great screening -> no callback Forum

[Anonymous User]

Anyone had this happen? I had the mother of all screenings, joked about sports, work, he told me how he had very similar background experiences as me....

Been two weeks, chirp chirp.

[Anonymous User]

Happens to everyone. It's weird.

Believe me, it's 20 times more frustrating though when it's a great callback --> no offer.

[hithere]

stats?

[Anonymous User]

Maybe too many jokes?

At least your interviewer didn't start with "so what do you want to know about the firm?" and never took notes on the interview. This happened at a couple screening interviews, which makes me think OCI is mainly just a resume/transcript drop.

[Anonymous User]

transcript drop is a great characterization of OCI for some firms - who have a preset small # of available spots.

[Anonymous User]

It happens, man.

[Anonymous User]

Maybe too many jokes?

At least your interviewer didn't start with "so what do you want to know about the firm?" and never took notes on the interview. This happened at a couple screening interviews, which makes me think OCI is mainly just a resume/transcript drop.

Oddly enough, this happened to me a few times, and I ended up getting called back. With respect to the OP -- I've felt during this OCI season (barring a few exceptions -- a couple of my top choices are still in the running in terms of callbacks), the more I like a firm that I'm doing a screening interview with, the more likely I'll get dinged. Most of the firms I've shown enthusiasm for or knew about more than your average firm -- no go.

OCI is weird.

[Anonymous User]

Maybe too many jokes?

At least your interviewer didn't start with "so what do you want to know about the firm?" and never took notes on the interview. This happened at a couple screening interviews, which makes me think OCI is mainly just a resume/transcript drop.

Oddly enough, this happened to me a few times, and I ended up getting called back. With respect to the OP -- I've felt during this OCI season (barring a few exceptions -- a couple of my top choices are still in the running in terms of callbacks), the more I like a firm that I'm doing a screening interview with, the more likely I'll get dinged. Most of the firms I've shown enthusiasm for or knew about more than your average firm -- no go.

OCI is weird.

Weird. I had the opposite experience, but it might be because my grades are comparably worse than yours? During the screenings that led to callbacks, I expressed a genuine interest in my interviewer's practice area and talked about the firm more intelligently than in the "what do you want to know about the firm" interviews.

[Anonymous User]

awkward screening situation: I had written down some partners names on a piece of paper and some cases they'd worked on; and interviewer bluntly said; "that doesn't really help on interviews, just a tip"

totally threw me off my game, basically muttered and was awkward myself for the remaining 19 minutes.

[Anonymous User]

Maybe too many jokes?

At least your interviewer didn't start with "so what do you want to know about the firm?" and never took notes on the interview. This happened at a couple screening interviews, which makes me think OCI is mainly just a resume/transcript drop.

Oddly enough, this happened to me a few times, and I ended up getting called back. With respect to the OP -- I've felt during this OCI season (barring a few exceptions -- a couple of my top choices are still in the running in terms of callbacks), the more I like a firm that I'm doing a screening interview with, the more likely I'll get dinged. Most of the firms I've shown enthusiasm for or knew about more than your average firm -- no go.

OCI is weird.

Weird. I had the opposite experience, but it might be because my grades are comparably worse than yours? During the screenings that led to callbacks, I expressed a genuine interest in my interviewer's practice area and talked about the firm more intelligently than in the "what do you want to know about the firm" interviews.

I think each experience is just different. My grades are decent, but I'm hardly the next law school superstar (I also go to a preselect school, so that might make a difference). I've also had the more traditional interviews where I've expressed a genuine interest in what the firm does -- and those have led to callbacks as well.

[Aqualibrium]

lol. So you had the sheet in plain sight, and were expecting to talk about partners who were not present at the interview? Pretty awesome story.

[Anonymous User]

Maybe too many jokes?

At least your interviewer didn't start with "so what do you want to know about the firm?" and never took notes on the interview. This happened at a couple screening interviews, which makes me think OCI is mainly just a resume/transcript drop.

Oddly enough, this happened to me a few times, and I ended up getting called back. With respect to the OP -- I've felt during this OCI season (barring a few exceptions -- a couple of my top choices are still in the running in terms of callbacks), the more I like a firm that I'm doing a screening interview with, the more likely I'll get dinged. Most of the firms I've shown enthusiasm for or knew about more than your average firm -- no go.

OCI is weird.

Weird. I had the opposite experience, but it might be because my grades are comparably worse than yours? During the screenings that led to callbacks, I expressed a genuine interest in my interviewer's practice area and talked about the firm more intelligently than in the "what do you want to know about the firm" interviews.

I think each experience is just different. My grades are decent, but I'm hardly the next law school superstar (I also go to a preselect school, so that might make a difference). I've also had the more traditional interviews where I've expressed a genuine interest in what the firm does -- and those have led to callbacks as well.

Yeah, OCI is a crap shoot because a lot depends on how well the interviewer's personality and yours meld. I wish we had partial preselects at my school so we wouldn't waste anyone's time...oh well.

