Strategies for Getting the Most from an On-Campus Law Firm Interview

On-campus interviews run for short periods of time and are usually rushed. They can get a little awkward, too: for example, you may be asked about your not-so-stellar grades. But with proper research and some preparation, you can accomplish your goal of turning your on-campus interview into offers for callback interviews.

Click Here to Find Law Student Jobs on LawCrossing


Let's get the sad fact that on-campus interviews are unfair to you. There is no way you can form an accurate picture of a firm from a twenty-minute interview with one or two of their attorneys. Your goal should be simply to survive them with your best face forward at all times. Having experienced the recruiting season for many years, this is really the most you can accomplish at the on-campus interview step of the process. Conversely, firms get a pretty incomplete picture of you. At this point your resume, transcript, and hopefully a short but interesting conversation become you.
 

That said, the on-campus interview is absolutely necessary. The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) has developed part of its extensive program around facilitating the interview process for the employers, law schools and students alike. To give everyone a full day of interviews at the firm is out of the question because, among other reasons, it is too time-consuming for all involved.

Note that you will be on the hot seat during your on-campus interview. Because of the time constraints, the interviewer will be the real asker of questions. So no list of questions would help you.

What to Wear

Look at the following list that would give you an idea as to how to appear at an on-campus interview:
 

• Wear a dark suit. Men, no crazy ties or shirts.
• Women, you must wear stockings; no bare shoulders or open-toed shoes.
• Make sure your appearance is groomed; this means your hair and fingernails are neat and clean and that there are no strings hanging off your suit.
• You and your breath should smell good.
• Carry your extra resumes and transcripts in either a briefcase or professional-looking folder. Do not carry a schoolbag or knapsack.

Some books on interviewing suggest that you try to highlight your individuality through your interview outfit. This advice is misguided. Crazy patterns on your shirts and skirts will only distract the interviewer and call unwanted attention to you. Feeling comfortable about self-expression is inappropriate with the people you will meet; you do not work with them. Yet, you want your first impression to be professional and serious. Be sure to use a firm handshake, make eye contact and sit up straight.

You must wear a watch to make sure you get to your interviews on time; some days you may have a few interviews scheduled, one right after the other. For obvious reasons, do not look at your watch during an interview, even if you are finding the interview excruciating.

What to Expect

When you arrive wherever your school holds its on-campus interviews, expect to be rattled, especially if you have signed up to interview with a lot of firms. While you are running from firm to firm, try your best to keep track of what firm you have just met by making notes on the attorney's business card or by jotting a note down for yourself in your Palm Pilot or planner. This sounds incredible, but many people mix up firms a lot.

On-campus interviews are with partners or senior associates and last for twenty or thirty minutes. They are very basic, drill-type interviews where the interviewer collects information about you. There is a limit to how much you can learn about the firm. Your callback is a better opportunity for this, so worry about getting the callback before jumping to conclusions about whether or not you will like the place.

Click Here to Find Summer Associate Jobs on LawCrossing

The interviewer receives copies of your resume and transcript in advance of your interview. The interviewers try their best to review your information beforehand, but because of their demanding schedules, they do not always have time. Bring extra copies of your resume and transcript even though your interviewer should have received them already. There are instances where a partner had applicants’ resumes along with his baggage. If by chance something like this happens and he or she does not have your resume and transcript, it will be impossible for the two of you to have an interview.

Making the Most of a Brief Interview

Firms rely heavily on your transcript as a predictor of your future success at the firm. There are strict grade cutoffs that vary (fairly or unfairly) from school to school. For a competitive school with a high ranking, cutoffs will be less stringent. For a school with a lower ranking, grade cutoffs will be higher.

The good news for those of you whose grades are less than stellar is that there are exceptions to these cutoffs. In many hiring meetings, attorneys would do what is referred to as "going to bat" for a student. Despite the fact that the student fell below our cutoffs, the interviewer would push for the firm to call him or her back. Glass standing, participation on journals, school activities, and nepotism can improve your chances.

During your on-campus interview, you must aim at making a good impression by coming across as serious and professional. If you succeed in doing this, you always stand a chance of getting a callback. The first rule of any interview is to listen to your interviewer.

A chief complaint of interviewers is that the interviewees "seemed distracted." You must give your undivided attention to your interviewer when he or she speaks. Books on interviewing invariably tell you to make eye contact with your interviewer. This is valuable advice; making eye contact helps you to concentrate on what is being said. No doubt these interviews may be stressful, but you cannot let your anxiety take over and lead to your being distracted during an interview. The interview you are in is always the one on which you should concentrate. Use a firm handshake, look your interviewer in the eye and smile. As the questions begin, make sure that you are hearing them.

Interview Questions Regarding Grades

You will be asked about inconsistent or mediocre grades. Students seemed to be put off by this sort of direct questioning. While you may not share your grades with your closest classmates, accept that it is entirely appropriate for your future employer to question you about them. Even the consistent A student who has one B might be asked about this aberration. Prepare yourself for an uncomfortable question. If you get used to the idea that you will be asked uncomfortable questions throughout the interviewing season, they will be less alarming when you actually hear them.

How will you explain your bad grades? What will you say? Look at the class in which you got your inconsistent grade. Is it a "blow-off' class that is worth only one credit? Your interviewer is a practicing attorney who has suffered through law school him- or herself and may be sympathetic to your blowing off a class that does not carry as much weight as Contracts or Torts. Simply explain that you focused on other, more significant classes. Alternatively, your interviewer may see a less-demanding class as one in which you could have earned an easy A.

