Formulating Bid Lists Between OCI and Other Job Fairs? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Just curious how people typically handle this, especially IP people (although also pertinent for minority fairs etc.)

I'm at a school where it is not unusual to get 30+ interviews (if desired) at OCI. However, as I have PatBar I am also going to do IP job fairs.

Do you bid on some firms multiple times? What if you get scheduled to a few? Or if I did 2 IP fairs, maybe just bid a firm that I particularly like at OCI and then one of the IP fairs?

Also, how do you know whether firms are receptive to interviewing you twice (once for IP, and once for general practice at OCI,) or if they would prefer to only screen you once for the entire season. Finally, along the same lines, are there firms that don't want to interview with multiple offices? (I.e. is it always OK to interview with a Silicon Valley office of Firm X at PLIP, and then their NY office at OCI?)

Also any anecdotes or just general strategy employed would be great, particularly with regards to maximizing # of interviews that can turn into offers versus gunning harder for the particular firms you like best.

Thanks!!

[sublime]

..

[ph14]

Just curious how people typically handle this, especially IP people (although also pertinent for minority fairs etc.)

I'm at a school where it is not unusual to get 30+ interviews (if desired) at OCI. However, as I have PatBar I am also going to do IP job fairs.

Do you bid on some firms multiple times? What if you get scheduled to a few? Or if I did 2 IP fairs, maybe just bid a firm that I particularly like at OCI and then one of the IP fairs?

Also, how do you know whether firms are receptive to interviewing you twice (once for IP, and once for general practice at OCI,) or if they would prefer to only screen you once for the entire season. Finally, along the same lines, are there firms that don't want to interview with multiple offices? (I.e. is it always OK to interview with a Silicon Valley office of Firm X at PLIP, and then their NY office at OCI?)

Also any anecdotes or just general strategy employed would be great, particularly with regards to maximizing # of interviews that can turn into offers versus gunning harder for the particular firms you like best.

Thanks!!

I wasn't IP focused, but if i'm recalling correctly, some firms wanted you to interview for every office you were interested in, while other firms took a more "one-firm" approach. I would try and find out information on the firm specifically, or talk to OCS. For example, I'm pretty sure that I interviewed with Covington & Burling twice, one for each office, while I tried to do something similar for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher but was told that I only had to interview once. Not sure how helpful that is other to say that I would try and find out more specific information about each firm. Maybe talk to the recruiters for the firm, if you have their contact information, someone you know at the firm, or your school's OCS.

[Anonymous User]

I struggled with this "problem" when I was doing OCI.

A few (relatively obvious) tips:
(1) Once you figure out the firms you are interested in, if a firm is only coming to a particular fair or only your OCI, bid that firm only at the fair or only at your OCI.
(2) Try very hard to avoid interviewing with multiple offices of the same firm unless you are absolutely certain that the firm does not mind this. In my experience, there are a few firms that genuinely don't care (especially if you are a desirable candidate) but they are few and far between.
(3) Fairs generally operate on pre-select (compared to many OCIs which tend to be more lottery). Obviously this should influence how you bid, so keep this in mind.
(4) Keep your more desirable prospects for your home OCI. Firms tend to give out less callbacks from fairs. You therefore end up competing with all the other people interviewing that day at the fair, rather than historically the type of student who gets callback at the firm from your school.
(5) Even if you get nothing out of the fairs, keep in mind that they are valuable chances to improve your interviewing and will only help come OCI time. Treat every interview as a chance to get a job. I overheard more than a few people at these fair lamenting about how unlikely it was to get a callback from the fair. That might be true but you should still take them seriously.

[Anonymous User]

Different anon.

Based on what I've heard, the user above is correct. Some firms only allow interviewing once (whether IP or general) and if they reject you at PLIP, they won't interview you again at OCI (or mass mail) even if it's a different practice area. However, some firms allow multiple interviews.

So my questions are:
1) What if a firm rejects you for a lack of technical background? Would they decline to interview you a second time even if the first ding was from a lack of tech bg?
2) What if you're slightly leaning towards non-IP work but would still love to do IP work?
If you go into the interview at PLIP and tell them "I would love to do IP but I'm also thinking about specialty X. Can I change or rotate later?", is that an auto-ding? What should I tell them?

I'm planning on bidding only IP heavy firms at PLIP (band 1 or 2) and foregoing bids on firms that I might be interested in for non-IP work for OCI. However, that would mean less interviews at PLIP. Is this a good idea?

[Anonymous User]

Different anon.

Based on what I've heard, the user above is correct. Some firms only allow interviewing once (whether IP or general) and if they reject you at PLIP, they won't interview you again at OCI (or mass mail) even if it's a different practice area. However, some firms allow multiple interviews.

So my questions are:
1) What if a firm rejects you for a lack of technical background? Would they decline to interview you a second time even if the first ding was from a lack of tech bg?
2) What if you're slightly leaning towards non-IP work but would still love to do IP work?
If you go into the interview at PLIP and tell them "I would love to do IP but I'm also thinking about specialty X. Can I change or rotate later?", is that an auto-ding? What should I tell them?

