Law firm recruiter answering questions for a bit Forum

[Cupidity]

Dou you have any specific advice for phone interviews? I understand that the same rules generally apply, but I'm wondering if there is anything I should do differently?

[Anonymous User]

Lawfirmrecruiter: Studies indicate that unstructured, open-ended job interviews have the predictive value of roughly zero for job performance. What objective criteria does your firm use to evaluate your work as a recruiter? I.e. to what extent does your work add to the firm's ability to pick the most likely to succeed candidates beyond the obvious strength of their resumes/GPA's? Has anyone at your firm tried to measure this?

[Anonymous User]

Affect of debt downgrade on hiring?

[BarbellDreams]

Would a resume with Law Review and public interest 1L summer experience or a resume with secondary journal but law firm experience as a 1L summer look better to you at OCI (realize this is different from firm to firm, but just a general answer is appreciated)? Thanks.

[pennoyerrox2]

LFR: I tried to PM you with a message, did it go through?

[stratocophic]

LFR: I tried to PM you with a message, did it go through?

She's probably swamped with S2J right now; CBs just went out.

[Anonymous User]

Would a resume with Law Review and public interest 1L summer experience or a resume with secondary journal but law firm experience as a 1L summer look better to you at OCI (realize this is different from firm to firm, but just a general answer is appreciated)? Thanks.

I don't exactly understand how you are choosing between those two. I guess you got an offer from a firm for 1L on condition you didn't take LR?

[lawfirmrecruiter]

Dou you have any specific advice for phone interviews? I understand that the same rules generally apply, but I'm wondering if there is anything I should do differently?

The same rules apply but be mindful of "dead air." While you don't want to drone on and on, you also don't want to have a lot of silence. Remember this should be a good conversation so be prepared to ask the person some questions to keep it going.

[lawfirmrecruiter]

LFR: I tried to PM you with a message, did it go through?

Check your inbox, just replied.

[Anonymous User]

I have a question about cover letters before EIP... Columbia uses a pure lottery system for scheduling/bidding on interviews, and only a handful of firms require cover letters in addition to resumes. Furthermore, our Career Services has told me that cover letters are simply not necessary. However, I have prepared and am considering sending cover letters to all of the firms that I've landed interviews with, simply to introduce myself/attempt to get on their radar. Is this worthwhile? Or does the negative impact of, say, a mistake, outweigh any potential positives to be gained given that I already have the interviews scheduled? How would you react to receiving a cover letter before EIP if you know that you'll be meeting the person in only a few days?

Where possible, I would email these letters directly to the attorney who is listed as the interviewer and cc the relevant recruiter. Just FYI, I'm a rising 2L at Columbia, with below median grades (A-, B+, then all B's), and am looking for any edge at all in what could prove to be a rough interview cycle considering my grades.

Thoughts? Thank you in advance.

[BarbellDreams]

Would a resume with Law Review and public interest 1L summer experience or a resume with secondary journal but law firm experience as a 1L summer look better to you at OCI (realize this is different from firm to firm, but just a general answer is appreciated)? Thanks.

I don't exactly understand how you are choosing between those two. I guess you got an offer from a firm for 1L on condition you didn't take LR?

I worked for a firm 1L summer but have a secondary journal instead of law review. Would I look better or worse than someone who only got public interest for 1L summer but made law review.

[Helmholtz]

Would a resume with Law Review and public interest 1L summer experience or a resume with secondary journal but law firm experience as a 1L summer look better to you at OCI (realize this is different from firm to firm, but just a general answer is appreciated)? Thanks.

I don't exactly understand how you are choosing between those two. I guess you got an offer from a firm for 1L on condition you didn't take LR?

I worked for a firm 1L summer but have a secondary journal instead of law review. Would I look better or worse than someone who only got public interest for 1L summer but made law review.

My gut instinct is that the Law Review person with 1L public interest work would definitely get the boost, but I'm interested to hear what others have to say. I didn't think that the gap between 1L public interest / 1L firm is nearly as large as the gap between Law Review / secondary journal. Isn't the consensus that 1L summer jobs don't really matter as long as they're legal and give you interesting stories to tell about your summer?

[Anonymous User]

I think we all really appreciate your willingness to provide help in our career search. This truly reinforces your prior statement that you became a recruiter to help others realize their goals of being a lawyer.

