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[TryingtomakeitIP]

Hello Everyone,

   I have a patent agent interview this week. This is my fourth interview and it will be on-site. I will be meeting up with 7 interviewers. Two interviewers are general attorneys; two are lead engineers; the senior council, the senior engineer, and someone from human resources. I just want to know what they are going to ask during the interview. To provide you with a little background information, I spoke to the attorney that I will be working under and he said that the position would be mostly an administrative position, meaning that it would be work that he does not want to do. Given the tight market, I am willing to take anything related to patents.

I am looking for questions that might be asked at the interview.

Your interview questions will help me prepare for the interview. I have made a list of all the departments that filed patents, and read their patents. Is there anything else I should do?

Thank you

[ChiefJRoberts]

ok, i'll go first.

Why do you want to work for us?

[ChiefJRoberts]

why are you interested in patent law?

[Robert K S]

ok, i'll go first.

Why do you want to work for us?

Ha!  In a different economy, this question makes more sense.  Today, "You're paying, and I'm hungry" suffices as a suitable response.  Unless the company or firm is exceptionally well suited to the individual or has an outstanding reputation or competitive position in its industry, virtually any answer is bound to include a good deal of improvised obsequiousness that risks being distasteful.

[xmnr]

Administrative?  You'll be asked how many Starbucks lattes you can carry at once

In all seriousness, fourth interview? I'm sure by now you've covered everything, they're just making sure you're easy enough to work with.

But since we're asking questions, how about a hypothetical.  Application #1 has recieved a notice of allowance and you've paid the issue fee a week ago when co-pending Application #2 receives an office action including art highly relevant to Application #1.  What do you do?

[TryingtomakeitIP]

Thank you guys....keep the questions rolling.

[DogDayPM 9er9er9er]

Ha!  In a different economy, this question makes more sense.  Today, "You're paying, and I'm hungry" suffices as a suitable response.  Unless the company or firm is exceptionally well suited to the individual or has an outstanding reputation or competitive position in its industry, virtually any answer is bound to include a good deal of improvised obsequiousness that risks being distasteful.

I have to respectfully disagree here, or at least say use that sort of an answer with caution.  I think the OP has already done a good job by becoming familiar with their IP.  That needs to be linked up with a familiarity with the company's products and business, and competitors, and how the company is moving with respect to the competition - even if it turns out they're the #4 player but look like they're preparing the pipeline for expansion.  This sort of info can be parlayed into an honest "why I'm interested in YOUR company" answer that won't come off as distasteful fawning.  I'm not saying s/he should regurg all the factbook facts learned, but use the info intelligently.

On the other hand, I would have trouble considering seriously a candidate whose answer was only, "you're paying & I'm hungry", unless I was hiring for a short-term assignment.  But given the amount of care the company is taking to fill this slot (several previous interviews and now the corporate all-day-affair on-site interviews), it looks like they're hoping to hire someone for the long haul.

My 2 cents on this topic.

[Robert K S]

DogDay, I recognize your point of view here, and I don't want to drag this much further, but it's a nonsense question off some list "Things to ask at an interview", of the same sort as "Where do you see yourself in ten years?" and "What are all of your flaws?"  There are no answers to these questions that simultaneously are sincere, free of artifice, extemporaneous, and paint the applicant in a positive light; the questions call for prognostication, impromptu introspection or divination, none of which should be part of any interview question; the answers to questions of these sorts would in any case be unlikely to yield useful information about the applicant relevant to the applicant's qualifications, intentions, knowledge of the field, work ethic or ability to work collaboratively.

When I'm the interviewer, I don't waste my time with such questions, so why would I do so as the interviewee?

If there are outstanding reasons to work at a particular employer, they should be self-evident; if there are not, a job applicant shouldn't be asked to cook them up on the spot; and should the applicant supply some generally applicable stock response, it would only indicate that the applicant is prepared for the interview, and not necessarily prepared for the job.

I said that in a different economy, the question might make some sense.  This is because, if the applicant has his choice of positions, the question has an implied component: "Why do you want to work for us [rather than for one of our competitors]?"  In the present scenario, when the supply/demand ratio puts the employer in the position of advantage and most applicants are seeking whatever they can get, the meaning of the question breaks down.

[Sixes]

But since we're asking questions, how about a hypothetical.  Application #1 has recieved a notice of allowance and you've paid the issue fee a week ago when co-pending Application #2 receives an office action including art highly relevant to Application #1.  What do you do?

