Interviewing Help

[midjeep]

what to do about a bad interview?

[firant]

I haven't interviewed law yet.. so.. take this as more "general" interviewer advice (I used to interview people in my past life as a technologist).

1) remember, if they don't hire you, someone else will.
2) if you don't like the interviewer or the job, try to relax into the interview, since it's a dead letter anyway - and maybe once you relax they will too.. then things can happen.
3) if get the taste of death on an interview - might as well ask if there's any advice they might have for you about your interviewing - hell, that's flattering anyway. (Last time I asked, my zipper had been down through the whole interview... DOH! But they did call me back for a second round.)

Some of these are chancy - if you're wrong and they really do like you, 2 or 3 could put you out of the running. But.. most definately, just try to relax. Nobody likes interviews in my experience. They're too brief and too imposing to really understand a person - and your best bet is to come out looking professional, knowledgeable, and humble.

-F

Just to restate - these weren't law interviews - I don't have a feel for the differences yet, so your mileage may varry.

[jacy85]

I don't know that there's much that you could have done differently.  If they were interested in talking to you, and they spoke about things you had no way to contribute to, then it's not your fault for not being able to join in.  At least you know you did your best to keep an eye out for any kind of opening.

I'm not sure if there's really any way to do this, but I feel like a senior partner (perhaps one that you interviewed with or someone in charge of hiring) would want to know about how your lunch went.  If you had a crappy experience, then it's possible other candidates did too.  If you don't get a job offer, you run a risk of coming across as "bitter" or something, and I'd be hesitant to say something if you did get the offer in case word gets back to some of your future coworkers.  Perhaps you could ask your career services adviser (if you have one) for advice.

[up_late]

It sounds like the people who took you to lunch had no clue about how to recruit people. It doesn't sound like you did anything wrong. They were just being clueless or jerky. They may have intended to focus on you more but have gotten distracted by each other's jokes.  Or, they may have made up their mind one way or the other before the lunch started.  Or, they may have taken you out just to make sure you wouldn't do something really bizarre.  Or, they may have taken you out to give you a look at their social interactions with each other and make sure you didn't run away screaming. It's impossible to know.

I would not recommend volunteering any opinion about this experience to the people at the firm, regardless of whether you get an offer. If the firm hires you and then asks you for recruiting feedback, I recommend speaking only in general terms about what a good interview lunch should look like, rather than about your specific experience.

Interview meals are awkward.  All you can do is be as polite as possible and demonstrate interest the best you can.