Bad Interview Moments Forum

[lnsl123]

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[downinDtown]

FREE-d Frank for anyone wondering.

Is it really that big of a deal? I mispronounced Weil a few times during an interview. The interviewer acted like I had murdered her cat.

I mean, yeah. It's straight up retarded. You're thinking about this like "well, there are just so many firms." Classic law student entitlement. Your interviewer is almost always thinking about this like "yeah, there are a lot of firms, but if you know how to pronounce even one firm, it better goddamn be mine."

Hilarious. You don't even recognize how hypocritical this is. It has nothing to do with law student entitlement. Both sides think of each other that way. If anything, law students tend to look at things more "romantically" than law firms.

So no, I don't feel guilty or bad about mispronouncing their name. Not when we all know the biglaw business model.

Just out of curiosity, how did you mispronounce Weil? It's a four-letter, one-syllable word lol. Only thing I can think of is maybe you said it like "wheel" but that would make no sense based on the spelling.

Well, it looks like "wheel" but the wily way it's pronounced is "while."

[lavarman84]

Me: "I actually transferred to my undergrad."

Interviewer/partner: [laughing under his breath]

Me: [Continues to genuinely wax poetic for 5 minutes about how much I loved my undergrad experience and that transferring was the right decision for my circumstance.]

Interviewer: ". . . And how did that work out for you?"

Me: "Um . . . Very well?"

Huh? This seems like it would be very funny if I understood it.

I have an ambiguous firm name and I do hold it against interviewees when they mispronounce it. They can overcome it, but it is a small strike. If you don't have the common sense and forethought to recognize that it is ambiguous and look it up, it makes me uneasy. A junior associate who doesn't think things through will be bad news for me.

I had the common sense to confirm the name. Still mispronounced it. Problem is that you're going to say it the way that is natural to you when your mind is on other things. Regardless, when you have a million law students with little separating them, I don't blame anyone for holding it against a person.

[Anonymous User]

Sliced my head open two days ago. Eight staples in the top of my head. Not really noticeable if I'm looking straight ahead, but if someone is taller than me (most are) or I tilt my head slightly down the staples are glaring.

Callback is today. Because of course it is.

[axel.foley]

Sliced my head open two days ago. Eight staples in the top of my head. Not really noticeable if I'm looking straight ahead, but if someone is taller than me (most are) or I tilt my head slightly down the staples are glaring.

Callback is today. Because of course it is.

No one is going to hold this against you. If anything it will elicit sympathy and be a conversation starter. Hope you feel better!

[ArtistOfManliness]

Sliced my head open two days ago. Eight staples in the top of my head. Not really noticeable if I'm looking straight ahead, but if someone is taller than me (most are) or I tilt my head slightly down the staples are glaring.

Callback is today. Because of course it is.

No one is going to hold this against you. If anything it will elicit sympathy and be a conversation starter. Hope you feel better!

I'd probably mention it... hopefully it's a funny story?

[gfd973]

Sliced my head open two days ago. Eight staples in the top of my head. Not really noticeable if I'm looking straight ahead, but if someone is taller than me (most are) or I tilt my head slightly down the staples are glaring.

Callback is today. Because of course it is.

No one is going to hold this against you. If anything it will elicit sympathy and be a conversation starter. Hope you feel better!

I'd probably mention it... hopefully it's a funny story?

"Haha yeah, it's a funny story, I was trying to stay awake in Evidence the other day and just thought to myself, 'You know what'd be way better than this? Jumping head first into a woodchipper.' Mad lolz, right?!"

[cannibal ox]

I would hire someone who would rather jump into a woodchipper than sit in an Evidence class.

[thejaquio]

I interviewed with the satellite office of a larger firm. Office had about 50 attorneys.

During my callback I met with 7 or 8 attorneys -- Jim, Scott, Brian, Eric, Ivan, Ben, Bill, and Mark. I thought it was a bit odd to meet with all dudes since, as a female candidate, firms usually make a point of putting me with one or two women who talk about how the firm is a great place for women.

So after meeting with all those guys in the morning I went to lunch with two female associates. When we sat down to lunch, they asked me who I met with and after telling them the list of guys I jokingly said, "so, are you two the only women who work here?"

