how do i prepare for interviews again?
Hi Cece! I watched the videos in your playlist for interviewing and was curious if you had more insight on interviewing for jobs post-law school. I have been in my current government attorney role for almost 5 years and recently decided to pursue new, more stimulating opportunities in the private sector. I feel that my interview skills are rusty and was wondering if you had any tips on how best to prepare for interviews if it’s been a minute. Thank you in advance for your help! I really enjoy your content :-)
- Claudia
Hey Claudia! Apart from conducting as much public research on your interviewers as you can, using the STAR method in responses, and rehearsing a narrative that connects your past experience with the role you’re interviewing for, I would say that the elements of interviewing which are specific to non-entry level interviewing are:
Be prepared to answer why you’re looking for a change. Ideally, this should be a part of your pre-planned narrative/“tell me about yourself” that you’ve rehearsed. Legal employers in particular can be suspicious of job switches, because there aren’t any competence “tests” they can give to applicants like employers do for software engineers or editors. They want to know that the reason you’re looking for a switch isn’t because, for example, you’ve been performing poorly at your current job. (That’s always the fear—that they are taking someone else’s dud off of their hands.) In your case, talking about wanting more stimulating opportunities is great—be specific about what stimulation you think the role will give you and why your prior experience is a good launchpad for that role.
Examples of work accomplishments should primarily draw from your current position. In law school, you can get away with talking about undergrad clubs and internships and classes, but that reads a little weird after about two years post-law school. Grab a list of the most common behavioral interview questions, and make sure that you have examples from your current position to answer all of them. Even if you don’t have anything directly on point from your current position, talk about the closest event demonstrating a transferable skill that you do have from your current position for a bit before adding in something from further in your past.
Mention relationships with current work contacts that you can tap into in the role you’re interviewing for. The potential downside of hiring someone new from outside the organization is that they bring with them their own work style and relationships. That’s a potential upside, too, though—particularly when crossing the public-private divide. Private sector companies looooove ex-government employees, so really play that up! What insights about government operations and enforcement can you bring? What government relationships can you potentially leverage in a new role? Sell that relationship arbitrage!
It should be much more of a two-way interview. By that, I mean you should feel free to “interview” your interviewer a bit! The hardest thing in most industries, law included, is getting your foot through the door—and now that you have already done so and gotten a fair bit of experience under your belt, you can feel more comfortable asking your interviewer some questions about your shared area of law (I always like asking privacy lawyers about their views on how the U.S. privacy regime is shaping up and how they think it could be improved) or training and mentorship (I introduce those questions by talking first about what my current employer does, as companies are always curious about what peer companies are doing, and that makes it a good segue into asking them what their policies and practices are). Interviewing the interviewer a bit also expresses that you have standards and preferences of your own and helps you avoid looking like you’re desperation applying. And of course, it gives you more information with which to make an informed choice about where to go next!
Work with a recruiter whom you trust or get interviews through referrals whenever possible. Recruiters and referrals aren’t as helpful or even available to law students, but they are extremely valuable at your experience level. Finding a good recruiter whom you trust can be hard, but a good one—who is also invested in your long-term career growth—is worth their weight in gold. Legal recruiting is a gigantic industry, and it’s no cost for you, as the talent, to use them. In a similar vein, a solid referral from someone for an interview can put you leaps and bounds ahead of the other applicants for a position. It’s not fair, and it’s not right, but it is what it is, so make the most of any connections in the private sector that you may have. (My goal has always been to never cold-apply to jobs after ten years of work experience, which is definitely doable in law, and I think could even be true after five years.)
Good luck with the interviewing—I’m so excited for the new experiences on your horizon!
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