How to prepare for a job interview
The step‑by‑step method to interview with confidence
Why This Guide Works
It doesn’t really matter whether you’re a lawyer or not, at a small firm or a Wall Street law firm, a paralegal or an equity partner; we’ve all had to go through an interview process and still have to if changing jobs, and absolutely everybody has been at least once in panic mode without really knowing how to prepare for a job interview.
For the last few years, I’ve met with hundreds and hundreds of people. Some of them prepare by themselves by doing some research only on the background of the interviewers or researching potential interview questions from Reddit or other forums. In the worst cases, I’ve met with people who are allegedly prepared by a recruiter, but then the recruiter only gives a lecture on the interviewer’s background and that’s it. I won’t say these methods are wrong, but I do say for a fact they’re incomplete, as the interview won’t be a lecture on where the interviewer went to school, and the questions for the interview will be different depending on which role and employer you’re applying for.
With this said, I’ve tried to draft an interview guide as detailed but as general as possible so that not only lawyers can benefit from this, but also other professionals who aren’t in the industry but still require some level of support and guidance during an interview process.
Research That Matters
As I said just a moment ago, there’s nothing wrong with doing research on the person you’re meeting with. Actually, you need to do research on that person; it’ll help you know a lot about them and about the company in general. It’ll help you know what type of backgrounds they like their people to have, or know how long the person has been working at that place and therefore know if you can ask certain types of questions.
Know Your Interviewer (without going full detective)
Alright, you don’t need to go full on Joe Goldberg on the person and find where they live or what food they like to eat. But it is important for you to know who the person is, where they come from, and what type of job they have. As I have said before, you don’t need to become an expert in their life and biography, but knowing certain facts about their current and former jobs can be really useful during the interview.
For example, if you realize they graduated from the same school as yourself or worked at the same place in the past or with the same people, those could help break the ice and generate a certain type of connection with them.
Map the Team
Same as above, you don’t need to memorize the name of every single team member for that interviewer, but if the person you’ll be meeting with is your potential boss, knowing where the teammates come from and what they do will give you a better idea of how to prepare for this interview, and also generate some points of connection if any.
Understand the Organization
I’d expect that by the time you even apply for a job, you’d have already done some research about the place you’re applying for. But if somehow you haven’t done any research or you don’t know anything about this place, be sure to do it immediately once you hear you’re interviewing with them.
There’s nothing much I can say here other than stating the obvious, but you can’t work at a place or interview for a job at a place you don’t know. And also, you don’t want to be the person that goes mute when the interviewer asks, “What do you know about us?”
Decode the Job
Most of the time there will be a job description when you apply for a job. There are some other cases where there isn’t, like private practice jobs in Tokyo. But for both cases, you could do a different style of preparation with the job description.
When a Job Description Exists
This one is relatively simple. Assuming the organization did a good job drafting that job description, you don’t need to memorize it word for word, but at least understand what is listed in it and adapt your own experience to what is listed.
For example, if the job description asks for somebody with experience drafting and negotiating SaaS and outsourcing agreements, be sure to prepare a few examples of how you have taken part in these tasks.
When There Isn’t One
This one can be tough, especially if you’re not used to interviewing without a job description for guidance. But as I’ve said, this is more common than some people could imagine, especially within private practice in Tokyo. But this isn’t a reason to go into full panic mode.
An easy way to prepare for this is to know the type of work the interviewer and their team do and prepare for it. For example, if you’re meeting with the Corporate M&A partner of X law firm, be sure to visit the partner’s website profile and read the type of transactions they’ve been involved in, considering similar transactions you have participated in the past.
Prepare Your Answers
There’s no interview preparation without preparing an answer to questions you could expect to receive. It’s amazing if you’re the type of person who thinks well on their feet and can come up with answers to any question easily. But if you’re not (even if you are), then you should prepare yourself to answer certain questions before the interview.
Each job will obviously have different questions, and each interviewer will ask different questions. After all, you’re being interviewed by a human and we’re all different. Also, some people have more experience than others interviewing candidates. So, be sure to be ready, even if fully prepared, you’ll have to think on the spot.
To prepare for some questions, you can always think that interviews tend to be divided into three sections most of the time: personal, technical, and your own questions. The interview itself might not be fully divided in that way, but the questions you’ll receive most certainly will be.
Technical: Prove You’ve Done the Work
I start with these questions because they’re the ones I can least prepare you for. After all, you reading this are the real expert of your craft and only you know the type of technical questions you might receive. Nonetheless, I can still make a few suggestions for you to prepare:
Memorize everything in your CV. The person might ask specific questions about something written in it. For example, what was your responsibility during this acquisition back in 2020?
Similar to the first one, be sure to memorize the specific responsibilities you have and how you execute them.
