Job interview/Phone interview

[Intense]

Did a quick search and couldn't find much conversation with this. But I have always been a long term employee kinda guy in that I was at my previous job for 5 1/2 years and now have been at my current one for 1 1/2 years.

However I am definitely looking to make a move in the next few months. Being that I can count the number of job interviews I've had in the past 7 years on 1 hand (I got my current job after 1 meeting), how does one prepare for an interview?

I just confirmed a phone interview for today at 4pm EST with a company I admire and I am going through what typical questions I think will be asked and I am trying to thoughtfully mentally prepare myself without over thinking/psyching myself out.

I googled around and find a lot of what seems like outdated and/or conflicting advice so I'm not really sure what I can take at face value. So for you job searchers, what are your methods and or trusted resources?

Edit: I googled the person I will be speaking with and arrived at her linkedin so I kinda have a feel where she's coming from and the kind of person she might be.

[Conrad]

Learn about the company and the job you're doing. Research its recent projects and its behavior. You want to echo the company's attitude. I aced my last interview because, despite not having as much experience as I possibly should have, I learned about the job I'd be doing through about half an hour of reading.

The above advice DOES come into consideration when negotiating your salary, too.

[Brill Weave]

Phone interview is typically just a screening process done by the hiring manager or HR rep. This weeds out the potential candidates from the dregs. They will most likely discuss what you have done at your current/old jobs that would have an impact on their product/services. Don't be a spaz and handle yourself calmly. This is simple information gathering for her. If she feels you are qualified she'll set up a second face to face interview.

[Intense]

I know a lot about their parent company in that I sent in my resume there as well. The position is for their subsidiary where I would be working in the corporate office in their in-house counsel dept. I basically know their mission (and they're doing pretty well at it from what I've seen of their parent companies financials) and although I wouldn't be interacting with any, I know their clientele.

Looking at the linkedin of the person I am to meet with, I feel like if I go in there being on board with their brand (they're a high end fitness company and she's started at the basic level and has worked her way up) I'll be ok.

I guess I am just looking for a list of do's and dont's because I haven't been exercising and developing this skill set...

[Viq]

Phone interview is typically just a screening process done by the hiring manager or HR rep. This weeds out the potential candidates from the dregs. They will most likely discuss what you have done at your current/old jobs that would have an impact on their product/services. Don't be a spaz and handle yourself calmly. This is simple information gathering for her. If she feels you are qualified she'll set up a second face to face interview.

^totally this. Have the copy of the resume and cover letter that you sent them readily available, because they'll be looking for your answers to match what you sent.

[Meresgi]

Best advice I always give is:

Be out going, even if you're a social recluse in real life, make the attempt to be out going, polite, shake hands, smile, crack a joke here and there to lighten the mood (obviously a joke that's humorous but not offensive). If you dont know the answer to a question, tell them you dont know the answer (this is more tech related) since some questions might be very very high over your head and they are just testing you either to see if you bullshit or to see if you actually know that stuff (they can see bullshit, dont bullshit them). If I dont know an answer I tell them straight up, and then tell them not knowing has never bothered me because it just means I can learn something new, 9/10 they love that answer.

Phone interviews are a breeze if you speak clearly and have a good even voice or a deep voice, people love dat shit.

[Brill Weave]

Don't use filler words(um, uh) anything that looks like you're stalling for time. It's one of my biggest pet peeves when I'm interviewing candidates. Don't drone on in your responses they should only last a minute or two. Did you happen to ask or did she volunteer how long the interview will take? Anything under 30 minutes is generally considered screening. Ask a couple questions to seem more interested at the end. Relax.

[Intense]

In her words "brief phone conversation," which yeah sounds like screening.

[Brill Weave]

Definitely screening. Don't tell her you have a murder shed in the backyard. Speak clearly and calmly. You'll be fine. She's just making sure you have the qualifications they are looking for.

[Sepukku]

Definitely screening. Don't tell her you have a murder shed in the backyard. Speak clearly and calmly. You'll be fine. She's just making sure you have the qualifications they are looking for.

Tell her you don't have a murder shed in the backyard... yet. Tell her you'd be willing to do anything for the job, even murder.

[Brill Weave]

Tell her you don't have a murder shed in the backyard... yet. Tell her you'd be willing to do anything for the job, even murder.

Bravo.

[*Shinzon*]

I know a lot about their parent company in that I sent in my resume there as well. The position is for their subsidiary where I would be working in the corporate office in their in-house counsel dept. I basically know their mission (and they're doing pretty well at it from what I've seen of their parent companies financials) and although I wouldn't be interacting with any, I know their clientele.

Looking at the linkedin of the person I am to meet with, I feel like if I go in there being on board with their brand (they're a high end fitness company and she's started at the basic level and has worked her way up) I'll be ok.

I guess I am just looking for a list of do's and dont's because I haven't been exercising and developing this skill set...

Is this for a legal position or just work within the counsel's office? In general, the advice for legal jobs or legally related jobs is just to talk up your ability to write, conduct research, work independently and work well with people.

[Intense]

Yes, this is for a legal (non-lawyer) position.

I sort of feel like talking up those abilities (which I feel should be a given in my industry) will only take me so far in that everyone else will be talking up those same abilities. But the job description (below) makes me feel like I should stress project management and critical thinking skills.

