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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Carrabino" data-source="post: 114338" data-attributes="member: 16764">Week 5 - Difficult Moments in InterviewsThis week's weekly interview insight is not about a certain type of interview per se, but rather what to do in those moments during an interview (be it a video interview, competency interview, commercial interview etc.) where you are faced with a question that you simply don't know how to answer. This could be because the question is on a commercial topic you are unfamiliar with, or because it is a competency question you are unprepared for. There may be a complex situational judgment question where you are really unsure what the interviewers are getting at, or there could be a question designed to throw you off guard altogether.I will give you an example of how I dealt with each of these situations in turn:Commercial question on a topic I did not know well enoughI was asked to outline the exact mechanics of shorting a stock. I knew that the concept of shorting was 'betting against the stock' but I also knew that this was hardly a technical answer. At the same time, I figured that whilst there were definitely some candidates who would be able to give this answer, not every candidate would be able to do so and that I should at least give my simple answer to show that I knew the concept, before positing some ideas of how the mechanics may work.In my answer, I suggested that there may need to be some element of borrowing stock from a broker in order to do this, but I did not quite reach the conclusion that I needed to sell the stock and buy it back until they prompted me on how I might ensure that I make money from a loss in value of the stock.Ultimately, I do not think this hurt me at all because I showed the interviewers my thought process and they were able to see that I worked with the information they gave to me and could reach an answer in the end.Competency question I was unprepared forI was asked how I had managed a dispute or a challenging team dynamic and honestly, I should have been prepared for this question but my go-to examples for teamwork focused on the ways I positively went about facilitating teamwork and did not really consider the times that teamwork had broken down. This was a mistake in my preparation but regardless, I had to answer the question!I was not ready to think up an entirely new example in order to address this question, but I was lucky to have a few teamwork examples to choose from, even if none of them fit the question perfectly. I then thought about each of these examples and considered where the team rapport was weakest and I proceeded to reflect on what made the team dynamic less successful than in my other examples.From here I was able to identify the underlying tension in the team environment and could pinpoint several disputes that had occurred within the team, but I also recalled the fact that I had considered this to be one of my examples of successful teamwork...Consequently, I was able to put two and two together and explain to my interviewers how I believed that I had helped to resolve difficulties and disputes within the team. It was not my most compelling answer ever, but it was certainly a respectable and genuine answer and I encourage you to take a similar approach when faced with a question you are not prepared for. Instead of kicking yourself for being unprepared and awkwardly coming up with something random, take a logical step-by-step approach to reaching an answer by drawing upon material that you do know.Finally, I made sure to always have an answer in mind for this question in interviews thereafter!Tricky Situational Judgement QuestionI was asked what I would do if I had committed to preparing some work for a senior associate by the next day, but a partner told me last minute that I had to get a different piece of work done by the same deadline, and I was not able to do both well.In the moment, it was really hard to know what my interviewers were looking for in this question. I figured that they could be looking to see whether I honoured my commitments and treated everyone equally with respect, which would lend itself towards focusing on the associate's work and letting the partner know that I had previously committed to another task. On the other hand, a partner's decision to give me work directly would suggest an element of urgency that there may not be on a previously delegated piece of work for an associate and it would be important to ascertain which deadline was most important.The benefit of a live interview is that you can walk your interviewers through your thought processes, so it is not paramount that you actually arrive at the perfect answer to the same extent that it is in a situational judgement test, for example.I explained my reasoning by first addressing both points of view. This was a way of covering all possible bases and hedging my bets in a way that I also could not have done in a situational judgement test. At the same time, I knew that I needed to come down on one side, so I explained that whilst I would need more information about the situation and the two tasks, I would lean towards the side of prioritising the partner's work and politely informing the associate.I figured that the fact the partner was going directly to me as a trainee would mean that the work was a client matter which needed to be completed immediately, whereas the senior associate could have been delegating a matter that they were assigned to me. I would probably have let the partner know about my other commitment and see whether they instead preferred to ask another trainee to complete their assignment, or whether they told me to prioritise their assignment over that of the senior associate. Usually a partner would have no reason to undermine the request of a senior associate unless the circumstances were urgent. In such a case, I would make sure that I then went to the senior associate to fully explain the situation!The thing I have learnt about these kinds of questions is that good answers tend to identify where more information about the context is required. To say with confidence which piece of work I would prioritise would likely not have been the best approach, in my opinion!Stress Interview QuestionSometimes interviewers will deliberately try to throw you off guard altogether with a bizarre question, so that they can see how you react. The trick is to stay calm and think for a moment about what the question is really getting at, because it is never purely for the sake of antagonising you (although they will be interested to see if you become easily antagonised)!My example here was when I was told by my interviewers that they knew I was not committed to commercial law because my resume demonstrated that I had too many other interests. They said that it was obvious I would leave to do something else within a few years.I was really stumped by this statement, which was not delivered in a friendly way at all, but I could not help myself from laughing. I actually think that my reaction was good for the situation because one of the interviewers was subsequently unable to conceal a smirk and I felt more relaxed knowing that they were doing this deliberately, slightly tongue in cheek.I probably made a bit of a mistake with my initial response, which was to ask whether this was simply a statement or a question 🤣 Because I had been so thrown by the question, I came out with that to awkwardly buy time whilst I thought up my answer. Anyway, it ended up not mattering and I felt that I was able to deliver a calm and composed answer about why I was incredibly committed to commercial law and how I saw my other interests fitting into my life.At the end of the interview, the partner who asked this question told me that he really enjoyed talking to me and was impressed with my composure. I knew going forward that if I faced a similar question again, I would not have to worry about whether the interviewers had already ruled me out as a candidate but could just focus on answering the question as best I could!Overall, the trick to answering questions that take you by surprise, no matter what they are, is to remain calm and feel free to use extra time to prepare your answer. You do not want to dive into an answer instinctively and end up getting flustered, which can show that you are either irritated by the question or unprepared for it. As long as you take time to think about how you will answer, it is not the end of the world if you do not have a particularly good answer because you can always show that you are willing to think and learn by asking for more information from the partners, or being honest about the topics you are unfamiliar with.Ultimately, as long as you are well prepared for your interview, you should not worry about these situations. You will almost certainly face them and so will everyone else, so it will not scupper your interview if you are not 100% prepared for everyone question that you receive. The way that you compose yourself and respond to such questions is what your interviewers will be looking for <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />As ever, please let me know if you have any further questions about my experiences!</blockquote>

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