Getting Your Points Across With a Motor-Mouth Legal Interviewer

Dear Lawcrossing,

I just had a very weird experience in an interview. I read the stuff in your Guerrilla Tactics book about interviewing, and I was totally prepared, with all of my answers and questions and everything. But it turns out that I didn't get a chance to get a word in edgewise. The interviewer spent the whole time talking about the firm.


And what made it even worse was that it was everything I already knew from researching them.

I feel like the whole interview went by without me getting a chance to sell myself. What should I have done? And what should I do if it happens again, God forbid?

KF, Los Anodes

DEAR KF,

LawCrossing's mind boggles at the ways in which interviewers can surprise us. In her travels, LawCrossing has heard everything. Interviewers who sat silently for 10 minutes, and then calmly reached into their jacket pocket, took out a pair of scissors, and snipped the interviewee's tie in half. Interviewers with bathrooms adjoining their offices, who choose to relieve themselves during the interview-without closing the bathroom door. Interviewers who bring a pumpkin and a knife to an interview, and whose only statement to the interviewee is, "Carve the pumpkin."

While your experience isn't quite so extreme, KF, it does fit the mold of the non-interview interview. Of course, when the interviewer talks about the employer throughout the interview, there are three likely reasons. First, your paper credentials are so good that it's a foregone conclusion that they're going to invite you back, and so they want to sell themselves to you. Second, your paper credentials are real bow-wows, and so the interviewer is just going through the motions interviewing you. Or third, the interviewer doesn't know any better. No matter what the reason, it always makes sense to try and sneak in a word, and here's how: Nobody-not even LawCrossing-can talk for 20 minutes without taking a breath.

At the first opportunity, let the interviewer know that you've done your research about them, and immediately follow up with a question to break their flow. For example: "You know, I read about that merger on your web site. And while I was there, I looked up your profile and saw that you wrote a Law Review note about the admissibility of lie detector tests. That's such an interesting topic. How did you choose it?"

Of course, LawCrossing isn't giving you the precise words to use, KF, but rather pointing out the importance of getting the interviewer away from a prepared script, and into focusing on this interview. Look at it this way: If they're already sold on you, this won't un-sell you. And if they've already written you off, showing them your impeccable pre-interview research skills indicates an enthusiasm that fires up many an employer. And if they just don't know any better-well, you've done the interviewer a favor by getting the interview on-track.

There's another option for the blabby interviewer, and it's this: toward the end of the interview, you can say that while you've found the interview fascinating, you wish you'd had a chance to ask some questions of your own-and could you call the interviewer subsequently? This keeps open a valuable line of communication, and very few interviewers will respond with a "No."

Your experience, KF, reminds us all of something very important: it's a mistake to assume that interviewers will be skillful. Virtually no one outside of human resources personnel is trained in interview techniques. And that means that there's a lot of room for you, as the interviewee, to turn the interview into a helpful give-and-take.

See the following articles for more information:
 

• 21 Major Interview Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs
• The Best Way to Prepare for a Job Search and Interviews
• How to Talk About Other Interviews in Your Interviews
• How to Answer the Tell Me About Yourself Interview Question
• How to Answer the Do You Have Any Questions for Me Interview Question