Their response: yes, actually, we are the only 2 female attorneys in this office. All of the senior level women walked out in protest recently after every one failed to make partner (for those interested, the firm gave paid maternity leave BUT didn't reduce the billable hour requirements for associates on maternity leave. So a bunch of lady attorneys took a month or two off after having a kid then went back to billing 200 hours a month as usual. They only realized that the 200+ hours they didn't bill while they were out on leave DID count against them when they were up for partnership and got passed over).

My face said it all. Did not recover from it. Did not get an offer.

Is this not a prima facie case for pregnancy discrimination?

Just so you know before you start working L+E, that isn't pregnancy discrimination at all. HTH

It should be though.

No, it shouldn't be though. And I'm gonna have to request that you (A Nony Mouse) keep your dicta to yourself and keep your posts on the topic of bad interview moments.

[emkay625]

I interviewed with the satellite office of a larger firm. Office had about 50 attorneys.

During my callback I met with 7 or 8 attorneys -- Jim, Scott, Brian, Eric, Ivan, Ben, Bill, and Mark. I thought it was a bit odd to meet with all dudes since, as a female candidate, firms usually make a point of putting me with one or two women who talk about how the firm is a great place for women.

So after meeting with all those guys in the morning I went to lunch with two female associates. When we sat down to lunch, they asked me who I met with and after telling them the list of guys I jokingly said, "so, are you two the only women who work here?"

Their response: yes, actually, we are the only 2 female attorneys in this office. All of the senior level women walked out in protest recently after every one failed to make partner (for those interested, the firm gave paid maternity leave BUT didn't reduce the billable hour requirements for associates on maternity leave. So a bunch of lady attorneys took a month or two off after having a kid then went back to billing 200 hours a month as usual. They only realized that the 200+ hours they didn't bill while they were out on leave DID count against them when they were up for partnership and got passed over).

My face said it all. Did not recover from it. Did not get an offer.

Is this not a prima facie case for pregnancy discrimination?

Just so you know before you start working L+E, that isn't pregnancy discrimination at all. HTH

It should be though.

No, it shouldn't be though. And I'm gonna have to request that you (A Nony Mouse) keep your dicta to yourself and keep your posts on the topic of bad interview moments.

lol. Nony's a mod.

Edited: Hmm. I am puzzled by your post history. And confused by your attacks on Nony.

[thejaquio]

She has corrected like four different people on this very thread (who had comparatively way more interesting and insightful stories/anecdotes than what she just said) for saying things MILDLY off-topic, and the hypocrisy was just too rank to not call out with great relish. Just sick of the smug self-satisfaction, and the unchallenged feminist tripe (that apparently is thought to be above the rules)---such as that it's pregnancy discrimination to not promote a woman, who due to taking maternity leave, has done 10/12 of the work of her male coworkers. It would be actual discrimination against men (and non-pregnant women, BTW) to promote women who had only done a fraction of the work of the childless.

[Danger Zone]

She has corrected like four different people on this very thread (who had comparatively way more interesting and insightful stories/anecdotes than what she just said) for saying things MILDLY off-topic, and the hypocrisy was just too rank to not call out with great relish. Just sick of the smug self-satisfaction, and the unchallenged feminist tripe (that apparently is thought to be above the rules)---such as that it's pregnancy discrimination to not promote a woman, who due to taking maternity leave, has done 10/12 of the work of her male coworkers. It would be actual discrimination against men (and non-pregnant women, BTW) to promote women who had only done a fraction of the work of the childless.

Lol qfp

[Anonymous User]

Callback at a V20 firm. I'm interviewing with a partner, and he asks me where I'm from. I told him that I'm from New York City. 10 minutes later, he reveals that he was raised in Boston!

Got an offer.

[Anonymous User]

I graduated in one of the "lost years" (like 2010 through 2012) and pretty sure a bunch of screeners were jokes.

Not my interview experience, but my friend had an OCI screener where he revealed that he juggles. Interviewer hands him 3 apples that were sitting in the room and asks him to juggle. He juggles the three apples and the two interviewers oooh and ahhh.....No callback.

[zot1]

I graduated in one of the "lost years" (like 2010 through 2012) and pretty sure a bunch of screeners were jokes.

Not my interview experience, but my friend had an OCI screener where he revealed that he juggles. Interviewer hands him 3 apples that were sitting in the room and asks him to juggle. He juggles the three apples and the two interviewers oooh and ahhh. No callback.

