specific responses/examples that you can adapt to various questions.
- Prepare insightful questions for the interviewer.
- Think of a couple of “fun” things about yourself to weave into the interview.
- Print out the job description and bring it with you.
- Make sure you know your resume very well.
- Check out Ramit Sethi‘s YouTube videos on job interviews.
Interview Tips for During the Interview
- Be honest and be yourself.
- Avoid canned answers.
- Stay positive.
- Show some of your personality.
- Don’t ask questions you should already know the answer to (e.g., from googling).
- Find out why the position is open.
- Ask what the organization/interviewer is most proud of.
- Ask about company policies and culture, including advancement.
- Take notes. / Don't take notes. (Hmm… Readers, what are your thoughts?)
- Don't forget that you are interviewing the interviewer(s), too.
- If you think the interviewer might have specific concern about you as a candidate, address it directly.
- At the end, ask if there is anything else the interviewer needs to know about why they should hire you.
- At that same time, also ask the interviewer if they like working at the company, or their favorite and least favorite things about working there.
Of course, one of our top posts over the years is tips for dealing with post-interview anxiety, including advice like getting exercise, going out with friends to keep yourself occupied, reading brain candy, and getting enough sleep.
How about you, readers? What are your best interview tips? What do you agree/disagree with regarding the tips above? What lessons have you learned from experience? Any interview success stories/horror stories to share?
These are some of our favorite nail colors for interviews: 1) Ballet Slippers 2) Mademoiselle and 3) Sugar Daddy. CLASSIC!
Stock photo via Stencil.
FFS
This picks up on a conversation I had with a friend recently (both in law) – our take is that a large percentage of the time you’re in the door because of your qualifications. They assume you can do the job, and at that point are mainly interested in seeing if they want to work with you every day. I don’t think that’s true for every position – I know when I interviewed my current paralegal, I was really impressed by the thought she put into her questions – but it was 1000% true of my last interview and how I got my current job.
For those of you who interview a lot (on either side), how often do you think that’s the case? And oh god, please don’t ask if there’s anything the interviewer needs to know about why to hire you. That makes me cringe so hard.
Cat
For law firms I think that’s true, especially more junior positions — if you have a record of good grades from a good school, your abilities are a known quantity, and the rest of the interview process is seeing if you’re poised and professional in such a way that you’ll be a pleasure to train/use, clients will like and trust you, and if you are stuck on a nightmare case/deal, you’ll be reasonably nice to be around trapped in a conference room for hours on end.
Clara
I’m more in tech, but I don’t think this is as true. Tech companies do a lot of coding exercises etc, and seem almost doubtful of the abilities you have on your resume. There’s also a lot of focus on your thought process, as well as what you’re saying – to put it bluntly, making sure you’re not a nerd who can’t talk to people.
Anon
My SO is in tech and that’s been his experience as well. I think it’s because there’s a lot of variance in tech. As someone who isn’t really a coder but has done some online courses here and there, I know I could struggle through a certification, scrape by, and still be essentially useless in a professional role, even though my resume would have the on-paper qualifications necessary. Computing degrees are somewhat more helpful, since each major has their own cut classes, but that doesn’t mean that the applicant will be well-suited for all jobs, or be able to do all jobs by the deadline they’re issued. So yeah, actually testing the candidates makes a lot of sense, to me.
Anonymous
Three things: (1) This may be more first year associate/2L interviewing than anything, but make sure you have an answer that you have thought about and practiced to the question “why this particular job at this particular office?” I work at a small satellite office of an AmLaw 50 firm and because of the market we’re in, we are very reluctant to hire people who don’t have ties to the area or don’t demonstrate that they want to be in this geographic area. We all know that you’re interviewing multiple places, maybe in multiple cities, but for the 15-20 minutes you’re interviewing with me, at least pretend that you want to do this specific job in this specific market more than the other ones. At its core, the question and answer reflects a “know your audience” understanding.
(2) know your resume. If you have a section on your resume like “hobbies/interests” make sure you’re prepared to talk about them in detail. Sometimes, depending on who I am interviewing with or how much time I’ve spent looking at your resume, this will be the only thing I’ll ask about. It’s very awkward when it’s not actually an interest or you weren’t prepared to talk about it. one time a resume my husband (different field) was asked to review as a favor said “relevant coursework: feminism and sexuality in Asian cultures, 1900-1950”. When asked what job that class was relevant to, there was silence.
(3) And, not interviewing, but if you’re a law student reading this, don’t be afraid to have multiple resumes that emphasize different things. For example , if you’re applying to a firm that is only hiring litigation associates, emphasize your deans list award in civil procedure or your moot court/trial bar experience (maybe move to the top of your resume); if it’s a transactional practice, maybe move these to a section further down your resume and then talk up how much you want to be in a transactional practice in your interview.
Anon
Research the company. Perhaps this isn’t a thing if you’re interviewing at Cravath, but most companies want someone who understands what they do. My manager said that she interviewed multiple people for my role who never even looked at the company website to learn about it.
During the interview, ask what qualities make someone successful or unsuccessful in the role.
ThatOneRedhead
My most helpful tip from the corporate world (not law) is that the person interviewing you wants you to be the solution to their problem. I’m not going into an interview trying to trip the candidate up; interviewing is a long and arduous process, and I want you to be great so that I can be done!
Cat
On the notes vs. no notes question: I think it seems like overkill to be taking notes of any detailed length. Exception for follow-up stuff (like if you talk about an article and the person asks you to share it, by all means, make a note!). Lots of note-taking interrupts the flow of conversation.
Ellen
I always took notes during my interviews. It made me look smart with my Day Planner open and me writing. Of course I never showed the interviewer what I was writing, but Dad says it made me appear serius. I recommend a tablet or a Day Planner with a nice pen. Men love it.
Anon
Agreed with Cat– I think it is good to have something you can take notes on if needed (e.g., if you’re asked to send an additional writing sample, jot down the email address of the person you should send it to). But, I wouldn’t take extensive notes during the interview. I can’t think of a situation where a person writing throughout the interview wouldn’t be off-putting.
Fringe
What title would you put on your business card if you were in my shoes? I’m attending a networking event where I will need something (anything) to have on me and right now I’ve got nothing. I just finished an Associate’s at a comm. college. I haven’t enrolled anywhere or chosen where I will go on to do my Bachelor’s. So I don’t really know that I could say “student” anymore, even though I still feel like I am one, and I do intend to return to school. And I don’t even know if “student” is an appropriate title to put on a business card.
Should I just stop overthinking this and write “student” and elaborate if someone asks because 1. it is a networking event geared at students so people will assume that’s what I am and 2. I *am* going to get a bachelors, this just happens to fall between enrollments because I decided to take the fall off to take more time to get a better handle on what I wanted to study and where I wanted to go.
Louise
What’s the polite way to address why you want to leave your current role when it’s due to a sexist, bullying culture?