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Lateral junior attorney biglaw callback interview. I was asked how I found about the position. Not sure why this threw me off.

Truth: The firm is actually great in my preferred practice area, and I found an open position in the practice group by searching on the firm's career opportunities page.

Answer I gave: Extensive google searching for opportunities in this practice area. Thats it, thats all I said. And I literally said extensive google searching. Perhaps I said this because I spend hours doing extensive google searching for opportunities in the practice area, and my mind reflexively remembered this.

How terrible of an interview answer is this? Interviewer was a partner, and she ended the interview pretty early (seemed to run out of questions), so naturally I'm reliving this moment in my head and driving myself crazy.

That's not a bad answer. I would think it shows some diligence to find it.

Better:

"I've had an interest in your firm's [practice group] since [x reasonable event you're interested in & qualified for], so I've kept an eye out on the open job opportunities. I was pleased to see this position open recently, and applied"

Fantastic answer, and I should have said that. Unfortunately I did not.

Agree with flawschoolkid. Unfortunately, your response suggests that you're desperate to find another position rather than seeking a specific opportunity.

#2Lwisdom

Not a great answer on your part, but I honestly don't think that will make or break you.

Lol I think the "truth" answer is better than the response you provided (especially if you finessed it a bit by saying something like what flawschoolkid posted). Not sure why you gave the answer that you did.

jt91isles wrote:Not a great answer on your part, but I honestly don't think that will make or break you.

Yep