Have you been invited to interview for a position at a top legal firm like Richmond Vona, LLC in Buffalo, NY? If so, are you ready for your interview? Or, do you need a few tips to help you ace your interview?
It does matter how intelligent, qualified, and educated you are, if you do not give your interviewers the right impression, you will not get the job.
The American Bar Association’s 2018 statistics highlights the following employment figures:
- There were 34 221 law graduates in 2018. And, circa 24 000 were employed in long-term and short-term fulltime and part-time positions after having passed the relevant bar exams. This translates into 70.1% of all 2018 graduates.
- And, 4 105 law graduates or 12% of the total number of graduates were employed in similar long-term and short-term positions based on the fact that they had qualified with a Juris Doctor (J.D) degree.
- Finally, on the other end of the scale, only 1.1% of the class of 2018 started their own legal practice.
Thus, these statistics show that the majority of law graduates need to interview for a position with a legal firm. And, it becomes critical to present the right image at your interview.
Therefore, are several tips to help you as well as a few major faux pas to avoid:
Research the law firm who you are interviewing for
Essentially, you can never know too much about the company that has invited you for a job interview. It does not matter whether you use the information or not. The salient point is that, by researching the interviewing company, you will put yourself in a position of strength. And, you will be able to answer questions about the law firm should you be asked to.
Prepare answers to standard questions
It is vital to ensure that you have answers prepared ahead of the time for standard questions like What are your strengths and weaknesses? You might not be asked such questions; however, because you have equipped to answer these questions, you will not stumble and appear hesitant in the interview.
Make sure you have questions to ask the interviewers
It is important to make sure that you have prepared several questions about the law firm to ask your interviewer should you be asked. Otherwise, you will appear to be disinterested in the company. This, in turn, will probably cost you the job. Therefore, when looking for information about the law firm, make sure you include questions to ask about the law firm and its partners.
Do not ask personal questions
At the same time, while needing to appear interested in the firm, it is critical not to ask personal questions about any of the employees or legal partners. Frankly stated, it is not of your business, and it will leave your potential employer with a negative impression.
Prepare yourself for shock interview questions
Although you will never know what questions will be asked before the interview, it is vital to prepare yourself for questions that are random and are intended to shock the interviewee. For example, a random question can be something along the lines of: What do you think of the color blue?
The interviewer is testing your ability to remain professional when put under pressure and to provide a cohesive argument without appearing shaken, arrogant, or cocky. You might not even have an opinion on the color blue.
Incidentally, the correct way to answer this question is to relate the answer to the value you can add to the business.