Eversheds Sutherland Legal Interview Questions
& Process

I applied for a less senior position initially because I lack prior experience as a legal secretary. They invited me for an interview, but when I learned the salary was lower than I hoped for, the HR person, who was really helpful, suggested I interview for a more senior position instead. I ended up speaking with two heads of secretarial staff. They asked a lot of questions, but I felt comfortable and at ease throughout. I felt the interview went well, but after about ten days, I followed up for feedback and was informed that the job had already been offered to someone else.

It took some time to get the interview scheduled, but once it finally happened, I felt it went quite well! The interview was competency-based, focusing a lot on my past experiences and situations. It would have been helpful to think beforehand about challenges I'd encountered in previous jobs and how I handled them. After waiting for weeks, I eventually got feedback that was completely unrelated to our conversation and left me feeling perplexed. If they had simply told me I lacked sufficient experience, I would have accepted it, but the feedback seemed fabricated (for instance, they claimed I was nervous, despite mentioning how good it was that I didn't appear overly anxious during the interview!).

It started with a phone call screening, followed by tests in Word, Excel, Typing, and Proofreading. The proofreading test was quite challenging, and all tests were timed. Passing the tests led to the main interview, where I met with several attorneys. The entire in-person meeting lasted over two hours, but it was efficient as they covered all stages at once, unlike other places that require multiple interview rounds.