Since you already paid the issue fee, petition to defer issuance, file a continuation, include the art in an IDS in the continuation? 

Sorry...I'm studying and wanted to see if I knew the answer 

<commence telling me how wrong my answer is>

[smgsmc]

Hello Everyone,

   I have a patent agent interview this week. This is my fourth interview and it will be on-site. I will be meeting up with 7 interviewers. Two interviewers are general attorneys; two are lead engineers; the senior council, the senior engineer, and someone from human resources. I just want to know what they are going to ask during the interview. To provide you with a little background information, I spoke to the attorney that I will be working under and he said that the position would be mostly an administrative position, meaning that it would be work that he does not want to do. Given the tight market, I am willing to take anything related to patents.

I am looking for questions that might be asked at the interview.

Your interview questions will help me prepare for the interview. I have made a list of all the departments that filed patents, and read their patents. Is there anything else I should do?

Thank you

This scenario doesn't make sense if you are interviewing for an "administrative position".  By the way, what does that refer to?  Docketing clerk?  They are expending a lot of people's time (=$$) on these interviews.  In particular, if the primary function is not new preps, why are they having two lead engineers and a senior engineer interview you?  I'd tred carefully here.

[DogDayPM 9er9er9er]

... nonsense question off some list "Things to ask at an interview", of the same sort as "Where do you see yourself in ten years?" and "What are all of your flaws?" 
...If there are outstanding reasons to work at a particular employer, they should be self-evident; if there are not, a job applicant shouldn't be asked to cook them up on the spot; and should the applicant supply some generally applicable stock response, it would only indicate that the applicant is prepared for the interview, and not necessarily prepared for the job.

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree.  I never ask those 2 questions of interviewees since I agree with you that they're stupid.  But the "why work for me?" question, if answered well, shows me the applicant was actually interested in investigating the company and whether s/he is able to get a relatively quick handle on the business side of things.  And with in-house patent attorneys more often blurring the lines between IP law and general legal, that's important to me. 

Whether the question is stupid or not might be beside the point, since it does get asked.  And I'll tell you that (fair or not), the applicant who comes into an interview prepared to demonstrate s/he's done some pre-work about company is much more likely to stand out.

Although I suppose that's not as bad as the interview Whewell described where the company's patent attorneys who interviewed him for a position in their company didn't know anything about their own products.   

[MolecularAgent66076]

But since we're asking questions, how about a hypothetical.  Application #1 has recieved a notice of allowance and you've paid the issue fee a week ago when co-pending Application #2 receives an office action including art highly relevant to Application #1.  What do you do?

Since you already paid the issue fee, petition to defer issuance, file a continuation, include the art in an IDS in the continuation? 

Sorry...I'm studying and wanted to see if I knew the answer 

<commence telling me how wrong my answer is>

I'll let xmnr be the final authority since xmnr posed the question, but I believe you are correct.

[MYK]

But since we're asking questions, how about a hypothetical.  Application #1 has recieved a notice of allowance and you've paid the issue fee a week ago when co-pending Application #2 receives an office action including art highly relevant to Application #1.  What do you do?

Since you already paid the issue fee, petition to defer issuance, file a continuation, include the art in an IDS in the continuation? 

Sorry...I'm studying and wanted to see if I knew the answer 

<commence telling me how wrong my answer is>

Came up a while ago on the forum;  I think the answer back then was to withdraw the app from issuance and file an RCE, but I may be misremembering.

[blakesq]

draft a memo where you analzye the art, and come to the conclusion that the art is not materially relevant to the patentability of the invention, put the memo in your client file, and let the patent app issue.  (but the safer course, if the art is close to being materially relevant to patentability, is to withdraw from issuance, and file an RCE, or Continuation and submit an IDS with the new art). 

Administrative?  You'll be asked how many Starbucks lattes you can carry at once

In all seriousness, fourth interview? I'm sure by now you've covered everything, they're just making sure you're easy enough to work with.

But since we're asking questions, how about a hypothetical.  Application #1 has recieved a notice of allowance and you've paid the issue fee a week ago when co-pending Application #2 receives an office action including art highly relevant to Application #1.  What do you do?

[ChrisWhewell]

But since we're asking questions, how about a hypothetical.  Application #1 has recieved a notice of allowance and you've paid the issue fee a week ago when co-pending Application #2 receives an office action including art highly relevant to Application #1.  What do you do?

I think the proper course is to promptly Petition to Withdraw the app from issuance and file an RCE submitting the art, but I'd have to double-check as I only had to do that once, quite a while ago.