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Interviewer talked for most of my screener (?)

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 5:03 pm
by Anonymous User
I just had one of the strangest experiences and I'm not sure how to feel about it. I finished a screener with a V10 and I came away from it feeling rather mixed.

It started off with me answering some questions about my summer work experience and about my aims concerning office location. The interviewer was great, there was good synergy because their practice was also one I was very much interested in, so I got to bring up some really cool stuff they did in their field. This led to them talking for quite a while though since they were very passionate about what they did. I loved listening to them talk about it, but I felt as though I didn't really leave them with much to assess me on (because I had limited speaking time), which got me worried that I might have screwed up somehow.

What is the implication of this? They didn't ask why law school, what my strengths are or to tell them about myself.

I sincerely doubt I'm being written off for grades or anything. Pretty high up at CCN and the firm in question is not Wachtell.

Re: Interviewer talked for most of my screener (?)

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 5:39 pm
by nixy
People love talking about themselves and what they do. So the interviewer probably came away from it feeling good about you. Is it possible they didn't ask you more about yourself because they've already written you off? Sure. Is it also possible that they didn't ask you more about yourself because they were already satisfied with what they saw? Absolutely. You have no way of knowing which of these is true and there's no point wasting energy on trying to figure it out.

But also, there is no set of required questions. Plenty of interviewers won't ask you why law school, what are your strengths, or to tell them about yourself. Even if those were questions every interviewer should ask (they're not), most interviewers don't get extensive training in how to interview and plenty are terrible at it. You also have no idea how anyone else does in their interview, what connections and/or qualifications they have, or what any particular interviewer likes/doesn't like.

My point is just that you are operating with way too little information to evaluate what really happened. Move on and don't waste your energy trying to read tea leaves.

(Also: how many of these have you done so far?)

Re: Interviewer talked for most of my screener (?)

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 6:31 pm
by 12YrsAnAssociate
This was generally a good sign for me. I remember feeling anxious because how could I have left an impression if I didn't say anything, but more times than not this led to an offer or at least more interviews.

Re: Interviewer talked for most of my screener (?)

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 7:15 pm
by Anonymous User
nixy wrote:
Thu Jul 29, 2021 5:39 pm
People love talking about themselves and what they do. So the interviewer probably came away from it feeling good about you. Is it possible they didn't ask you more about yourself because they've already written you off? Sure. Is it also possible that they didn't ask you more about yourself because they were already satisfied with what they saw? Absolutely. You have no way of knowing which of these is true and there's no point wasting energy on trying to figure it out.

But also, there is no set of required questions. Plenty of interviewers won't ask you why law school, what are your strengths, or to tell them about yourself. Even if those were questions every interviewer should ask (they're not), most interviewers don't get extensive training in how to interview and plenty are terrible at it. You also have no idea how anyone else does in their interview, what connections and/or qualifications they have, or what any particular interviewer likes/doesn't like.

My point is just that you are operating with way too little information to evaluate what really happened. Move on and don't waste your energy trying to read tea leaves.

(Also: how many of these have you done so far?)
Fair enough. I guess no point in dwelling on that then.

To answer your question, though, I did 6 prior to that one. Some were far more question-heavy than others whereas some had a somewhat similar pattern to the one in question, though way less pronounced.

Re: Interviewer talked for most of my screener (?)

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 7:23 pm
by blair.waldorf
I would not hire someone obsessive enough to post this. JFC.

Re: Interviewer talked for most of my screener (?)

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 7:41 pm
by the lsat failure
These are the best kinds of interviews IMO. They didn't ask because they likely didn't feel a need to. It's not guaranteed, but most of my interviews that went this way were positive ones so long as you were receptive and were able to carry on a fun/deep/meaningful conversation.

Think about it this way: if you, as an interviewer, never gave someone a chance to talk about themselves because you were too busy blabbing, would you hold it against him/her?