By: Steve Grumm

Equal Justice Works and two co-conspirators just wrapped up the second part of our webinar series on the summer public interest job search.  Today’s focus was on interviewing and networking.  Lots of wisdom shared.  I jotted down the points that resonated most with me and added my thoughts:

Interviewing

• “Law Student: Google thyself!” – employers are savvy to the Internets and the Googles these days.  Not all employers run Google searches on job candidates.  But some do.  You should know what pops up when you run a Google search for your name.  If one of the first hits is your college buddy’s blog post with pics of that epic kegger back on Groundhog Day of ’07, you may want to reach out to your buddy.  (You may also want to ask your buddy how the heck her blog gets so much search-engine-optimization love from Google, but I digress.)
• If interviewing on Skype:
  • At a minimum, the top half of you should be in business attire;
  • Don’t look down at notes too much.  You’re not in the room with the employer, so it’s going to be awkward if you spend large chunks of time looking away from the camera.
• Be prepared for the “Tell us about a professional weakness” question, and turn your weakness into a strength.  We all have weaknesses.  So when an employer asks you to talk about a weakness, the answer is never, “I have none. So hire me.”  Employers are doing two things when asking this question.  They are trying to gauge your self-awareness, i.e. your knowledge of yourself.  And they are probing to see how you address your weakness so that it doesn’t affect your work product.  Here’s how I’ve addressed the question in past interviews:
  • One weakness I have is an instinct to take on more and more work when it presents itself.  This is not necessarily a bad instinct, but if I don’t manage it then it can lead to my getting overwhelmed and bogged down with an unrealistic workload.  That risks becoming unproductive.  So, I have learned to be thoughtful about prioritizing work and keeping lines of communication open with colleagues and supervisors so that the team around me is on the same page.  Either daily or weekly, I will step back and list the tasks that are currently in my portfolio in order to prioritize work and to ensure that I’m working efficiently.  I try never to inappropriately pass off my work to colleagues, but I do ask for help when needed.  Put more succinctly: the key to managing my weakness is to be mindful of my workload and to communicate with colleagues.
• Thank-you note is not optional.  Doesn’t matter if you walked out of the interview with no interest in the job.  Send a note or email expressing your thanks for the interviewer’s time and consideration of your candidacy.  It simply never hurts and takes a matter of moments.

 Networking

• Networking ≠ Schmoozing.  This one is near and dear to my heart b/c when I started law school I fancied myself a sort of rogue public interest student who didn’t need anything from anybody.  In fact I refused to use the word “network” as a verb.  Thank goodness, though, I realized fairly early on that networking is not glad-handing for the sake of self-advancement.  It’s about connecting with like-minded people who can help you get things done, for your professional development and ultimately for your clients or the mission you’re striving to achieve. So I approach networking as building a foundation of contacts which I can look to for guidance, knowledge and so forth…and yes, occasionally for job leads.  I recommend thinking of networking as a professional tool, not as empty schmoozing.
• You Never Know Whom…  What does this mean?  Well, a lot of your networking actually takes place in your absence.  That is to say, a person you’ve had a conversation with may pass your name on to another person, and so on and so on.  This “passive networking” works both for good and for ill.  Please know that while the public interest community is, in some ways, diverse and diffuse, you’d be amazed at how many people know each other.  And if you say something disparaging about an experience you’ve had, an organization, or an individual, that comment may find its way back to its object.  So when networking, keep it positive because you never know whom the person you happen to be speaking with now will be speaking to when you’re gone.

If you missed either of the webinars (part one, last week, reviewed cover letter and resume tips), we’ll make both webinars freely available this Friday at http://www.nalp.org/webinars.  I’m sure Equal Justice Works will be posting the webinars on www.equaljusticeworks.org, too.