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I understand that there are a bunch of good questions for employers.

My question, though, is whether I should start answer this question by "first of all, I want to express my appreciation for your taking time to interview me and I am truly interested in the position with your firm." Then you go into the meat of your answer and ask any questions you have about the job/firm.

My feeling is at this point of the interview, you start to take the lead so you should have some "opening remarks，“ otherwise it feels a little weird for me to dive into the questions right away.

thoughts?

I don't understand why, if you're asked, "Do you have any questions for us?" you wouldn't just....ask questions. Opening remarks??

Do NOT say that. That sounds utterly ridiculous.

Don't do that, it'd be weird. It is implied by the reality of the interview process that (1) the interviewee appreciates the interview opportunity and (2) the interviewee is interested in the job.

An interview is a conversation. Do you usually start your conversations with opening remarks? If so, then go for it.

you ask:
1."What do you like best/least about your firm?"
2."Do you see growth in the firm/ how is the firm handling the economic enviroment?"
3."Where do you see yourself in the firm in 5 years?"

Just ask everyone "what made you want to work here." That usually provides fodder for the rest of the interview.

I usually asked:

Why did you choose this firm?
Why did you come to this city (if undergrad or law school was completed somewhere else)?
How did you get started in your practice area?
How do new associates get assigned into a practice area?
How does the summer program staff you on projects (if not readily apparent from website)?
What do you consider to be this firm's biggest strengths?

rad lulz wrote:Just ask everyone "what made you want to work here." That usually provides fodder for the rest of the interview.

That was almost my question; that or "what is your favorite thing about the firm?"
But I was pretty bad at interviewing, so I dunno if that's necessarily a good way to go.

Just ask about pay, vacation, and stuff like that.

Opening remarks would make you stand out from the rest of the interviewees in a way that do you more harm than anything.

Anyone ever get asked this 2 minutes in. MBHB did this to me. He took one look at my UG transcript and I knew I was done. So I left after like 5 minutes of dreadful questions.

keg411 wrote:

rad lulz wrote:Just ask everyone "what made you want to work here." That usually provides fodder for the rest of the interview.

That was almost my question; that or "what is your favorite thing about the firm?"
But I was pretty bad at interviewing, so I dunno if that's necessarily a good way to go.

I think it's fine for the kind of interviewing we do. I use those questions all the time and judging from my interview results over time I'm at least average.

I'm probably average at best in interivewing, but I'm pretty sure vague general questions aren't what you are supposed to ask. Didn't stop me from doing it, but I think they should aim higher. But don't ask me, I was doing patent interviews for the most part. The aspie leading the aspie.

Have some balls and ask "when do I start?"

Don't do opening remarks. That's weird. Instead, you can ask:

1. Are there any particular characteristics or traits that enable associates at your firm to succeed?
2. I heard about this program that your firm has. Can you tell me some more about it?
3. How much responsibility are associates entrusted with?

Good luck.

guano wrote:Have some balls and ask "when do I start?"

Anonymous User wrote:

guano wrote:Have some balls and ask "when do I start?"

I've gotten the job every time I asked that question

Desert Fox wrote:Anyone ever get asked this 2 minutes in. MBHB did this to me. He took one look at my UG transcript and I knew I was done. So I left after like 5 minutes of dreadful questions.

Had it happen in a couple of CB interviews, such a dick move by the interviewer. You're on a schedule and can't stall for 5 minutes and then jet because what are you gonna do, go chill in the hall? Especially when they have a designated person come to get you for your next interview at a set time

Probably goes against TLS conventional wisdom, but I've always felt comfortable telling my interviewer that I didn't have an questions if I legitimately felt like the interview covered everything. By the time you get an interview, you probably already know everything about that job that they'd be willing to tell you anyways. I found not bullshitting always worked best.

Disclaimer: this coming from someone who got an offer from every 2L summer position I interviewed with (gov't, prosecution) and with a post-graduation offer at a prestigious office.

Anonymous User wrote:Probably goes against TLS conventional wisdom, but I've always felt comfortable telling my interviewer that I didn't have an questions if I legitimately felt like the interview covered everything. By the time you get an interview, you probably already know everything about that job that they'd be willing to tell you anyways. I found not bullshitting always worked best.

Disclaimer: this coming from someone who got an offer from every 2L summer position I interviewed with (gov't, prosecution) and with a post-graduation offer at a prestigious office.

Good flame but you ruined it by italicizing prestigious.

Desert Fox wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Probably goes against TLS conventional wisdom, but I've always felt comfortable telling my interviewer that I didn't have an questions if I legitimately felt like the interview covered everything. By the time you get an interview, you probably already know everything about that job that they'd be willing to tell you anyways. I found not bullshitting always worked best.

Disclaimer: this coming from someone who got an offer from every 2L summer position I interviewed with (gov't, prosecution) and with a post-graduation offer at a prestigious office.

Good flame but you ruined it by italicizing prestigious.

To add to the "flame," I also was very honest with it came to ties to a particular area when interviewing for post-grad positions. I usually opened by letting my interviewer know that I had no particular desire to be in any location, but instead was more interested in the opportunities the job afforded me rather than the city. I definitely got some weird looks and I'm sure "Are you seriously not playing up ties in this interview?" went through a couple of prospective employer's heads, but ultimately all of my interviewers at least mentioned how they appreciated my honesty.

The best questions/topics:

1. If you could change one thing about your office or firm, what would it be?
2. How do you generally generate clients/How early do associates generally generate clients (just something that fits the conversation that relates to generating clients)?
3. Ask about leadership positions/networking organizations in your particular field (this works best if your interviewer is in the same field as your interest).

I like to lead into questions with, "You mentioned X earlier. How do you think that..." and then tie it in with one of the questions I typically ask in an interview.

So awkward.