5 Top Interview Tips For Lawyers Seeking A New Job

As lawyers we will most of us have to face an interview situation several times in our careers as it is rare in today's working environment for anyone to get a job without one and then stay at one firm for their entire career.

Most lawyers get their first taste of interviews when they apply for a training contract or pupillage after they have finished the academic part of qualifying as a lawyer.

Therefore in order to progress in their legal careers lawyers must polish their interview techniques and here are some of our top tips:

1. Don't try too hard - as hard as it can be to relax in an interview and want to impress as much as you can do not try too hard to convince the interviewer that they must give you the job. Of course, you can use compelling reasons why you are suitable for the position backed up by examples of previous work and other experience but do not over cook it.
2. Try to breathe deeply and ensure that you don't talk too quickly. This can often come across as you being very nervous but also it can mean that some of the great things you are talking about may be difficult for the interviewer to understand and to fully absorb.
3. Be polite, do not get offended by any questions or become confrontational if challenged on anything and try to give a professional image of yourself at all times. Some interviewers like to try to make things difficult for you or see how you cope under pressure so expect that when you walk into the interview and it will come as less of a surprise when it comes.
4. The overriding advice we would give you is to make sure you fully prepare beforehand both in terms of researching the firm you are going to be interviewed by and also reviewing your own CV and experience and running through some example answers to likely questions that might come up.

Other than that you just need to be yourself and not try to be something you aren't as this can usually be sensed fairly easily by an interviewer.