Be Realistic about Job Prospects: Law School Interviews

After a grueling series of law school campus interviews, it is the time for you sign up. Do not spread yourself too thin. Everyone is understandably anxious to find a job, but a never-ending stream of inter views works to your disadvantage. You appear to be harassed, tired, perhaps even noticeably frustrated and miss or may miss an exceptional amount of class time. A second major rule with respect to sign ups is to be realistic. Match your time and resources with available and probable bookings. You should reach to take full advantage of your accomplishments, yet be realistic about the prospects for employment. If you are at the middle of the class and insist on interviewing firms all of whose members were Order of the Coif, you are wasting your time and denying yourself access to more likely possibilities. Be realistic with yourself and recognize that your talents and skills may be put to greater use and reach greater success at an institution where you have a reasonable chance for employment.

A failure to appreciate that fact can be self-defeating and totally demoralizing. Many, many law students believe, and properly so, that they will be better lawyers than they are law students. Yet you need an environment, which need not be a permanent one at least at the outset, to demonstrate your belief is well-founded. Consequently, force yourself to be realistic about the clerkships or fellowships as well. Better settle for less than you can realistically achieve. Indeed, this piece is to help you develop techniques and strategy which will allow you to reach more success fully for available legal positions than you would otherwise be able to do. The academic credentials of a great many law students, perhaps even a majority of law students, are quite similar when viewed in the overall context. Success or failure in securing employment depends, therefore, on your ability to distinguish yourself from your competitors. Thus the legitimate use of technique and strategy are quite important. Incidentally, one of your best aids in achieving some degree of realism with respect to your law school interviews is the law school placement office.


Notwithstanding my admonition against spreading yourself too thin, I would suggest one or two practice interviews. In other words, to the extent you can do so in the context of your placement environment, it would be quite helpful to sign up for interviews with institutions similar to those for which you think you want to work ideally, such interviews would precede the interview with the firms you really want to see. In any event, I do not believe you should start with an interview in which you are truly interested without a practice interview of some sort.

It is important to see the reaction to your resume, to hear the questions it provokes, to see what general questions come into the interviewer's mind, to see how you react to them, to test your general conversational interviewing style, and to get the reaction to some of the more sensitive questions you think you would like to ask in later interviews. Sometimes you kiss a lot of toads before you find Prince Charming.

Remember the basic goal of the on-campus interview is to be invited for further interviews at the firm, corporation, or agency where the presumption of qualifying law school performance arises in your favor.

Once in the Room

With the goal of obtaining further interviews in mind and your charisma in hand, you should be prepared for the actual interview.

Begin by being clean and well groomed. If an interviewer sees someone who is badly groomed or too casually or carelessly dressed, he or she assumes that person is not genuinely interested in the interviewer or the firm. It may be a badge of honor to treat various institutions and interviewers as supplicants by wearing grubbies to an interview, but in most instances (unless you are the reincarnation of Whizzer White or Shirley Hofstadter), you will not impress an interviewer.

There are several types of interviewers, many of whom are disarmingly perceptive and persuasive. Obviously, the sincere and experienced interviewer makes life more pleasant, but there are other species that make life more interesting. One who might be described as a fighter-pilot type is apt to conceal the absence of experience and understanding with a presence of intense enthusiasm. Such an interviewer might commonly intersperse a discussion of practice (and life) with liberal doses of quotations from Vince Lombardi and George Patton. There are indeed many highly competitive aspects to the practice of law, and yet the competitive instinct is only one of many necessary ingredients for success. Most interviewers will not be as assertive as the fighter-pilot although all of them will be interested in learning something about your willingness to succeed and the price you are willing to pay to do that. If you find yourself facing a, you have learned something about the institution you are interviewing. Very few institutions make random selections of people to interview at law schools; most choose people who they believe will represent the firm honestly and fairly. If you sense a fighter-pilot or feel as though you are reentering your college fraternity or sorority rush week, you may have hit upon a character trait of the firm or institution with which you are interviewing. Of course you may find the interviewer charming, and should recognize that you have learned something about the firm and about yourself as well. There is no need to make judgments as to style. It is simply another relevant fact for you to consider.

If you miss the fighter pilot, you may well encounter the old school reptile type. He, and in this instance it is likely to be he, is probably a direct descendant of Miles Standish who, as we all know, founded the firm that represented Captain John Smith. Remembering the point about how law firms select interviewers, if you find yourself with such an interviewer, you will again have learned something. If you find that the interviewer's name is strikingly similar to one of the names in the firm name, you will have learned something else. Notwithstanding what may seem to be a flippant treatment of the old school reptile type, there are some terribly positive things to be said about long-term stability, long-term client relationships, and a sense of firm history and tradition. No one wants to make a commitment at an institution that he r she feels may be unstable or overly insecure. There are obvious situations in which a prospective employee might decide to take a chance with a new or small, growing firm (or even as a solo practitioner), yet institutions with long and rich traditions offer significant opportunities and advantages.

Another species of interviewer is the KGB type who spends the entire time asking very aggressive and seemingly hostile questions. Almost all institutions have interviewers who use or vary this approach. (Incidentally, KGB types can be distinguished from fighter-pilots by their lack of a "rah-rah" attitude.) In most instances, you can expect to find the fighter-pilot or KGB type of interviewer at the firm or corporation and not at the law school.

Occasionally, you find an interviewer who is rude or discriminatory. You do yourself, serious interviewers, and the interviewing process a favor by reporting such behavior to your placement office or Dean.

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