And they didn't even pay for it!

[elendinel]

She has corrected like four different people on this very thread (who had comparatively way more interesting and insightful stories/anecdotes than what she just said) for saying things MILDLY off-topic, and the hypocrisy was just too rank to not call out with great relish. Just sick of the smug self-satisfaction, and the unchallenged feminist tripe (that apparently is thought to be above the rules)---such as that it's pregnancy discrimination to not promote a woman, who due to taking maternity leave, has done 10/12 of the work of her male coworkers. It would be actual discrimination against men (and non-pregnant women, BTW) to promote women who had only done a fraction of the work of the childless.

Someone's been triggered.

ETA: To be on-topic, once I had an interviewer say he liked the cut of my shirt, but thought I should have picked a color that better matched my eyes, and that I should "loosen up a little" by unbuttoning a button ("But only if you want to hah hah").

Surprisingly, no callback.

[Wipfelder]

She has corrected like four different people on this very thread (who had comparatively way more interesting and insightful stories/anecdotes than what she just said) for saying things MILDLY off-topic, and the hypocrisy was just too rank to not call out with great relish. Just sick of the smug self-satisfaction, and the unchallenged feminist tripe (that apparently is thought to be above the rules)---such as that it's pregnancy discrimination to not promote a woman, who due to taking maternity leave, has done 10/12 of the work of her male coworkers. It would be actual discrimination against men (and non-pregnant women, BTW) to promote women who had only done a fraction of the work of the childless.

Someone's been triggered.

ETA: To be on-topic, once I had an interviewer say he liked the cut of my shirt, but thought I should have picked a color that better matched my eyes, and that I should "loosen up a little" by unbuttoning a button ("But only if you want to hah hah").

Surprisingly, no callback.

That is so weird.

[thejaquio]

She has corrected like four different people on this very thread (who had comparatively way more interesting and insightful stories/anecdotes than what she just said) for saying things MILDLY off-topic, and the hypocrisy was just too rank to not call out with great relish. Just sick of the smug self-satisfaction, and the unchallenged feminist tripe (that apparently is thought to be above the rules)---such as that it's pregnancy discrimination to not promote a woman, who due to taking maternity leave, has done 10/12 of the work of her male coworkers. It would be actual discrimination against men (and non-pregnant women, BTW) to promote women who had only done a fraction of the work of the childless.

Someone's been triggered.

ETA: To be on-topic, once I had an interviewer say he liked the cut of my shirt, but thought I should have picked a color that better matched my eyes, and that I should "loosen up a little" by unbuttoning a button ("But only if you want to hah hah").

Surprisingly, no callback.

Pwned. I'll be banned within the week. Then I'll have to go through all the trouble of making up another username. Damn.

[Anonymous User]

Approximately 2013, I had a night callback with Skadden in NYC that started at 6 pm. All attorneys still in their offices looking miserable. The whole interview sucked ass - it was immediately obvious that it was not the right fit for me. This is probably because I am not a frat boy.

After the interview ended around 9 pm, the HR person broke the candidate group out into small sub-groups. Each group had a few candidates and a few younger attorneys from the same school - or at least that was the intent. I want to a non-Ivy / non-T14, still a fairly good school, and obviously there were no attorneys at Skadden who were alums at my school. Thus, I was placed with the Michigan Law group.

We go to this very strange basement Japanese steak house in Manhattan (all kind of a blur...no idea where in the city this place was). We sit down and one of the candidates decides to ask one of the attorneys "how on the record" this dinner is. (Obviously a newb.) Of course, they tell her it's a casual dinner that is not really on the record. For some reason, she takes this as a cue to begin telling a story about some famous professor at Michigan Law. Manages to work in a discussion about her professor's penis and tells a long and very involved story involving such penis. I wish I were kidding. I'm sitting there trying to figure out how this crazy person ever managed to get past OCI and to a callback at Skadden...and trying to keep my mouth from dropping down to the floor. No one else seemed fazed by this conversation. The whole ordeal ended at about 2 am. The dinner cost about $850 (I managed a glance at the check). I slept about an hour because I had an early morning flight back to catch my classes at law school the next day.

I immediately cancelled all of my other NYC call backs and accepted an offer at a non-Skadden non-NYC firm.

