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I feel very lucky to be in a situation where I've been extended an offer in the market that I want to live. I have a few other interviews set up in the market and I want to see how they play out before I make a decision on where to go, so I'm holding the offer open as of right now.

OCI bidding is obviously going on. Most of the firms coming to my OCI will be in a different market than where I'd like to work. I withdrew my bids because I will almost certainly take the offer I have rather than take an offer from the firms at OCI. (I figure I should be leaving those spots open for people who want to work in the market.)

Is there a downside to this? Should I be using an abundance of caution and trying to secure more offers in case the financial economy starts taking down firms again? I realize this could be a little douchey, but I just want to make sure I'm covering all of my bases.

Anonymous User wrote:I feel very lucky to be in a situation where I've been extended an offer in the market that I want to live. I have a few other interviews set up in the market and I want to see how they play out before I make a decision on where to go, so I'm holding the offer open as of right now.

OCI bidding is obviously going on. Most of the firms coming to my OCI will be in a different market than where I'd like to work. I withdrew my bids because I will almost certainly take the offer I have rather than take an offer from the firms at OCI. (I figure I should be leaving those spots open for people who want to work in the market.)

Is there a downside to this? Should I be using an abundance of caution and trying to secure more offers in case the financial economy starts taking down firms again? I realize this could be a little douchey, but I just want to make sure I'm covering all of my bases.

Congrats. Do OCI and concentrate only on firms you'd like to work for considering you already have an offer. Only skip OCI if there's no one coming you'd take over the offer you have.

As you know, reputation is everything in this profession. If anyone at your school finds out you took their interview slots by bidding when you already had an offer in hand, you will be socially blackballed for eternity. One of the people in our section is PI only, has a high gpa, and bid on a few firms for "the experience of interviewing." We hate her.

Cupidity wrote:As you know, reputation is everything in this profession. If anyone at your school finds out you took their interview slots by bidding when you already had an offer in hand, you will be socially blackballed for eternity. One of the people in our section is PI only, has a high gpa, and bid on a few firms for "the experience of interviewing." We hate her.

The second scenario (PI girl "practicing") is different than OPs. Just because one has an offer in hand doesn't mean they should be foreclosed from considering all options. It's the same scenario as someone who got a 1L firm job and was invited back doing 2L OCI as well.

Also, I probably don't have to mention that the economy ain't doing so hot. Offers are open until November 1, and I think OP is well within their rights to make sure they maximize their own results. No one is entitled to an OCI interview.

Cupidity wrote:If anyone at your school finds out you took their interview slots by bidding when you already had an offer in hand, you will be socially blackballed for eternity.

No one gives it to you, you have to take it.

Cupidity wrote:As you know, reputation is everything in this profession. If anyone at your school finds out you took their interview slots by bidding when you already had an offer in hand, you will be socially blackballed for eternity. One of the people in our section is PI only, has a high gpa, and bid on a few firms for "the experience of interviewing." We hate her.

This is nonsense. You're not taking anyone's slot in any meaningful way. Firms interview tens if not hundreds of candidates at each school. The chance that you'll block someone else would would have gotten a position instead (and who can't set up an interview on their own outside of regularly schedule time) is small and ultimately unknowable. Perhaps there is a class of students who will resent you if they find out you went to OCI with an offer in hand. Ignore them. Their job search is their responsibility.

Cupidity wrote:As you know, reputation is everything in this profession. If anyone at your school finds out you took their interview slots by bidding when you already had an offer in hand, you will be socially blackballed for eternity. One of the people in our section is PI only, has a high gpa, and bid on a few firms for "the experience of interviewing." We hate her.

I believe that is only true if you have accepted an offer (could be wrong though). There is no requirement that a person must take the first offer they get, however ITE many career services offices have been advising everyone to accept the first decent offer immediately regardless of other considerations.

Cupidity wrote:As you know, reputation is everything in this profession. If anyone at your school finds out you took their interview slots by bidding when you already had an offer in hand, you will be socially blackballed for eternity. One of the people in our section is PI only, has a high gpa, and bid on a few firms for "the experience of interviewing." We hate her.

Wait, really? I always encourage my PI friends to do this. Are you pre-select only?

quakeroats wrote:Congrats. Do OCI and concentrate only on firms you'd like to work for considering you already have an offer. Only skip OCI if there's no one coming you'd take over the offer you have.

+1

IAFG wrote:

Cupidity wrote:As you know, reputation is everything in this profession. If anyone at your school finds out you took their interview slots by bidding when you already had an offer in hand, you will be socially blackballed for eternity. One of the people in our section is PI only, has a high gpa, and bid on a few firms for "the experience of interviewing." We hate her.