Use your best judgment based on the personality of the interviewer. Does your interviewer seem like the type who would like you to admit that you simply messed up by getting a bad grade? In this case, you can say, "Yes, I should have done better in that course." It is not always seen as a bad thing to have made a mistake. Sometimes admitting that you made a mistake exonerates you from having made it in the first place. If your weak grade is in your first semester of law school, point out that you improved in your second. A period of adjustment with marked improvement is seen as positive because you overcame an obstacle.

Honesty was a good policy for interviewing. Do not make up a long-winded story about why you got a bad grade. You are becoming a professional and "the dog ate it" does not work as an excuse anymore. In most cases, painful honesty is a better policy than a tall tale. The interviewer will know if you lie or exaggerate.

Interview Questions Regarding Work Experience

Some of you will have never held any job whatsoever and this is absolutely fine. If you have not worked at all, highlight your undergraduate school work by pointing out a thesis paper or a project you completed. Law school and what you are learning there should be a major focus of discussion. If you have traveled or volunteered, talk about your experiences and how you grew from them.

Many of you will have gone straight from college to law school and will have worked at odd jobs like tending bar or waiting tables during your summers in between. This lack of corporate experience is not frowned upon. Some of the people with whom you will interview have been in similar situations, so do not feel insecure about it. If your experience is strictly with non-corporate odd jobs, just stick to the truth, which I assume is that you worked to defray the cost of tuition. Independence and self-sufficiency are traits of which you should be proud.

If you have worked in a corporate atmosphere, this experience will be considered relevant and assume that you will be asked about it. Think about what your responsibilities were at your job so you are able to talk about them intelligently. Remember that these firms' clients really run the gamut. Investment banks, accounting firms, consulting groups, publishing companies, record labels, sports teams, museums and clothing designers are all fair game for big clients of law firms. By professional definition, corporate lawyers are educated in all types of business. They may surprise you with their expertise on fields outside of their own. It is entirely possible that your interviewer may know more about the company you worked for than you do.

If your former employer used a law firm or firms, know what they were. For example, if you worked for Random House for three years and are interviewing with the law firm Random House uses, this is information you need to know. Random House will be a flashing light on your resume because the company is a client of the firm. You may even be asked whether or not you know so-and-so or so-and-so; you risk looking foolish if you do not know that you worked for a client of the firm you are meeting.

Previous law firm experience looks good to firms. If you have worked as a legal assistant or paralegal, this is to your advantage, so flaunt it. Interviewers expect that from this experience you know the climate of a law firm, which you should. Think about what you learned from your experience because you will be asked about this. Choose a couple of specific cases or deals you worked on and speak intelligently about them. Because you have law firm experience, your opinion is considered more credible than a person with none.

While working in the legal field, what did you learn about what you hope to accomplish when you begin to practice? Did you decide that you would never, over your dead body, go into Corporate Finance? Even if you are interviewing with a Corporate Finance partner, as long as you can explain yourself well, it is perfectly acceptable to say that you are not interested in Corporate Finance, for any reason. Remember that your interviewer more than likely had the same attitude toward other practice groups early in his or her career.

Even if you hate it, explain that you really enjoy law school and what you are learning there. Be enthusiastic, but in a measured way. You are not trying out for the cheerleading squad. Firms are looking for future professionals. Assure your interviewer that you made the right decision when you applied to law school and decided that you want to be a lawyer. You will come across as focused and determined. With regard to your experience at law school, be very specific about things you are learning.

Before your interview, try to write a paragraph on each issue as if you are studying for a test. This will make the topics familiar to you and they will be easier to speak about. Whatever they may be, highlight what you gleaned from your work and law school experiences. This is a short interview, so focus on the positives unless asked directly about the negatives.

You Question Whether or Not You Want to Practice Law

Your interviewer may probe about how you are finding law school. This can be a little troubling for those of you who do not like it. Under no circumstances should you advertise that you are not enjoying law school. Concentrate on getting a job and worry about whether or not you want to practice on your own time.

Other Interview Questions and Conversation

Here is a classic interview question: What are your strengths? Tell the truth. You will be comfortable and convincing if you do. You must have some "strengths" by now — getting yourself into law school is an accomplishment in and of itself.

Are you a critical thinker? Do you handle yourself well under pressure? Are you punctual? Think of anecdotal evidence to support any claim you make. Even if your work experience is not business-related, you can come up with some strengths.

One student had a great pat answer to questions about her work experience, which was limited to selling clothes. She was asked to write it down: "When I sold clothes at a local department store during college, not only did I learn how to manage many tasks simultaneously, but I also learned the importance of customer satisfaction. Most days I handled five or six customers at a time, some pleasant and some quite unpleasant. Whatever the situation, I remained polite and patient .Obviously customers were happy with my work because I was named the top salesperson in my department." Her example can be customized to any type of work experience. Remember that a law firm is a service business and that client relations are paramount.

Here is a classic and potentially sticky interview question: What are your weaknesses? The easiest way to answer this one is by turning your weakness into strength. For example, "My friends tell me that I take work a little too seriously. "You reiterate that you are diligent by answering this way. You may be asked about the Personal or Interests section of your resume, particularly if the interviewer shares a common interest. If you list an interest, be sure you know what you are talking about. As busy as they are, the lawyers you will meet have interests outside of the firm. If you are an opera buff, fly-fisher, world traveler, or coin collector, flaunt this on your resume.

Interviews move quickly when you and your interviewer share a common interest. You will have a real conversation and can earn yourself some real points. If you and your interviewer end up having a pleasant conversation about a common interest, you will provide some respite from an arduous day for him or her. Remember that he or she may be relieved to get away from talking about the law.

Click Here to View the 2015 LawCrossing Salary Survey of Lawyer Salaries in the Best Law Firms

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