Prepare for real-case scenario questions where the person could try to test your ability to think on the ground with technical questions your clients might ask you.
Prepare yourself to admit when you don’t know something or when you haven’t done something. There’s nothing interviewers hate more than somebody trying to lie their way out of an interview, or somebody overselling and overpromising something they can’t deliver. People tend to prefer those who are honest rather than people who will say anything they have to, to avoid looking bad.
Personal: Be Honest, Specific, and Human
For this, I’m not talking about what your favorite food is or what movies you like to watch. I’m talking about questions connected to you as a person and not necessarily to your knowledge in your craft. Some of the most common questions you might get are:
Why are you currently looking for a new job? / Why did you apply to this job?
Why are you interested in joining this organization?
What are your salary expectations and what is your timing?
Are you interviewing anywhere else at the moment?
[For Japan jobs] Why are you looking to move to Tokyo?
There are obviously a large number of questions I haven’t listed here, but the ones I listed tend to be the most common and still the ones where people fail the most. Some tips I could give in general for these questions are:
Never talk badly about your current or past employer (and boss)…as much as you hate them. Try instead to start with something positive about them, and then rephrase your criticism in a way that sounds less negative. Many people go full hateful mode when referring to their bosses or employers and this raises a concern of, “If this person doesn’t like our company, will they talk in the same way about us with others?”
Be sure to come up with a reason as to why you’re interested in that specific place other than “because they’re looking to hire somebody like me.”
Also, and this applies to all these questions, keep things personal and avoid sounding too scripted. Recently, many people ask ChatGPT for examples of answers to some of these questions, and the last thing they know is GPT actually suggests the same answer to almost everyone, and then everyone has the same answers…making interviewers feel evidently tired of it and feeling the person is not authentic.
For salaries, it depends on everybody’s situation. So, if there’s a salary you’re expecting because your personal life doesn’t allow you to look for something else, then go on and give the number. But if you’re not necessarily married to a number, I’d always suggest asking your recruiter what the salary band is for this role and keeping it within the range without giving a specific number, or even mentioning that your expectations are in line with what the recruiter told you, but that your focus now is to actually get the job itself.
If you’re interviewing with other organizations, feel free to mention that. There’s nothing wrong with you interviewing with other places, and there’s definitely nothing wrong with you not interviewing with other places either. I’d be happy to guide you further privately on this question.
With Japan roles for people based overseas, I’d always suggest a personal attachment to the country. Having personal connections here, having traveled here in the past, etc. Most people say the same: “I admire Japanese culture and history, also love manga and anime so I’d love to live there,” and there’s nothing wrong with it, but many times employers hear this all the time and it has no real impact compared to something more personal.
Ask High‑Impact Questions
I’ll start this one by leaving something clear. YOU NEED TO ASK QUESTIONS, ASK QUESTIONS! Thanks 🙂
It is important to ask questions and show the interviewer that you’re genuinely interested in this job and the organization itself. You don’t need to ask 20 questions, but it is important to ask something good, as this will also be something you will be evaluated on.
Now, I can’t really give you a list of questions you can ask because I don’t want you reading this to sound scripted, but you can come up with some questions based on these rules:
Question about the interviewer and their experience working for that organization.
Question about the team of the interviewer, theoretically your potential team.
Question about the organization.
You can obviously ask any questions you want, as long as the questions are good and make a good impact in your interview. At the end, I have a special question I always suggest to my candidates, and it has a 100% effective rate of positive feedback from my clients when they get asked this question, but for that, you’ll have to message me privately for a confidential chat.
Final Details That Change Outcomes
Lastly, this might sound silly of me mentioning, but please be sure to dress appropriately for a job interview. I recently met with a good client of mine who told me a story of an interview he took in person recently with a candidate who visited his office wearing sneakers, jeans, and a football team jersey. I have to admit something like that never happened to me in the past, but for that, be sure to follow the next rules:
Dress appropriately even if meeting remotely.
For an in-person meeting, be sure to get familiar with the location of the office to be on time.
Try to get there at least 10 minutes earlier to cool down. You don’t need to go inside the office immediately, but you can take 5 minutes to cool down and breathe before going up. The last thing you want is to rush late into your interview sweating a lot and hyperventilating; it won’t give a good impression.
That said, if you make sure to do proper research and prepare an answer to some of the main questions you might get asked, you’ll definitely have a good performance during this interview. If you need somebody to prepare for these interviews, feel free to ask a friend or family member; just be sure to ask them to evaluate you as if they were truly interviewing you and ask, “Would I hire them if they were interviewing with me?”
Outside of all these tips, if you have further questions or would like more guidance, feel free to message me privately and I’ll be sure to arrange a confidential chat for us to go through this.