Talking too much in an interview is the death knell for lawyers who are seeking an in-house role, a recruiter says.
“I can’t tell you how many candidates we’ve had who have literally talked themselves out of contention,” Brittney McDonough, a partner at BarkerGilmore, said in a webcast hosted by the recruiting firm. “It starts from the opening question, which is typically open-ended: tell me about yourself. If you ramble for several minutes, I can almost guarantee you you’ve lost the attention of your interviewer and anything you say afterward may not even be heard or won’t be as valued as it would have been otherwise.”
To the person conducting the interview, whether it’s the general counsel, CEO or chief human resources officer, talking too much suggests you’re not a listener, don’t have the ability to distill information, lack self-awareness and have low emotional intelligence, all of which are vital in in-house roles.
“Think about all of the assumptions and observations being made about you as a prospective candidate just by talking too much,” McDonough said.
Ideally, you want to keep your answers to under a minute, maybe a minute and a half. The goal is to have what recruiters call a 50-50 dialogue: each side getting half the conversation to be heard.
To improve your performance, practice answering a few questions that you know you’ll be asked. For example, you know you’ll be asked behavioral questions.These try to get a picture of a situation you’ve confronted and how you dealt with it.
McDonough recommends thinking through three or four of these situations before you go into the interview and map out your response to each by following what recruiters call the STAR approach — describing the situation and the task that was required to address it, and then describing the action you took and the result.
By practicing your answers, you’re not caught off guard and less likely to meander into irrelevant points.
“The last thing you want is to be a deer in headlights,” she said.
Another question you know you’ll get asked is why you want the job. Here, you want to make it about the organization you’re hoping to join, not the organization you’re hoping to leave.
“It needs to be about this opportunity, this organization — whether its growth, mission, leadership, the ability to make an impact,” she said. “The interviewer needs to feel you’re being genuine and there’s passion.”
McDonough said she’s had a lot of hiring managers come back to her after an interview and say the candidate didn’t seem interested in the opportunity.
“Some people don’t want to come across as desperate, so they're too conservative with showing their enthusiasm,” she said. “You want a compelling reason you want a change that’s specific to that organization.”
Candidates can also expect to be asked to provide questions they have of the organization, and this is another opportunity to be prepared for.
“Don't neglect to ask smart questions,” said McDonough. She defined those as questions that try to reveal cultural fit.
“How would you describe the culture here?” is one example, she said. “What type of individual tends to thrive on your team? Then you can demonstrate you have those same values.”
You can also expect to be asked about your strengths, and here it can help to shift your answer by describing what others have said about you.
“It’s a more humble way of answering,” she said. “My CEO commended me for my ability to do this. Or, this type of feedback often shows up in my performance reviews. [Approaching the question like that] also adds credibility to what you’re saying and helps you self-advocate without coming across as boastful.”
