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how to answer an interview question

By kellyfair

Today I interviewed for an internship for the semester. I wouldn't get paid, or course credit. Just the satisfaction of being overworked and abused. As a proper law student, this makes me happy. I fear, deep down, if I have a life then the bar will somehow find out and deny me admission. "You did what? You grocery shopped? You should have been subsisting on corn chips from the vending machine! Why do you think the building smells that way? Because everyone else knew better! Damn plum-eating, lazy ass, too-good-for-corn-chips buddhist hippie. DENIED!"

Speaking of lives, the guy today said something about assuming I'd scheduled free Friday afternoons for a reason. Then he asked what my home life was like. Interviews are strange situations. What do you say? "Well, my living room is painted bright green. I have a one-eyed cat who is also missing most of her teeth. Another one is going around with his head tilted all the time, slightly off balance, and the vet can't figure it out. We've taken to calling him "Wobbly" and "Slanty Claws", which will be funnier come Christmas. We watch a lot of "Charmed" and I haven't mowed the yard in so long there weeds so big we can tell they are mini maple trees. In fact, maybe I'll stop mowing altogether and we'll have some more shade around here. Oh, we have three fish named Stella. And I drive a 1975 Datsun that is yellow/rust on one side and grey on the other. I'm gay and practice zen meditation. " Somehow, that doesn't strike me as what I should have said.

See, there is truth and there is truth. "Uh, I've lived with someone for three years and have a little house with cats and fish and a garden" is also true; it just paints less of a picture. When I'm interviewing law students, I'll hire the one with the balls to tell me a good story. Juries are more likely to be swayed by yellow/rust/gray trucks and the Wobbly cat than pat stories about fish and gardens anyway. But until then, I have to get a job, so fish and gardens it is.

Full post as published by caligulawyer on August 29, 2007 (boomark / email).