Bowden Brown’s Post

It's a busy time for interviews. Many senior candidates have received their bonus and are exploring opportunities. I think one of the hardest things to get right is the level of detail to go in to & the amount of information to be sharing in interview... It's a really hard balance to strike between not saying too much, and potentially being in breach of restrictions and obligations to your current employer and saying nothing at all and making it almost impossible for an interviewer to make any real judgment on your expertise and knowledge. Clearly respecting boundaries is also an important part of being a good interviewer too! From experience I think challenging this head on can be a good approach - if there is a question you don't feel you can answer without overstepping then just say that. Perhaps explain the high level answer but make it clear that you wouldn't be comfortable going in to more depth. This gives the interviewer the chance to reframe the question... Just clamming up and worrying about what you can/can't say is never a great approach and can lead to some fairly awkward exchanges... It's a good idea to think about what you can cover, and detail you can share before an interview - that way you can be ready to offer the details/insights you know you can and to demonstrate your ability/knowledge in a way that gives the firm you're speaking to a decent sense of what you could bring to the table. It throws a lot of candidates that haven't done their prep - so one to give some thought to if you're going to be interviewing anytime soon...!