Have a few of these lined up and not really sure what to expect - behavior questions, performance-based questions? Expecting the general why law, how was 1L, etc.
If anyone has conducted a screener interview, what sorts of things are you looking for in a candidate?
What are interviewers looking for during a screener interview? Forum
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Anonymous User
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Re: What are interviewers looking for during a screener interview?
Just confirming that the person is somewhat pleasant to be around, professionally presentable, and can articulate a reasonably sincere and well-informed interest in the firm. Your grades, law school, and work experience speak for themselves and the screener just serves to eliminate people who are good on paper but come off as really unprofessional or not really interested in the firm. But I don't think the reverse is true. Like, if you don't have good grades from a good school or (to a lesser extent) a relevant professional background, I don't think having a great screener will make up for it.
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nealric
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Re: What are interviewers looking for during a screener interview?
It makes some difference whether you are at a school with pre-screen or not. You can be bottom of the class at Columbia and sign up for a Wachtell screener, but you are wasting everyone's time. There's zero chance of your sterling personality overriding your not meeting their hiring criteria. On the other hand, if you are at a pre-screen school, anybody with a screener probably has a chance and personality can make the difference given that everyone they pre-selected probably meets the basic hiring criteria. However, firms are likely not going to give out nearly as many offers in total to a lower-ranked school with pre-screen.Anonymous User wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 10:39 amJust confirming that the person is somewhat pleasant to be around, professionally presentable, and can articulate a reasonably sincere and well-informed interest in the firm. Your grades, law school, and work experience speak for themselves and the screener just serves to eliminate people who are good on paper but come off as really unprofessional or not really interested in the firm. But I don't think the reverse is true. Like, if you don't have good grades from a good school or (to a lesser extent) a relevant professional background, I don't think having a great screener will make up for it.
Another thing that the screener will confirm is that you actually match the firm's practice groups. It's not uncommon to have candidates say they are really interested in "X practice" when the firm doesn't even do that thing, or it's some super specialize niche that the firm doesn't have need for and the candidate isn't a match for. I know I naively told firms during OCI that I'd be interested in doing appellate without realizing how exclusive and specialized appellate groups are. That almost certainly cost me some callbacks.
