Effective ways to ensure a successful job interview
You have managed to leap off the pages of your curriculum vitae and cover letter and have been invited to a job interview for a prospective job role. Of course, you are stressing out, yes you are one step closer to grabbing that dream but the pressure is mounting and you have to prove yourself one more time (and now there is no paper to hide behind!). How do you ensure that you are successful in your next job interview? Prepare and prepare and prepare Preparation is your friend and is going to ensure your success. One of the first steps should be to find out from your future employer if there is anything you can prepare ahead of the interview. If they are obliging, you could go further to find out the format of the interview and who will be on the interview panel. This is something you can (and should) also find out from current employees. Read over your curriculum vitae and cover letter, be familiar enough with them so that you can address any questions on them. Know why you included specific details – what were you trying to get across about yourself? If this is the first time you are applying for a job, make sure you are able to highlight how your background has equipped you for this position. The same goes for a position you are applying for within the same sector as you are currently employed. If you are looking at branching out from what you have previously done then it is necessary to be able to illustrate how your skills are transferable. For example, if you all your experience is limited to corporate and now you intend on moving to a government department, detail skills you acquired during your corporate experience and how these could be applied in your new setting. Preparing for this pre-empts the inevitable question about why you are making a change and goes one step further in showing that you have thought about how your past experience, although different, translates. Practice You could go about practicing by either going through a mock interview or even more informally just chatting through some questions. This is a must in ensuring that the actual interview is not daunting. Work through some basic questions such as personal background to start off with. Then move on to specific experience and education. Make sure you can also address questions about the new position and company. Would you be able to answer why you are leaving your current position? Or some of the more sticky questions such as what makes you different; what is the biggest challenge you have faced and what is one quality you would change about yourself. Make sure that you do not over-practice, you do not want to come across as rehearsed during the actual interview. So walk that fine line between practicing and coming across as rehearsed! Questions During the latter part of an interview, it is inevitable that you will be asked whether you have any questions for your prospective employers. It is imperative to ask questions and in order to be able to do so, you need to factor this into your preparation. Questions can relate to the working environment; the type of clients and if you are aware of who the interview panel will be ahead of time – questions can then be addressed to specific people. For example, if you know the head of the department will be part of the interview, try to research some of the work she or he has recently been a part of so you can ask a more detailed question. Remember, inasmuch as an interview is about you being judged, it is also your opportunity to assess whether this position is the best fit for you. So if work/life balance is integral to your happiness then be sure to ask about this in the interview. Current Employees Try to connect with current employees. They can assist in shedding light on what the work environment is like and what the position you are applying for entails. A good starting point for connecting is LinkedIn. More often than not you will have connections in common, which makes connecting a lot easier. They can also help you figure out if the position advertised is really what is described or in substance is something else. Current employees can be a great resource for understanding our potential work environment and role. Outcome of the Interview Before you leave the interview, be sure to find out how the communication following the interview will go and who you can contact if you would like feedback. Whether you secure the position or not, feedback is key. You have an idea of how you would like to come across but did that materialize and is there anything you could have done better? Of course, these are more critical to know if you did not secure the position. So often when we fail we want to forget about the experience entirely. But knowing what did not work will put you one step ahead in terms of preparing for the next interview. Do not read notes up until the last moment before you enter the interview. Take some time before to try to relax! It is really difficult to do, especially when you know you need to ace the interview, but having that sense of calm will translate when you go into the interview. Small things like speaking slowly are also important and are sure to ask for a minute to think something over if you are unsure – there is no need to answer immediately! And lastly but most importantly, be yourself and do your best. Got an article you’d like to share with us? Share your story with us here.