Job description:

-Oversees critical aspects of the dispute resolution process, including gathering facts to assist in the early assessment of disputes, responding to discovery requests, tracking the progress of cases and preparing case summaries, tracking legal fee expenditures against budget
-Drafts and negotiates commercial contracts under the supervision of an attorney, including basic confidentiality agreements and licensing agreements
-Anticipates and initiates routine legal tasks, both independently and as requested by attorney
-Informs attorney of significant issues in a timely manner
-Reviews materials and provides comments to attorney
-Performs a variety of legal assignments, and manages routine projects, including reviewing and transmitting legal correspondence and documents
-Communicates with and manages outside counsel independently and under supervision of attorney to ensure timely and effective legal representation with minimal disruption to company business
-Provides regular feedback and ensures effective communication with appropriate departments regarding the status of legal projects
-Shows initiative with departmental projects
-Maintains organized files

[*Shinzon*]

Yes, this is for a legal (non-lawyer) position.

I sort of feel like talking up those abilities (which I feel should be a given in my industry) will only take me so far in that everyone else will be talking up those same abilities. But the job description (below) makes me feel like I should stress project management and critical thinking skills.

Job description:

-Oversees critical aspects of the dispute resolution process, including gathering facts to assist in the early assessment of disputes, responding to discovery requests, tracking the progress of cases and preparing case summaries, tracking legal fee expenditures against budget
-Drafts and negotiates commercial contracts under the supervision of an attorney, including basic confidentiality agreements and licensing agreements
-Anticipates and initiates routine legal tasks, both independently and as requested by attorney
-Informs attorney of significant issues in a timely manner
-Reviews materials and provides comments to attorney
-Performs a variety of legal assignments, and manages routine projects, including reviewing and transmitting legal correspondence and documents
-Communicates with and manages outside counsel independently and under supervision of attorney to ensure timely and effective legal representation with minimal disruption to company business
-Provides regular feedback and ensures effective communication with appropriate departments regarding the status of legal projects
-Shows initiative with departmental projects
-Maintains organized files

There's no doubt all other applicants will likely talk up the same points, but you want to make sure that whatever questions they ask you in the interview, your answers reflect those skills. You really just want to make it about you and you need to worry less about other people. If they called you, it means you stand out enough from the crowd they they feel you are a good option for them. Just be conversational and don't go out of your way to make the point that you're good at project management for example. It's got to happen organically.

[Drex]

For phone interview, just don't screw up. Speak confidently and take maybe 1 minute to answer each question. If it was open-ended and they let an expectant silence hang, it's okay to ask if they want you to go into more detail, but they're probably taking notes/doodling.

Know your resume top to bottom. Be ready to describe each bullet if necessary. You will definitely be asked to talk about your resume, tell me about yourself, etc., these are all cues to talk about your resume top to bottom. The phone interview is mostly just a screen and half the candidates will blow it. Expect to mostly talk about your work experience and one or two fit questions about work environment, getting along with others, teamwork, etc.

This will happen again in-person. For in-person, you can extend your answers to 2 minutes or so, but not much longer than that. Pick 3 key words/phrases you want them to associate with you (dedicated? hardworking? loyal? quick learner? team player? don't pick something stupid like "I can file papers good") and pick 1-2 stories of experiences you have that demonstrate those characteristics. They will already know you're qualified and will focus more on behaviors, so drill on those 3 characteristics. If you can make yourself sound good in 2 minute soundbytes for an hour or so, you're good. If there's multiple in-person interviews, it will probably just be the same shit all over again so feel free to walk through the same stories.

Only potential hitch is a trap question like what are your weaknesses or what was an aspect of your job you didn't like, suck it up and pick something that isn't relevant to the new position. You'll be fine. Don't play the "well I used to be bad at X but I've improved doing Y" because it's old hat by now and interviewers just write it off as BS.

If you don't get picked, don't feel bad, in the current environment you can ace the interview and your chances will still be based on about 75% luck. But if you blow the interview your chances are 0, so don't do that obviously.

[Drex]

Oh and if they ask an unexpected question and/or you have a brain fart and need to pause to arrange your thoughts, you can let a question hang for 2-3 seconds without making her uncomfortable, followed by a slow "that's a good question", followed by another 2-3 second pause, without raising any red flags. Good thing to have prepared. I've personally done this on even a relatively simple question and gotten the offer afterwards. The important thing is not to make it obvious you're lost, which is what happens when you go umm, uhh, well, hmm...

[Lucavi]

Phone interview is typically just a screening process done by the hiring manager or HR rep. This weeds out the potential candidates from the dregs. They will most likely discuss what you have done at your current/old jobs that would have an impact on their product/services. Don't be a spaz and handle yourself calmly. This is simple information gathering for her. If she feels you are qualified she'll set up a second face to face interview.

This. My current job's phone interview was exactly this. They were already ready to hand me the contract by the time the phone interview was conducted, as I had already destroyed the aptitude test and met with the employer via skype for a tele-meeting.

[Ddz]

Some interviewers get annoyed at too many questions by the interviewee. They don't want to feel as if you're interviewing them.

[Intense]

Some interviewers get annoyed at too many questions by the interviewee. They don't want to feel as if you're interviewing them.

Yeah! I mean some questions are okay, but I read an article where the person thought when prompted for your questions towards the end of the interview, a good question to ask the interviewee what about the company should make you want to work for them in a way to flip that traditional question were all asked. The sentiment was that "they" were being considered for a match by you as much as you for them.

I was like.. there is no way I'd ever ask that. There is so much weird information being thrown around about this subject, it prompted my making this thread.

[Intense]

Just got off the phone. I think it went well!

It was about a 10 minute interview and it was pretty easy. I was asked about the 2 previous firms I worked for, how I adjusted in the change from Criminal Defense (old job) to Civil Lit (current job), my current responsibilities, how I prioritize my duties, if i had ever attended any Soul-Cycle classes, why I'd want to work there and oddly enough what I'd say my favorite area of law was...

She then opened up the floor for any questions and I stated I thought the job descriptions were clear and all things I could excel in but I was curious about the tracking of expenditures since it is all in-house and that was that.

She'll call tomorrow around midday for the next step in the process.

Thanks guys!