Topics to Avoid During an Attorney Job Interview
The attorney job interview — whether you’re in the first round or final round — is a critical part of the overall hiring process. It’s important to ask the right questions and provide reasonable, professional answers during your interview, but it’s even more important that you make sure to avoid certain topics altogether. Fundamentally, it can be difficult (if not impossible) to predict how the interviewer will react to certain statements, and as such, you’ll want to avoid controversial topics.
By engaging with certain controversial topics, you may put your candidacy at risk. Both in-house attorney positions and positions in big law are highly competitive, and as such, perceived issues with personality/fit can place a significant burden on your hire-ability.
So, what topics should you avoid? Consider the following list.
Interpersonal Problems With Previous Employment
It’s very likely that your previous employment was not ideal in many ways. Perhaps you had an issue with lacking support infrastructure at your firm, or perhaps you felt that the promotional structure was stagnant in comparison to the industry at-large. As a rule, it’s good policy to avoid criticizing your previous job unless prompted by the interviewer to do so in order to provide context for your present job search.
If you must criticize, be professional, courteous, and succinct about the issues. Avoid rambling and airing out all your grievances — more specifically, avoid discussion of any and all interpersonal issues (i.e., if you had a tense relationship with certain co-workers). When possible, follow-up criticism with praise for the organization. Try to appear more excited for the future than frustrated by your past.
Controversial Recreational Activities
Though you may enjoy a variety of recreational activities, be mindful of the interviewer’s personality and the culture of the firm/company. Depending on the interviewer — their personal experiences, biases, and political beliefs — it can reflect negatively on you if you discuss controversial recreational activities. For example, if you like to hunt game, you may want to avoid discussing your passion for hunting with an interviewer who is a vegetarian!
Nontraditional recreational activities can be hit-or-miss. Though a young, hip interviewer might appreciate your interest in skateboarding, an older interviewer with a negative impression of skateboarders as “hooligans” might view you in a negative light if they find out about such recreational activity.
Religion and Politics
As a rule, do not introduce religion and politics into your attorney job interview, as it can needlessly inflame the conversation and may alter the interviewer’s impression of you. In certain circumstances it may be unavoidable, of course: say, if it is directly related to your work experiences and/or educational experiences (i.e., if you studied theology, worked for a senator or a policy thinktank, or spent a summer doing missionary work).
Other Competing Opportunities
During the interview process, avoid talking about competing job opportunities that you’re considering — whether you have received a job offer or not. Though it is perfectly acceptable (and expected) that you will be fielding many different offers, it can be damaging to your candidacy at a particular firm/company if you talk too much about competing opportunities during the interview process. The interviewer may come away with the impression that you are leaning towards a different firm/company, which may reduce the possibility of a job offer.
Intimate Personal and Home Issues
Do not discuss personal issues during your interview. For example, if you are having interpersonal issues at home (for example, if you are struggling with a divorce), then any discussion thereof may lead to the impression that you are not as emotionally stable as other reasonably well-qualified candidates. Emotional stability is a critical factor in the hiring process. Emotional stability is generally assumed, however, unless the candidate gives the hiring manager a reason to question it.
Additionally, interpersonal and home issues may give rise to problems with attentiveness in the workplace, ability to work efficiently, and more. If you are currently struggling with personal issues, it’s likely that you want to vent — but do so in a different arena!
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Here at Garb Jaffe & Associates, our legal recruitment consultants will help you formulate a strategy for tackling your interviews effectively, professionally, and with specific strategies tailored to each firm.
If you’re an attorney looking for a new position, consider speaking with one of our Los Angeles legal recruiters. We have extensive experience placing attorneys with prestigious law firms and large corporations located across California, and will advise throughout the recruitment process so that you can secure an ideal placement.
Call us today at (310) 207-0727 for a free consultation.