You’re getting ready for an interview, and it’s for a paralegal position. What do you do? Here are 11 tips that can make the process a little bit easier for you.

1. Do some research on the firm before you go ahead and do anything else. This can give you valuable insights for the interview.
2. Relax. It’s an interview, it can be stressful, so take time to relax beforehand and you’ll be in a much better spot.
3. Always be ready to talk about yourself. Now is not the time to be shy! You want to make yourself look great.
4. Take a look at common questions that get asked in paralegal interviews so you know what you’re looking at.
5. Don’t be late! Be early to your interview – it leaves a good impression and allows you to see the place and get used to it before the interview starts.
6. Dress for success. You want to look great and confident, so make sure that your dress reflects that. Everyone should have at least one nice outfit that they own so that they can use it in interviews.
7. Be polite and warm to everyone that you meet in the office. No matter who it is, you want to make a great first impression and have people feel comfortable with your presence. You may get your best recommendation from the janitor that you said hi to, you never know!
8. Body language is a huge part of what you’re doing. Avoid bad habits and do all that you can to seem as confident as you can (without seeming cocky) it’s a balance, but it’s worth the effort that you would put into it.
9. Talk about the experiences that you had in internships and other “real world” encounters. They want to know what you’ve seen firsthand, not what you learned in a classroom. While your classroom experiences can be (and definitely are) relevant, the things that you’ve done will likely be a lot more influential on whether or not they choose you for the position.
10. Have a list of questions that you are going to ask about the position and other related things. This can make you sound like you’re very engaged and you will be known for paying attention to detail before you even get hired for the job.
11. Always thank the person that is interviewing you after the interview. An email is pretty common nowadays, but there are also a lot of people who say that you should go as far as a phone call in order to make sure that you’re going to be able to get your thoughts through. They could be a networking solution, even if you don’t get the job!

There are lots of additional paralegal guides here. No matter what you want to do with your career, make sure that you look at everything that we have available. We want to help you get on the path to your dream career.

We welcome your feedback to our work.

Email:  General Information   |   Dr. Daniel de Roulet   |   Prof. David C. Pecoraro

Thank you!

Daniel & David

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11 Interview Tips for Paralegals