- “Tell me about yourself.” Comment: this question is intended to break the ice. Be careful not to ramble and try to mention something about your professional life that is relevant to the job in question. Don’t give a recitation of entries on your resume. Expand on that and say something that tells the interviewer about you as a person. It is nice to include some personal information. Use your answer to raise the curiosity of the interviewer. It is like delivering a movie trailer. Stay away from potentially inflammatory or controversial topics like politics or religion unless you see something in their office that validates that you share similar views
- “Why did you to law school?” Comment: even if you are 20 years out of law school, you should still have a good answer for this (just in case).
- “What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?” Tip: try to mention a strength that is relevant to the job. When discussing weaknesses, try to address a flaw which you have already done something about (e.g. “In the past I’ve had some difficulty with organization, but ever since I took a time management course, I have become much more organized.”) Another strategy is to identify the weakness and say but…. (e.g. “I haven’t done real estate lending, but I’ve done a lot of asset based lending”).
- “Why do you want to leave your current job?” Tip: focus on why the current position sounds attractive and avoid negative statements about your current or past employer. In other words, focus on the “pull” factors of the new job rather than the “push” factors of your existing or last job.
- “Describe a difficult transaction you were involved with. What was the difficulty and how did you handle it?”
- “Why do you want to work for us?” Comments: employers like to hire individuals who are excited about the company or firm – not employees who are disgruntled and unhappy at their current workplace. On the other hand, you may not yet know enough about the position to answer this question. You might want to get more clarification from the interviewer before you answer the question.
- “What are the responsibilities of your current position?” Comment: if you don’t know what the responsibilities are for the job in question, you might want to get some clarification. This way, you can tailor your answer to demonstrate that you have the necessary skills.
- “Dealing with a difficult client is something we all go through as lawyers. Can you describe a recent situation where you had to deal with a difficult client? What steps did you take to address the situation?”
- “What are your greatest accomplishments?” Tip: stick to professional accomplishments.
- “Who is your favorite author?” Comments: this can be a tough question for someone who doesn’t read. Actually, the best way to answer the question is truthfully. (e.g. “I’m not a big reader, by my favorite movie director is … ” or simply discuss some other interest of yours).
- “Name your favorite attorney and what you admire about this individual.”
- “What are the qualities of a good secretary? Paralegal?”
- “Describe your work style.”
- “Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your supervising attorney. What was the nature of the disagreement and what did you do about it?” Tip: stay away from saying anything negative about your former boss.
- “Where do you see yourself in five years?” Tip: make sure that in your answer, the job you are applying for clearly makes sense in your 5-year plan. Also, make sure you don’t leave the impression that you are only interested in the job in order to move on to the job you really want.
- “What would your clients say about you? Your boss? Your colleagues? Your assistant?”
- 17. “Why should we hire you?”
- “Describe a situation where you were faced with conflicting priorities. How did you determine what was important and the order in which you would get each task done?”
- “Aren’t you overqualified for this position?” Tip: if you are, don’t try to hide this fact. Instead, give a logical reason why you are still interested.
- “Do you have any experience doing ‘X’” (where ‘X’ is something you do not have experience doing)? Tip: demonstrate how you have done things that are like ‘X’.
- “Things can get pretty busy around here. Can you to be an example of how you are able to cope with setting priorities in another setting?”
- “What do you think might make you different from other people we might be interviewing?”