How to secure a Promotion in your early years of Practice: A Young Lawyer’s Guide
Working as a young lawyer in a commercial law firm in Nigeria, I noticed that many young lawyers struggle to secure a promotion in their early years of practice. One of the major reasons for this problem is the lack of transparency and structure in most law firms in Nigeria. As a result of this, young lawyers are left clueless as to how to secure a promotion. This usually results in young lawyers engaging in hard work which involves; keeping late nights, spending weekends at the office, taking more responsibilities than they can handle regularly, which ends up leaving young lawyers feeling overwhelmed from the stress and constant negative feedback. How can this issue be resolved? How can young practicing lawyers secure a promotion in their early years of practice? In answering this question, the saying “you have to work smart and not hard to succeed” comes to mind. This basically means that in order to secure a promotion, a young lawyer has to initiate ways to maximize his productivity level. It goes beyond spending late nights in the office on weekdays and weekends, there are some extra steps that need to be taken to ensure that you are headed in the right direction and considered for promotion. The steps are: ask the right questions, know when to ask these questions, volunteer for extra activities and learn how to satisfy your boss/supervisor. Ask the right questions As basic as this may sound, the first step in securing a promotion as a young lawyer is to ask your bosses/supervisors the right questions. Examples of these questions are: How am I fairing with work? Am I performing at the level expected of me? Is my performance at the level where my boss can give me additional responsibilities? These questions will proffer feedback that a young lawyer can develop or work with to better their skills and knowledge in the practice of law. The feedback given will provide guidance and direction to a young lawyer seeking to secure a promotion. If the feedback is negative, the next question that should be asked is, what can I do to improve? When the answer is given, you now have the responsibility of putting the feedback into effect in a way that’s demonstrable, by ensuring you deliver good legal work. This can be achieved by seeking help from your colleagues or immediate bosses, reading widely, asking questions to obtain clarity on a subject matter etc. This shows seriousness, resilience, and determination to succeed, which every employer loves to see in his employee and will definitely give a young lawyer an edge over his peers at the next quarter when promotions are being considered. If the feedback is positive, ensure that you maintain that level of excellence and even thrive to do better. Most people become comfortable when they get to certain levels in their career where they believe they are performing well. However, this can be dangerous as too much comfort breeds mediocrity. Know when to ask the right questions? The next step is realizing when to ask the questions and to achieve the best results from the question mentioned above. These questions have to be asked at the right time, which is usually at least 6 months before the next promotion quarter. For example, appraisals in your law firm are usually done in December and promotion lists released in January. A young lawyer should ask the above-mentioned questions in June/July of that year. This will afford the young lawyer ample time to improve his skills and work on the feedback received from their boss or supervisor before the next promotion quarter. Most young associates or lawyers tend to ask those questions after seeing the results of their yearly appraisals. Usually, this is too late because there is not enough time before the promotion list is released to improve your skills. If you have just secured a job in a law firm, you should be asking the above-mentioned questions after the first quarter or the first half of the year. Volunteer for extra responsibilities at work It is advised that young lawyers volunteer for extra responsibilities at work that will help showcase other skills a young lawyer may possess i.e. organizational skills, management skills. However, this should not be done to the detriment of your legal work at the office. Therefore, time management has to be applied to enable a proper balance between participating in extra activities and the ability to deliver legal work. It should also be noted that as a junior associate, the bulk of the work is your responsibility and as such your legal work should always be your primary responsibility. Learn how to satisfy your boss/supervisor I was once reprimanded by a Partner in my office for neglecting to keep him informed on every step I took while communicating with a Client on a particular matter, leaving him out of the loop. The thing about this was that I did not think it was necessary to inform him because nothing major had happened, however, the partner I was dealing with was particular about knowing everything that happens in this case. After reprimanding me he told me something that has stuck with me: “figure out the little things your boss likes, the way he likes his things done and ensure you do it that way”. He said that this little act goes a long way and will leave a lasting impression on your boss. My point is that as a young lawyer you are encouraged to study your boss to know his likes and dislikes with respect to work and do everything with enthusiasm to satisfy him with your delivery. These little acts can make you become one of your boss’s favorite and as a result, he may overlook your mistakes and also put in a good word for you when certain names are being considered for promotion. Are you a young professional who has a lesson to share? Let us know here.