I'm planning on bidding only IP heavy firms at PLIP (band 1 or 2) and foregoing bids on firms that I might be interested in for non-IP work for OCI. However, that would mean less interviews at PLIP. Is this a good idea?

Use the search function, I know I've posted three or four times on this topic in the context of minority fairs.

Bottom line: if your OCI is full or partial preselect and you will be a strong applicant, you need to be selective about your bidding because (a) OCI screeners are more likely to turn into callbacks and (b) firms only want to interview you once.

[Anonymous User]

Different anon.

Based on what I've heard, the user above is correct. Some firms only allow interviewing once (whether IP or general) and if they reject you at PLIP, they won't interview you again at OCI (or mass mail) even if it's a different practice area. However, some firms allow multiple interviews.

So my questions are:
1) What if a firm rejects you for a lack of technical background? Would they decline to interview you a second time even if the first ding was from a lack of tech bg?
2) What if you're slightly leaning towards non-IP work but would still love to do IP work?
If you go into the interview at PLIP and tell them "I would love to do IP but I'm also thinking about specialty X. Can I change or rotate later?", is that an auto-ding? What should I tell them?

I'm planning on bidding only IP heavy firms at PLIP (band 1 or 2) and foregoing bids on firms that I might be interested in for non-IP work for OCI. However, that would mean less interviews at PLIP. Is this a good idea?

Use the search function, I know I've posted three or four times on this topic in the context of minority fairs.

Bottom line: if your OCI is full or partial preselect and you will be a strong applicant, you need to be selective about your bidding because (a) OCI screeners are more likely to turn into callbacks and (b) firms only want to interview you once.

I've wondered if this would still be true for someone with below average grades at a top school. When I interview at OCI, a little over half the class would have better grades than me. OTOH, If I interview with someone at PLIP, someone from the top schools are pretty rare and would definitely put you well above the top half of the people there (in terms of law school rank+grades). I've heard stories of people from top law schools with solid background mopping up at PLIP, whereas I hear a lot of stories of people almost striking out at even top schools' OCI

Would you still probably be more successful at OCI?

Also when you say firms only want to interview you once, this makes sense for diversity fairs, but is it still true for IP? Since these would be for entirely different types of practice

[09042014]

I struggled with this "problem" when I was doing OCI.

A few (relatively obvious) tips:
(1) Once you figure out the firms you are interested in, if a firm is only coming to a particular fair or only your OCI, bid that firm only at the fair or only at your OCI.
(2) Try very hard to avoid interviewing with multiple offices of the same firm unless you are absolutely certain that the firm does not mind this. In my experience, there are a few firms that genuinely don't care (especially if you are a desirable candidate) but they are few and far between.
(3) Fairs generally operate on pre-select (compared to many OCIs which tend to be more lottery). Obviously this should influence how you bid, so keep this in mind.
(4) Keep your more desirable prospects for your home OCI. Firms tend to give out less callbacks from fairs. You therefore end up competing with all the other people interviewing that day at the fair, rather than historically the type of student who gets callback at the firm from your school.
(5) Even if you get nothing out of the fairs, keep in mind that they are valuable chances to improve your interviewing and will only help come OCI time. Treat every interview as a chance to get a job. I overheard more than a few people at these fair lamenting about how unlikely it was to get a callback from the fair. That might be true but you should still take them seriously.

This is pretty accurate but 4 isn't really accurate for the PLIP. Plenty of firms hire mostly from that program.

[09042014]

Different anon.

Based on what I've heard, the user above is correct. Some firms only allow interviewing once (whether IP or general) and if they reject you at PLIP, they won't interview you again at OCI (or mass mail) even if it's a different practice area. However, some firms allow multiple interviews.

So my questions are:
1) What if a firm rejects you for a lack of technical background? Would they decline to interview you a second time even if the first ding was from a lack of tech bg?
2) What if you're slightly leaning towards non-IP work but would still love to do IP work?
If you go into the interview at PLIP and tell them "I would love to do IP but I'm also thinking about specialty X. Can I change or rotate later?", is that an auto-ding? What should I tell them?

I'm planning on bidding only IP heavy firms at PLIP (band 1 or 2) and foregoing bids on firms that I might be interested in for non-IP work for OCI. However, that would mean less interviews at PLIP. Is this a good idea?

1) For PLIP, you can rebid firms that you didn't get a preselect. But don't interview with firms that preselected and then didn't call you back.

2) At PLIP tell them you want IP. At OCI you can tell them whatever. But being indecisive is a bad choice.

3) Not auto ding, but it's a bad play.

4) Don't just bid based on chambers. It's not that accurate and selects towards bigger groups not necessarily better groups.

[Anonymous User]

4) Don't just bid based on chambers. It's not that accurate and selects towards bigger groups not necessarily better groups.

Thanks for all that DF. What should you use then if not Chambers for PLIP/IP bidding?