My question is this, I go to a school ranked around 25-30 and my GPA places me around the top 15%. However, I'm being offered interviews by V10 firms and other firms who state that their required cutoff is top 10% - something doesn't seem right. I have a pretty good feeling that this is because I'm an underrepresented minority with a rather lengthy resume, as well as some interesting achievements. I was wondering if these firms who I'm truly out of the traditional ballpark for are actually seriously considering hiring me or if they're just providing me that proverbial snowball's chance to wow in an interview. In other words, if a candidate seemed interesting enough to interview although their grades are not exactly what your firms demands, does this mean you really want to hire this candidate or that you're just cracking the door a bit?

[NYC Law]

Would it significantly hurt my 2L OCI chances if I study abroad or RA 1L summer?

[beach_terror]

Would it significantly hurt my 2L OCI chances if I study abroad or RA 1L summer?

Nobody looks down on RA'ing, why do people think this. Study abroad is probably a different story. Sorry for jumping in, I just don't understand this sentiment.

[NYC Law]

Would it significantly hurt my 2L OCI chances if I study abroad or RA 1L summer?

Nobody looks down on RA'ing, why do people think this. Study abroad is probably a different story. Sorry for jumping in, I just don't understand this sentiment.

The study abroad program has an internship component if that changes things, so it's not just completely a vacation under the facade of school.

[beach_terror]

Would it significantly hurt my 2L OCI chances if I study abroad or RA 1L summer?

Nobody looks down on RA'ing, why do people think this. Study abroad is probably a different story. Sorry for jumping in, I just don't understand this sentiment.

The study abroad program has an internship component if that changes things, so it's not just completely a vacation under the facade of school.

Haha no I was coming at you saying that RA'ing would somehow hurt your OCI chances. It won't, I don't get why people think that was my point. I don't know much about study abroad.

[Helmholtz]

Nobody looks down on RA'ing

i do

[beach_terror]

Nobody looks down on RA'ing

i do

Well luckily you're opinion doesn't count for much. Why though? I've worked much harder than people who "work" (3 days a week, u srs?) at the federal court near school. I can spin it in interviews, so whatever.

Edit: done hijacking, continue thread and won't reply to anything else.

[Anonymous User]

I have a question about cover letters before EIP... Columbia uses a pure lottery system for scheduling/bidding on interviews, and only a handful of firms require cover letters in addition to resumes. Furthermore, our Career Services has told me that cover letters are simply not necessary. However, I have prepared and am considering sending cover letters to all of the firms that I've landed interviews with, simply to introduce myself/attempt to get on their radar. Is this worthwhile? Or does the negative impact of, say, a mistake, outweigh any potential positives to be gained given that I already have the interviews scheduled? How would you react to receiving a cover letter before EIP if you know that you'll be meeting the person in only a few days?

Where possible, I would email these letters directly to the attorney who is listed as the interviewer and cc the relevant recruiter. Just FYI, I'm a rising 2L at Columbia, with below median grades (A-, B+, then all B's), and am looking for any edge at all in what could prove to be a rough interview cycle considering my grades.

Thoughts? Thank you in advance.

Hoping the Recruiter will respond to this later, but anyone else have thoughts on the above in the meantime?

[Anonymous User]

How would you look at it if a Partner called from another office and "put in the good word" for me before the interview?

I really did earn the review on merit - it isn't my uncle's friend from college or anything like that. Is this a hiring faux pas, or impressive, or neither?

[Anonymous User]

How would you look at it if a Partner called from another office and "put in the good word" for me before the interview?

I really did earn the review on merit - it isn't my uncle's friend from college or anything like that. Is this a hiring faux pas, or impressive, or neither?

Impressive, but they might wonder why you're not more interested in that partner's office.

[Anonymous User]

What are your thoughts on the "Tell me about yourself" question? What are interviewers looking for when they ask it?

[Anonymous User]

I've had one interview so far, I think it went well, but I have more down the road.

One of the questions I was asked was, "What do you like about law school?"

My answer was, "I enjoy the friendship and camraderie law school produces. I like that, unlike my undergraduate work, teamwork and cooperation were essential to maserting the material and preparing for exams. Also, because there isn't usually a correct answer, but rather, better and worse answers, the imprtant role discussion and multiple view points play in achieving the best result."

Is this too warm and fuzzy? Should I change it in the future?

[Anonymous User]

When people talk about having ties to a market, is something like this enough:

• Visited the area several summers as a teenager
• Have a lot of extended family in the area (none of which, unfortunately, I keep in touch with)
• Lived in the state (not in city where law work is) for half a year as a teenager
• Have family and want to raise kids in the area

The market I'm interested in is a secondary market and I will be coming from a T14.

edit: I can't seem to make the list function work. Sorry.