Freshfields interview questions

I had an initial screening call with someone from the recruitment team, this was via teams and lasted 30 minutes. It did feel like she was reading from a script and did most of the talking, but she gave me some helpful interview/CV tips at the end which was a nice idea. It also made me feel excited to learn more about the business and go for an interview. I then had a 1 hr in person interview with two people. They were friendly, made me feel comfortable and welcome. The office was really nice too. The vibe in the office was very casual, with both interviewers in T-shirts and jeans. On reflection, a heads up about the dress code and casual nature would have been beneficial, I arrived dressed up as I thought a law firm would be professsional attire only. I think straight away this caused a misalignment between myself and the interviewers. The questions weren’t too difficult but were being read from a generic document that’s used for roles across the business. It was a mix of competence based questions, general about me and situational examples. The disappointing part is that I didn’t hear anything from the interviewers or recruitment team and had to chase up the outcome. The recruitment team then asked if I had time for a call to receive feedback after telling me I was unsuccessful, I sent my availability for a call and did not hear back. It would have been good to hear feedback so I know where to improve for future interviews, and a call from the interviewers after meeting them in person, even to have a conversation about being unsuccessful would have been the right thing to do. This felt quite disappointing for an established law firm.

There are usually two rounds of interview with a technical exercise for senior roles. Usually an internal recruit team manages the process with external recruiters used by exception. LinkedIn is a first step to headhunt.