[thejaquio]

Callback at a V35 firm. I'm waiting in the lobby for someone to bring me up to the office. All of a sudden, I let out a sneeze. A man walking by says "bless you." Later, I learned that the man was the managing partner! I was horrified.

Got an offer.

Edit. Because I said something retarded.

[PennBull]

Callback at a V35 firm. I'm waiting in the lobby for someone to bring me up to the office. All of a sudden, I let out a sneeze. A man walking by says "bless you." Later, I learned that the man was the managing partner! I was horrified.

Got an offer.

This is literally the worst story I have ever heard.

I have no idea what possessed you to post it on this board. We are all less entertained for having heard it. Thank you, and may God have mercy on your soul.

thats the joke, dipshit

[thejaquio]

Callback at a V35 firm. I'm waiting in the lobby for someone to bring me up to the office. All of a sudden, I let out a sneeze. A man walking by says "bless you." Later, I learned that the man was the managing partner! I was horrified.

Got an offer.

This is literally the worst story I have ever heard.

I have no idea what possessed you to post it on this board. We are all less entertained for having heard it. Thank you, and may God have mercy on your soul.

thats the joke, dipshit

That didn't fully come through. The irony was a bit too subtle, especially seeing as how his mock-stories closely mirror the lameness of many of the unnecessarily long female stories being passed off here as legitimately "bad interview moments," just so they can talk about themselves.

But on second thought, man do I feel retarded. Gonna edit and hope no one else notices my exceedingly low IQ.

[EzraFitz]

Callback at a V35 firm. I'm waiting in the lobby for someone to bring me up to the office. All of a sudden, I let out a sneeze. A man walking by says "bless you." Later, I learned that the man was the managing partner! I was horrified.

Got an offer.

This is literally the worst story I have ever heard.

I have no idea what possessed you to post it on this board. We are all less entertained for having heard it. Thank you, and may God have mercy on your soul.

thats the joke, dipshit

That didn't fully come through. The irony was a bit too subtle, especially seeing as how his mock-stories closely mirror the lameness of many of the unnecessarily long female stories being passed off here as legitimately "bad interview moments," just so they can talk about themselves.

But on second thought, man do I feel retarded. Gonna edit and hope no one else notices my exceedingly low IQ.

Wow, are you serious about the bolded? Wow.

Had a friend recently who was interviewing with a tiny (see, 3 person) firm. Completely screwed up his planning, and thought the interview was a week after the actual scheduled interview. Had no contact from the attorneys asking where he was, nothing at all. Showed up a week late, they mention his oversight, interview him anyway, and offer him a job. I dunno if he just absolutely killed the interview, or they were just as disorganized as him, but he is the luckiest bastard I know.

[thejaquio]

Callback at a V35 firm. I'm waiting in the lobby for someone to bring me up to the office. All of a sudden, I let out a sneeze. A man walking by says "bless you." Later, I learned that the man was the managing partner! I was horrified.

Got an offer.

This is literally the worst story I have ever heard.

I have no idea what possessed you to post it on this board. We are all less entertained for having heard it. Thank you, and may God have mercy on your soul.

thats the joke, dipshit

That didn't fully come through. The irony was a bit too subtle, especially seeing as how his mock-stories closely mirror the lameness of many of the unnecessarily long female stories being passed off here as legitimately "bad interview moments," just so they can talk about themselves.

But on second thought, man do I feel retarded. Gonna edit and hope no one else notices my exceedingly low IQ.

Wow, are you serious about the bolded? Wow.

And trigger faux-umbrage...now.

You're right, women are well known for their brevity and pith in relaying humorous, entertaining, non-self-centered anecdotes. It's almost a stereotype. I therefore retract my previous statement and beg your pardon.

Now, before further derailment, any other funny stories? I know a guy that sharted in his whitish tan pants while at the interview location for an AUSA internship. The shart was so wet that it bled through his pants, and the interviewing attorney ended up asking him what was on his pants. I am not sure how he responded. Offer. Epic story.

[bk1]

That didn't fully come through. The irony was a bit too subtle, especially seeing as how his mock-stories closely mirror the lameness of many of the unnecessarily long female stories being passed off here as legitimately "bad interview moments," just so they can talk about themselves.

But on second thought, man do I feel retarded. Gonna edit and hope no one else notices my exceedingly low IQ.

Enjoy your time out.