Career Counseling/Interview Advice Outside of OCS? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Top third at MVP here. Struck out of OCI, had some screeners and callbacks out of MM, struck out there. OCS has called some of the firms that I've been rejected with, and it seems to be an issue of "fit," whatever the hell that means. Put another way, no firm has been able to say "yes he's a freak when he interviews," if that better explains my situation. For what it's worth, OCS basically told me I drew the short straw in 30something interviews, and I should just focus my effort on finding a clerkship. Needless to say, after this experience, I'm not super excited to hang my hat on clerkships when I cannot land a firm job.

Is there such a thing as private career counseling for law? Apparently, I am completely unable to close, and I'd like to know WTF I'm doing wrong. Any suggestions?

[aces]

Just for the record, even if firms do think you're a "freak," they're not going to say that to OCS and will just blame it on "fit." Not saying that's what's at issue here, but that kind of official feedback is almost never helpful. Maybe you were just unlucky. To help figure out what is and isn't working for you, I would still ask OCS to try to arrange a few mock interviews for you, preferably with people who are willing to offer more candid feedback. If they're unwilling or unable to do so, I would consider getting feedback from 3Ls in your journal/student group-- many of those would be happy to sit down for a mock interview with you, and they're not that far removed from being callback interviewers themselves.

That said, you should still be mass-mailing. There may still be larger firms with last-minute openings, and a lot of mid-sized and small firms have yet to fill their summer classes. Don't forget your classes, either-- if you can bump yourself up to the top quarter, you at least give yourself a not-insignificant shot at 3L OCI.

[Anonymous User]

[quote="aces"That said, you should still be mass-mailing. There may still be larger firms with last-minute openings, and a lot of mid-sized and small firms have yet to fill their summer classes. Don't forget your classes, either-- if you can bump yourself up to the top quarter, you at least give yourself a not-insignificant shot at 3L OCI.[/quote]

Dumb question from public interest person who is considering turning to small firms in despair - where do you get the list of firms to mass-mail? Sorry if this is a dumb question...

[aces]

Here's a start:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=195818
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=178520