There are certain questions that are asked in some form or another in most interviews for trainee solicitor positions (or newly qualified positions for that matter). Preparing answers to these common questions will not only help you in your interview if they come up they will even help you if they aren’t asked.
By thinking through these questions and preparing skeleton answers you will be effectively preparing your own personal pitch, ie the thing that can set you apart from others.
During an interview you can utilise these answers (or part thereof) when answering questions different to the ones you prepared them for. Your aim as an interviewee should always be to project a positive image of yourself over to your interviewers. Therefore, the more you have thought through and built up this positive image in your own mind before the interview, and the more of this you can get across during the interview, the better.
In the fiercely competitive market for training contracts every applicant would be wise to paste the following phrase in large letters on their wall: Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail! Cheesy I know but it’s never been more applicable than to wannabe trainee solicitors.
The questions to prepare for are as follows (and there are many variations thereof to which your answers will be more or less the same):
1. Tell me about yourself.
2. What do you know about this firm/organisation?
3. Why do you want to work for us?
4. Why should we offer you the job?
5. What are your strengths?
6. What are your weaknesses?
7. Where do you see yourself in 3/5/10 years?
8. Why do you want to be a solicitor?
9. What do you do in your spare time?
10. What do you consider one of your biggest achievements in your life? Why?
Being prepared is half the battle! Good luck!!
Professional Interview Coaching Now Available
If you have an interview or assessment day coming up and you would like to boost your chances you can do so by getting personalised interview coaching. Founder of Trainee Solicitor Surgery, and legal career coach, Matt Oliver can now help with this via his coaching website – for more details click here.
