Articles From the Team
Working with a legal recruitment agency or not, every lawyer benefits from a pre-interview pep talk
We all live busy lives with work and non-work issues bombarding our mind on a constant basis.
If you’re going for a legal interview, it’s important to ‘get in the zone’, and part of that process is to focus your mind on what it is you need to convey at during the interview. Putting 10 minutes aside to talk to your legal recruiter, about what they believe are the key areas to focus on, will, in my experience, always help and benefit you.
I just completed a role for a plc in The Midlands and the only lawyer that took the time to have the pre-interview discussion with me got the job. Would they have been the right lawyer candidate in any event? Who knows? Or, maybe it’s because it’s that they’re the kind of character that saw the value in another person’s opinion?
Here’s what I do to help lawyers pre-interview:
- More often than not, I will have met the contact you’re interviewing with. So, I’m in a position to tell you about:
- Their personality: how they come across, what aspect of your personality you should push or hold back on.
- Their interview style: will they try and make you uncomfortable just to see how you react? Do they throw in a curve ball question? Forewarned is forearmed!
- How other interviewees found the interview. I never give away all of what I’ve learnt from those that have gone before you – that wouldn’t be fair – but a little inside knowledge can help to settle those nerves.
- A job profile only tells you so much. Hopefully, I’ll have some added knowledge of what’s coming up project wise, which again, will enable you to sell your experience appropriately.
- You. In a recent blog, I discussed: not bringing your negative experiences to an interview. Hopefully, you’ve been honest with me about the good, the bad and the ugly of your current role/life; this helps me to help you find a business/role that benefits you at both work and at home. Prior to an interview, it’s good to get a reminder about what to share, or not to share as the case me be! Focus on the positives, not the negatives.
- If you’ve interviewed before and we have feedback on what you could have done better, we’ll remind you of it – in an effort to help you going forward