Scheduling Your Law Firm Interviews

This is an article in a series of articles called Your Ultimate Guide to Law Student Recruitment. Don’t forget to read the previous article here: Introduction to Law Firm Interviews

Introduction

Now that you know what a law firm interview looks like from my previous blog, the next step is to learn how to schedule your interviews. I know, it sounds pretty simple…anyone can schedule interviews. But it’s still good to think about how to approach it because believe it or not, scheduling interviews is an important part of the process. You wouldn’t want to double book an interview or be late to one because you didn’t leave enough time between interviews do you? This guide will give you a few tips to help you organize your schedule, avoid common pitfalls, and reduce the stress that comes with law firm interviews.

Tip #1: Be Strategic

When it comes to scheduling law firm interviews, you have to be strategic. Especially if you have multiple interviews. Think about the best way to schedule your interviews. If you have a mix of interview formats, schedule interviews with the same format on the same day. For example, you might schedule all virtual interviews on a Monday and all in person interviews on a Tuesday. That way, you make good use of your time. If you have multiple in person interviews, find out where each law firm is located and schedule them according to proximity. If two firms are a 5-minute walk from each other, you should try to schedule those interviews on one after the other for efficiency and to limit your commute time.

Tip #2: Confirm the Interview Details

Confirm the details of your interview including:

1. What format the interview will be in
   • Is it in person, by video call, or over the phone?
2. Where the interview is going to be held
   • If by video, is it through Zoom? Webex? Microsoft Teams?
   • If in person, where is the law firm located? Is it downtown? On the south side of the City? Is it even in the City? Make sure to ask for the exact address.
3. When the interview will be
   • Confirm the date and time of the interview. For most law firms, you will be able to choose a date and time that works for you unless of course, there is a conflict on their end. This is where Tip #1 comes in handy. If you’re strategic and find out which law firms are close to each other, you can schedule them back to back (with some buffer time of course).
   • Note: you may need to do this as you’re on the phone with a recruiter because you won’t know which firm will offer you an interview until they call you to schedule one. Stay calm, tell the recruiter you will check your calendar and quickly look up the law firm’s location to see if it’s close to any other law firm you’ve already scheduled an interview with. Calculate the time it would take you to get from one law firm to the other and schedule your interview accordingly.
4. Who will interview you
   • Ask for the names of your interviewers (often law firms will have this information and be willing to share it with you). This will give you an opportunity to do some research on your interviewers beforehand that might help you during the interview.

By confirming the details of your interview, you can avoid any confusion and unnecessary stress on the day of.

Tip #3: Leave Enough Time Between Interviews

Although you should try to schedule in person interviews on the same day, don’t schedule more than two or three. This will allow you to leave enough time between interviews – at least an hour (preferably more) which is really important. Here’s why:

1. Delays Happen. Law firms are busy, and interviewers might get pulled into something unexpected. During one of my law firm interviews, a client showed up out of the blue and my interviewer had to meet with them. This delaying my interview by like an hour. It was a good thing I had more than enough time before my other interview so it’s always a good idea to have a bit of a buffer in your schedule in case something similar happens.
2. You Might Get Dragged into a Firm Activity. For example, some firms might offer law firm tours as part of their interview process, even if they don’t mention it beforehand. I had this happen twice. At two of the places I interviewed at, they had a law firm tour scheduled after my formal interview was done that I didn’t know about/wasn’t told about. Luckily, I had enough time for one interview to do the tour and the other interview was at the end of the day so I didn’t have anything else scheduled.

If you end up leaving too much time between interviews, that’s okay. Use the extra time between interviews to review notes, reflect on your performance, and prepare for the next meeting. This is a way better situation to be in than not having enough time between interviews and feeling rushed.

Tip #4: Don’t Say No to Firm Activities

So what do you do if you’re offered to participate in a firm activity, like a firm tour, but you don’t have enough time until your next interview? Here’s what not to do: don’t decline. If you say no, some firms might take that as a rejection and that you’re not interested in the firm. Instead, express interest. Tell them that you would love to participate but that you have another commitment to attend. Then, propose another time for you to come back and do the activity. You can say something like:

“Thank you for the opportunity! I’d love to take the tour, but I have another commitment shortly. Would it be possible to reschedule the tour? I’m very interested in learning more about the firm.”

This isn’t just limited to firm tours by the way. There were a couple of firms during the recruit that invited me to some last minute socials. I got invited to a lunch on really short notice and two mixers that were happening on the same day at the same time. I went to the lunch and also ended up going to both mixers (I left one early and came late to the other one). If you ever find yourself in a situation like that, just explain that you have a conflict but that you will try to make it. Again, the key is not to decline outright and express interest.

Tip #5: Be Flexible

It’s a good idea to be strategic and plan ahead when it comes to scheduling your law firm interviews. But also remember to be flexible. No matter how much you strategize or plan, not everything will go your way. Even if you’ve mapped out all the law firm locations and grouped interview dates and times accordingly, a law firm might not be able to work with your planned schedule. Even if you leave more than enough room between interviews, there are countless things that could still cause you to be late to one. Maybe your car breaks down or your interview gets delayed for an hour. If that happens, it’s important not to panic so expect that you’ll have to make some adjustments to your schedule. It won’t be perfect and that’s okay!

Conclusion

The way you schedule your law firm interviews can make a huge difference in your experience on interview day. Whether you’re navigating your first law student interview or you’re an upper year trying to schedule multiple interviews for the articling recruit, try to plan ahead and stay organized. This will help you be more efficient and reduce unnecessary stress. But remember to be flexible! Not everything will go according to plan, so be prepared to change things up when you need to and crush those interviews!

This is an article in a series of articles called Your Ultimate Guide to Law Student Recruitment. Check back again soon for the next article!