Summer 2013 Non-OCI Job Hunt (Mass Mail, Job Fairs, etc) Forum

[tim.janitor]

Finally got my first target-market callback at a mid-sized (for Des Moines) firm which as been my top choice firm since 1L year. I'm going over there on Tuesday, even though its two days before my first final. Any good tips? They said it would be between an hour and two hours, and that I would meet with as many lawyers as will be available during that time. I really wanna kill it, because this firm is exactly where I want to be this summer, barring any bad vibes at the callback.

I got my dark charcoal tailored suit, black cap toes, white shirt, and either red or blue pin dot tie (which one should I go with?) ready to go, so other than the tie any good advice?

PM me.

[Anonymous User]

Figure there's no point to be anonymous for this type of advice...

Red used to be a big NO in finance because of superstitions (losses), but was always traditionally OK for law. That said I did better on interviews where I went with blue/gold than red during recruiting season so YMMV.

A lot of people if they're not used to wearing dress clothes tend to be unnatural in them. Wear your suit around the house for a bit and practice your elevator pitch with a mirror to make sure that you have a good 1-2 minute blurb about yourself as an intro. Additionally make sure that you have 5-10 questions ready, and a plan on how to flow from one to another so you don't get into an awkward situation where you end up spouting off 3-4 questions in a row that are totally unrelated.

If you have any significant legal experience on your resume, prepare a 1-2 minute speech to summarize it and be ready for questions.

Don't tense up, stay relaxed, have a shot before going in if it will help you calm down. If you tend to get nerves, get to the building an hour early so the nerves have a shot to calm down before you go in, you can always find a coffee shop next door etc.

Make smalltalk with the receptionist while your waiting if you are personable and they aren't especially busy, having a good word put in for you by the front desk when HR comes to get you never hurts. Don't forget the staff, just because they aren't directly grading you, doesn't mean their bosses won't ask them about you. I heard one partner asking his secretary what she thought about me as I was walking to the next interview once.

Try to know something about everyone your meeting and their practice areas. People love to pat themselves on the back so if you can ask them about a significant part they played in a big case or deal, they'll feel more comfortable. Its even better if you have something in your background in common.

I'm sure you've heard most of this before, but Law interviews aren't engineering or consulting or finance. Those all test your substantive knowledge, legal interviews only test your personality. It really is as much how well you fit with a firm as how well the firm's culture fits your personality. To put it in perspective, I always hit it off much better with corporate firms than IP Boutiques so even though I had an IP background, I really ended up bombing a lot of interviews with PhDs who were more academically inclined. Your going to be spending a ton of time with the people interviewing you if you accept an offer. Don't make your own life miserable by acting too much to fit in because you won't be able to keep it up day in day out once you really start working.

OP here, thanks so much for the advice. I'll keep all of this in mind. I'm already comfortable in dress clothes, but the rest will be great to think about before I head there. Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

Has anybody gotten bites from Steptoe, NGE or Mayer?

[Anonymous User]

Has anybody gotten bites from Steptoe, NGE or Mayer?

Above Poster: rejected from all three

[Anonymous User]

Has anybody gotten bites from Steptoe, NGE or Mayer?

Above Poster: rejected from all three

Did you actually rejected? OR no response. These firms are driving me crazy, they are simply not getting back to me. I am still waiting on callbacks!! I am a maybe, within a maybe file, within a bigger maybe file.

Just get back to me law firms, quit playing games with my heart...

[Anonymous User]

Has anybody gotten bites from Steptoe, NGE or Mayer?

Above Poster: rejected from all three

Did you actually rejected? OR no response. These firms are driving me crazy, they are simply not getting back to me. I am still waiting on callbacks!! I am a maybe, within a maybe file, within a bigger maybe file.

Just get back to me law firms, quit playing games with my heart...

Mayer Brown: Please refer to our previous rejection we sent three months ago.

Steptoe: Vanilla, we get lots of resumes etc. rejection

NGE: Weird situation. I had a screener there about a month and a half ago with the hiring partner. He told me that I'd get a callback if their outstanding offers were rejected. About a week later I get a rejection letter implying that all their spots are filled. I've heard of two NGE offers being turned down in the past couple of weeks so I e-mailed the recruiter and asked her if there were still open slots and she re-scanned the rejection letter for me. Nice touch.

However, it may be the case that all three of these firms are still looking.

[chrisbru]

Well, it finally paid off. Tons of mailings and OCIs, two callbacks, two offers, and I am now officially done for the year.

[kryptix]

Well, it finally paid off. Tons of mailings and OCIs, two callbacks, two offers, and I am now officially done for the year.

Congrats! So it seems some people are still getting good news in time to be Christmas presents

[chrisbru]

Well, it finally paid off. Tons of mailings and OCIs, two callbacks, two offers, and I am now officially done for the year.

Congrats! So it seems some people are still getting good news in time to be Christmas presents

Yep! And one of my roommates is still waiting to hear back about a callback he had last week. We both targeting different smallish markets (full disclosure, Des Moines, IA and the Quad Cities IA/IL) and it seems as though the mid-size (10-25 attorney) firms are just starting to move on their recruitment. I assume that the small firms (<10) will begin their movement in Feb or March like they did last year.

This may not be indicative of national trends, but for those of you who have mailed smaller firms don't give up hope yet

[fishfry111]

[

[kalvano]

1) Cover letter / resume / transcript / writing (the app package) should be attached as a single PDF to an email. It's cleaner and it avoids any formatting errors.

2) Cover letters should be addressed to the hiring attorney, if specified on NALP. If not, then to the recruiting contact on NALP. If no NALP info, email the firm and ask who to send things to.

3) If your OCI is preselect, then don't email firms that dinged you unless something changed.

Hi:
Your second point about addressing CL to the hiring attorney, but sending to the recruiting contact conflicts with almost all others asked on this and other threads (even though it makes sense to me). Don't take this the wrong way, but how sure are you about this? Source of confirmation? Thanks for clearing this up?

It really doesn't matter. You're not going to get dinged because of who it's addressed to unless they specify a particular person and you don't address it to that person. Then you might just get dinged for failure to follow instructions.

But if they specify a partner in charge of hiring, then that is typically the person who makes the ultimate decision or who casts a deciding vote. It just seems more formal or more appropriate to address that person rather than an HR person. It's mostly a personal preference, I guess, but it won't matter ultimately one way or another. I tend to write fairly formally, and that's just how I would do it: person in charge gets the salutation.

But it's the recruiting contact's job to receive the resumes and filter them out by whatever guidelines the firm has set, and then pass them on to the hiring partner. So send the resume to the recruiting contact and then hope it gets passed on to the partner.

But, ultimately, it really doesn't matter. Address it to whomever you prefer.

[Anonymous User]

I interviewed at a big investment banking firm this week and got an offer to do well paid work with the general counsel. I found the job through scouring random financial services companies' websites. It's the work I want to do, and the jobs are actually out there. I applied to MANY places though so it took effort.

Also, after I heard of a few people at my school well below median getting offers, I recommend that if you are in that area you take your GPA off your résumé. I struggled at a bit above median (with my GPA on my résumé), and I wish I had taken it off. I got this job with my GPA included, but my background fit well. Now I'm at around top 1/3 but I think I will still keep it off.