Wait, really? I always encourage my PI friends to do this. Are you pre-select only?

You encourage your PI friends to try and take away interview slots for firms they have no intention of seriously considering at the expense of students who are genuinely interested in the firm and now miss out on a chance to meet with them?

I understand going through OCI with an offer already in hand, since you certainly can and should consider all options available. But if you have no intention of working for a big firm, why would you take up spots for people who actually are interested in such positions?

kaiser wrote:

IAFG wrote:

Cupidity wrote:As you know, reputation is everything in this profession. If anyone at your school finds out you took their interview slots by bidding when you already had an offer in hand, you will be socially blackballed for eternity. One of the people in our section is PI only, has a high gpa, and bid on a few firms for "the experience of interviewing." We hate her.

Wait, really? I always encourage my PI friends to do this. Are you pre-select only?

You encourage your PI friends to try and take away interview slots for firms they have no intention of seriously considering at the expense of students who are genuinely interested in the firm and now miss out on a chance to meet with them?

I understand going through OCI with an offer already in hand, since you certainly can and should consider all options available. But if you have no intention of working for a big firm, why would you take up spots for people who actually are interested in such positions?

Yeah, for sure. It's a good experience. I'd say most people at NU encourage people who want PI to at least bid a couple firms for the practice.

IAFG wrote:

kaiser wrote:

IAFG wrote:

Cupidity wrote:As you know, reputation is everything in this profession. If anyone at your school finds out you took their interview slots by bidding when you already had an offer in hand, you will be socially blackballed for eternity. One of the people in our section is PI only, has a high gpa, and bid on a few firms for "the experience of interviewing." We hate her.

Wait, really? I always encourage my PI friends to do this. Are you pre-select only?

You encourage your PI friends to try and take away interview slots for firms they have no intention of seriously considering at the expense of students who are genuinely interested in the firm and now miss out on a chance to meet with them?

I understand going through OCI with an offer already in hand, since you certainly can and should consider all options available. But if you have no intention of working for a big firm, why would you take up spots for people who actually are interested in such positions?

Yeah, for sure. It's a good experience. I'd say most people at NU encourage people who want PI to at least bid a couple firms for the practice.

If they are seriously considering a firm position, then sure, that makes sense. But Cupidity was talking about someone who had absolutely no interest in big firms, yet was just wasting the spot in order to improve interviewing skills. This is an entirely different situation that what you are describing.

kaiser wrote: If they are seriously considering a firm position, then sure, that makes sense. But Cupidity was talking about someone who had absolutely no interest in big firms, yet was just wasting the spot in order to improve interviewing skills. This is an entirely different situation that what you are describing.

Mmm no we're talking about the exact same thing. Maybe my peers feel differently and chime in but I don't see the big deal. There are lots of interview slots. I don't know many people whining about not having enough.

cronous wrote:

Cupidity wrote:As you know, reputation is everything in this profession. If anyone at your school finds out you took their interview slots by bidding when you already had an offer in hand, you will be socially blackballed for eternity. One of the people in our section is PI only, has a high gpa, and bid on a few firms for "the experience of interviewing." We hate her.

I believe that is only true if you have accepted an offer (could be wrong though). There is no requirement that a person must take the first offer they get, however ITE many career services offices have been advising everyone to accept the first decent offer immediately regardless of other considerations.

lolwut?

Why?

IAFG wrote: Yeah, for sure. It's a good experience. I'd say most people at NU encourage people who want PI to at least bid a couple firms for the practice.

I'd tell them to take open slot interviews after bids results came out.

IAFG wrote:

kaiser wrote: If they are seriously considering a firm position, then sure, that makes sense. But Cupidity was talking about someone who had absolutely no interest in big firms, yet was just wasting the spot in order to improve interviewing skills. This is an entirely different situation that what you are describing.

Mmm no we're talking about the exact same thing. Maybe my peers feel differently and chime in but I don't see the big deal. There are lots of interview slots. I don't know many people whining about not having enough.

If every PI kid bids on all the most desirable firms with no intention of working for them, those numbers add up. Sure, in the big picture, its not a huge deal. But its certainly a big deal for the kid who was in the middle of the class who ended up being the one bumped out by said PI kids.

I also the question the merits of doing "just a couple as practice." If there is no stress involved it's not a real interview anyway. Might as well do more mock interviews.

Depending on what type of PI these people are looking to do, a Biglaw OCI screener is probably no better "practice" than any other 30 minute conversation with a living human being. Bidding on firms with no intention of ever accepting an offer seems like an epic waste of time regardless of whether or not the PI people have any obligation to leave their interview scraps for the poor mongrels at median.