First Interviews

Part of doing well in any interview is knowing how to talk about and sell yourself. Recent trends have moved employers away from traditional interview questions to more behavioral questions. The belief is that a candidate's future performance can be determined based on how he/she reacted to a similar scenario in the past. For example, employers may be inclined to ask "tell me about yourself," or "tell me about a time when you're been in conflict with someone," or "tell me about a time when you've gone above and beyond the call for duty." These open ended questions are meant to keep people talking, all with the purpose of determining whether candidates can articulate their experiences clearly and concisely.

Since I don't necessarily have the top grades to back up my ambitions, I have to resort to acing the interview, and, of course, be able to explain why my life is the way it is. In writing this entry, I hope to be able to articulate my experiences to some of the more commonly-asked questions, and also, why I would be an ideal candidate in any law firm.

I. Tell me about yourself that is not on your resume.

I've been taught to talk about myself in a 30-second commercial fashion.
"I am a first generation Chinese American. My parents immigrated to this country thirty years ago from a war-torn Vietnam. They came with little education, and knowledge of the English language. As such, Chinese was my first language because I grew up speaking Chinese with my parents - something that I still do today. I've watched my parents start with very little, and through hard work, has made something of themselves in order to give my siblings and me a better life. This experience has taught me the value of hard work, as well as humility - values that I have tried to incorporate into my professional and social life.

II. Tell me about a time when you've failed at something. What have you learned.

Quite frankly, most everyone fails at something. For me, the failure stems from not achieving my personal goals: the perfect law school, the perfect job, the perfect apartment, the perfect gf, etc... I realize, though, that no one achieves their ideal life. What that does is that it keeps people motivated in pursuing their respective objectives. Of course, this response will not suffice because I need to be much more specific.

I failed to make a solid impression on my boss while at the Career Services at Harvard Law. He had assigned me a project that I took too long to accomplish, and he accidentally opened the wrong file that sent him, in additional to commenting on my overly casual dress. I took his criticism to heart, and tried for the rest of the summer to gain his respect. I immediately dressed more professionally, and worked diligently on projects that were assigned to me from the other assistant directors. In the end, he took me out to lunch and told me that in spite of our early misunderstandings, he truly appreciated the good work that I did. Rather than accept that he would harbor disdain for me, I tried to use that initial bad experience to rectify the problem.

III. Name a problem that you have faced at work/school. How did you resolve said conflict?

I was a rower in college, and for a better part of my collegiate life, I spent it with a close group of teammates. As such, tensions tend to arise from time to time, based on the demands of the sport, while juggling school and other activities. I remember one morning my senior year, where these tensions flared, and I ended up yelling at my teammate in the boat for various reasons- someone that I actually lived with. That led to a grudge where we did not speak to each other for a day or two. After realizing that this grudge would go no where, I had to take the initiative to apologize and to talk it out with my teammate in order to proceed with our season, which was particularly difficult given the pride we've assigned to ourselves. There's a fine balance associated with crew, and everyone needs to be on the same page. Therefore, there was no reason prolong the issue.

IV. What are your strengths/weaknesses

This is an old-school question that is relevant nonetheless. My greatest strengths are two: humility and the ability to adapt and be personable with a wide variety of people from different socio-economic, geographical, and cultural background. This ability stems from my numerous work experiences, whether the environment is corporate, academic, non-profit, or even foreign. Yet, I have still been able to thrive in these environments, which is a true demonstration of my strengths.

On the other hand, my greatest weakness is that I tend to have a strong-belief in the way that I do things. Sometimes, it's difficult for me to break my habits in favor of something more productive. For example, I have always been set in stone with regard to how I approach my studying, which I was adamant in continuing the same methods. However, given the different nature of legal studies, I realized that I have to change the way I approach the problem by changing how I think. It's only been a semester, but I've become more accustomed to this new technique, and am now looking to get better in adapting new techniques.

V. Why do you want to be a lawyer? What attracts you to our firm?

I've always been intrigued with the analytical aspect of the law. I've also always been interested in international issues, given my experiences abroad. While at the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, and at Chinalawinfo, I realized the thriving business environment in China. At the same time, I witnessed many of the hurdles that companies and individuals faced with regard to establishing a presence in China. This element certainly stirred an interest in the study of international law as well as the challenges associated with the study, even though I'm still not quite sure what avenue to pursue. (I would then parlay this experience to connect with a particular firm's international practice/clients, etc...).