Because some of us have already been through it, and for others that will soon go through it… here is my interview experience:
I make sure to arrive 30 minutes early and I go to this place that I have never seen and am there at the same time as about eight other people… awesome (note the sarcasm). Ok, one of the attorneys walks by and asks if anyone would like any water….
Is this a trick question?… do I want water?.... I like water…. A million things spin through my head, but I ended up saying the first thing that automatically goes through my mind…Yes.
The attorney says ok… follow me. (In my mind, I am not sure why I thought the water would magically levitate to my seat, or how I actually was going to get the water, but ok, here I am off to a foreign place to get water.
So at the water cooler I we make what could be considered small talk… or could be a pre-interview… I don’t know! But I answer the questions in my laid back interview style and proceed to drink my water. (and since I drink every time she asks a hard question my cup of water is empty!). But as a famous rapper has said, “I am still thirsty…” But this time I do not fill up my cup, we finish the convo and then I go sit down.
Ok, so now that I have had an interview warm-up I do feel better, I go sit down, and still have five minutes until my interview time… but wait… I have to use the bathroom now…. Shoot! Ok, what to do.. so I waste a minute thinking about the decision, and I realize the bathroom is right in front of me, so I decide to do it I stand up, and take a step forward, but at that time the person in charge comes out of their office, and looks at me… so I look at her… (She is obviously thinking why is this guy just standing up?…lol). So I am stuck, because I kind of figure it is my interview time, but I am in the middle of the room on the way to the bathroom. She breaks the ice by saying you can go to the bathroom first…cool, I go to the bathroom.
Ok, we can skip the obvious, I make sure my shirt is straight, my shoes are tied, and I walk out. She then walks me and a few others up to different interview rooms.
I am still not sure how I feel about group interviews, but not that I have a choice, I go into a room with two attorneys… and the interview begins. They go back and forth with a lot of questions, some that I remember were: (I will put in parenthesis what I thought of the question)
1. Tell me something about yourself that is not on your resume (Since I put everything I wanted you to know on my resume… this is a hard question)
2. Why do you want to be a lawyer? (Softball)
3. Why did you leave you job to go to law school? (Curveball)
4. Do your think your time off from school has helped you in law school? (Homerun)
5. What can you add to this firm? (I honestly don’t like this question because upon answering it you are basically saying this firm doesn’t have…X)
6. Do you have any questions for us? (Easy question if you prepare… I just made sure not to ask anything that was on any website…and trust me I went through those websites with a fine tooth comb!)
After I got business cards, we parted ways, and I saw some other people still in their interviews… not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing… but we shall see.
I later went home and emailed a thank you note and now all I can do is wait! I think things went well, and I gave it my all, wish me luck guys, and good luck to all of you on your future interviews!... If I had to do it again... I still would not have passed on the water!
Hope this entertained/helped you all out! Feel free to comment with your interview experience likes/dislikes
