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[BioPHD]

I found out a couple of days ago that I'm getting an interview with a firm for a technical advisor position (I have a Ph.D. in Biology).  I was curious if anyone out there had tips on the interview, or would be willing to give a description of what I might expect in the process.  I'm sure all sorts of firms have different interviewing strategies, but I'm just looking to not go into the thing completely cold.  How much "technical" material should I expect to go into?  

Any tips / words of encouragement / prayers / sacrificing of chickens would be greatly appreciated!

-BioPHD

PS:  I apologize for posting this in two forums, but thought I might get a better response over here.  I've seen the older posts on this topic but thought there might be some new forum participants with other comments.

[biopico]

Why are you changing your career direction?
How much knowledge do you have on patent law?
Do you like writing?  
What is your expectation from the job?
etc...

FYI:  You might want to check 100 common interview questions posted in Monster.

[chem]

BioPhD,

I recently got a job in a big NY law firm as a technical advisor. I was interviewing at three different major firms.

My general experience was that they invite you because you have an interesting background. In other words you have the necessary level of technical expertise on paper. That seems to be sufficient. What they are trying to find out during the interview is, whether they like you as a person. They are also interested in your motivations. Why do you want to work as a technical advisor dealing with patents? That is perceived to be boring by 98% of all scientists. How are you as a person? Can they imagine you interacting with clients. Can you eat with fork and knife? If law school tuition is part of the deal... How likely  will be able to deal with law school at night and work during the day (discipline ect...) None of the interviewers asked technical questions. It was more like casual chat. But be careful. It may seem like a casual chat situation, but it still is a job interview.

Hope that helps. chem.

[cheesepep]

BioPhD,

I recently got a job in a big NY law firm as a technical advisor. I was interviewing at three different major firms.

My general experience was that they invite you because you have an interesting background. In other words you have the necessary level of technical expertise on paper. That seems to be sufficient. What they are trying to find out during the interview is, whether they like you as a person. They are also interested in your motivations. Why do you want to work as a technical advisor dealing with patents? That is perceived to be boring by 98% of all scientists. How are you as a person? Can they imagine you interacting with clients. Can you eat with fork and knife? If law school tuition is part of the deal... How likely  will be able to deal with law school at night and work during the day (discipline ect...) None of the interviewers asked technical questions. It was more like casual chat. But be careful. It may seem like a casual chat situation, but it still is a job interview.

Hope that helps. chem.

I would like to support this.  I just had an interview today also.  No technical questions were asked.  If you have the experience and the education, they will basically call you OK in that regards.  Most of my questions were about how will I interact with various clients.

[Ethan]

No technical questions, but they want to know that you are serious about the position and are likely to stay for some time.
My suggestion would be to give concise, honest answers to questions (I had very short interview - less than an hour each for the two "rounds" - these guys bill out at more than $10 a minute).

If they ask you about a subject you don't know much about, don't try to fake it.

They aren't judging you for your knowledge, but how fast/effectively you can learn.

Good luck

[Guest]

If you are interviewing with someone with a strong technical background, you should not be surprised if you are asked technical questions.  Sometimes they will be asked to give you a chance to show your oral skills, on material with which you should be comfortable.  Other times, technical questions are asked to assess how you think, e.g., you could be asked about an obstacle that you overcame in a research project, to show how deeply you think about difficult problems.  It is your problem solving skills from doing research that will enable you to succeed, and technical questions may be used to probe such skills.  If you are interviewing with someone who is relatively new to their job, they may be more comfortable discussing technical matters as well.  I would guess that most questions will not be technical, but I know several people who ask them at interviews.  Most questions will likely be like those noted by Biopico and the others, and I agree with Ethan: don't fake it if you don't have an answer.
Good luck!