[Anonymous User]

lol. So you had the sheet in plain sight, and were expecting to talk about partners who were not present at the interview? Pretty awesome story.

well, lol, now that you put it that way - I feel pretty darn stupid. I just wanted to show I'd done some research and knew SOMETHING about the firm I claimed to be interested in.

Whats the big deal in memorizing versus having it before me - OBAMA DOES IT ALL THE TIME

[bwv812]

.

[Aqualibrium]

lol. So you had the sheet in plain sight, and were expecting to talk about partners who were not present at the interview? Pretty awesome story.

well, lol, now that you put it that way - I feel pretty darn stupid. I just wanted to show I'd done some research and knew SOMETHING about the firm I claimed to be interested in.

Whats the big deal in memorizing versus having it before me - OBAMA DOES IT ALL THE TIME

One big rule of persuasive speaking is to never have something between you and the person you're talking to. That little piece of paper is a big deal. I understand the enthusiasm, but honestly I don't think you would have gotten much mileage talking about cases and things that your interviewer probably didn't work on.

You get to lock yourself in a room with one person for 20 minutes and sell sell sell. You don't have time to be reading things.

[RudeDudewithAttitude]

Whats the big deal in memorizing versus having it before me - OBAMA DOES IT ALL THE TIME

I guess the whole point of the stuff on the sheet was to give the impression that you were interested in the firm. While it was a nice start, you should have memorized. Why?--because it would have been more convincing that you were really interested and your classmates probably memorized.

[Anonymous User]

lol. So you had the sheet in plain sight, and were expecting to talk about partners who were not present at the interview? Pretty awesome story.

well, lol, now that you put it that way - I feel pretty darn stupid. I just wanted to show I'd done some research and knew SOMETHING about the firm I claimed to be interested in.

Whats the big deal in memorizing versus having it before me - OBAMA DOES IT ALL THE TIME

One big rule of persuasive speaking is to never have something between you and the person you're talking to. That little piece of paper is a big deal. I understand the enthusiasm, but honestly I don't think you would have gotten much mileage talking about cases and things that your interviewer probably didn't work on.

You get to lock yourself in a room with one person for 20 minutes and sell sell sell. You don't have time to be reading things.

He was prob looking at it before the interview.

[Aqualibrium]

lol. So you had the sheet in plain sight, and were expecting to talk about partners who were not present at the interview? Pretty awesome story.

well, lol, now that you put it that way - I feel pretty darn stupid. I just wanted to show I'd done some research and knew SOMETHING about the firm I claimed to be interested in.

Whats the big deal in memorizing versus having it before me - OBAMA DOES IT ALL THE TIME

One big rule of persuasive speaking is to never have something between you and the person you're talking to. That little piece of paper is a big deal. I understand the enthusiasm, but honestly I don't think you would have gotten much mileage talking about cases and things that your interviewer probably didn't work on.

You get to lock yourself in a room with one person for 20 minutes and sell sell sell. You don't have time to be reading things.

He was prob looking at it before the interview.

Doesn't sound like that from the story...

[Anonymous User]

lol. So you had the sheet in plain sight, and were expecting to talk about partners who were not present at the interview? Pretty awesome story.

well, lol, now that you put it that way - I feel pretty darn stupid. I just wanted to show I'd done some research and knew SOMETHING about the firm I claimed to be interested in.

Whats the big deal in memorizing versus having it before me - OBAMA DOES IT ALL THE TIME

One big rule of persuasive speaking is to never have something between you and the person you're talking to. That little piece of paper is a big deal. I understand the enthusiasm, but honestly I don't think you would have gotten much mileage talking about cases and things that your interviewer probably didn't work on.

You get to lock yourself in a room with one person for 20 minutes and sell sell sell. You don't have time to be reading things.

He was prob looking at it before the interview.

Doesn't sound like that from the story...[/quote]


Oh, then I misunderstood. Yeah, dude, don't pull out notes during the interview.

[Anonymous User]

awkward screening situation: I had written down some partners names on a piece of paper and some cases they'd worked on; and interviewer bluntly said; "that doesn't really help on interviews, just a tip"

totally threw me off my game, basically muttered and was awkward myself for the remaining 19 minutes.

you used notes during the interview?

[Bosque]

Happens to everyone. It's weird.

Believe me, it's 20 times more frustrating though when it's a great callback --> no offer.

I am guessing it is at least 200 times more frustrating again when it is a great summer of employment --> no offer.

[Anonymous User]

shit happens. also depends on the seniority of the interviewer. I had associate screeners tell me "you are the exact personality that we look for and a perfect fit for our firm" and never heard anything back from the firm either way since. I've also had relatively formulaic screeners with partners where they just went line by line down my resume, with absolutely no side chit-chat, resulting in a callback heads-up that night. There's a fair amount of luck in this game. Just make sure your skills are down pat so that when luck hits, you'll get something.

[NYAssociate]

.

[20160810]

Happens to everyone

TIentirelyTCR. Nothing else needs to be said. Most people interviewed don't get callbacks, even if things go well.

[Anonymous User]

For a lot of firms - what up Katten Muchin! - OCI is essentially a resume drop with a 20 minute screening interview to see if you're a psychopath.