V15 Partner/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions... Forum

[Anonymous User]

to follow up, can a male married with kids and having worked hard and done well in ls use this as a selling point? meaning you are less of a flight risk and still can work hard/balance your life/work.

[Anonymous User]

At a t2, with a pure pre-select system is there any way to turn "pre-select" into interviews?

[Anonymous User]

.

[dingbat]

*Again, please don't quote this*

[skers]

This thread is a lot less helpful when it's random anon assholes answering questions. We want to get a perspective from someone who actually handles hiring, not someone randomly speculating on their success with or without a ring.

[Old Gregg]

This thread is a lot less helpful when it's random anon assholes answering questions. We want to get a perspective from someone who actually handles hiring, not someone randomly speculating on their success with or without a ring.

Exactly.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a woman. I guess I'm just wondering why it would be bad to acknowledge the fact, since an interviewer can tell from the ring. It's difficult to explain my decisions (where I live, why I chose my school) without acknowledging that I'm married.

I won't get into how much being perceived as a flight risk sucks, because that's totally not the case.

Don't wear the ring at the interview, then. Or own up to being married, do your best to explain you want to bill 24/7 and hope for the best. You can't control doing anything else.

In my opinion, even a man wearing a ring is seen as a negative. I can imagine it is worse as a woman. I did roughly 30 screening interviews with the first 15, mostly prescreened by resume, I wore my ring and the second 15, all lottery, I did not. I ended up getting roughly 12 callbacks with all of them being from when I did not wear my ring or discuss my marriage status. My interviewing, grades, resume didn't get any better. I'm just glad I realized after the first set of interviews to ditch the ring.

And yes, if you have a ring on interviewers will ask about your marriage status. I also had numerous firms ask about plans for children, what my wife did, housing plans, where my extended family lived, and so forth. I had one firm ask me what my wife's reaction to working at x firm in y location would be-like literally half the interview was talking about her and they were asking me if we gave you a summer offer now and you called her what would she say.

"Please don't quote this"

I don't to derail this, but I'm a married man and when I went through OGI, it was generally beneficial. Same with clerkships.

[Anonymous User]

to follow up, can a male married with kids and having worked hard and done well in ls use this as a selling point? meaning you are less of a flight risk and still can work hard/balance your life/work.

See bottom of page 51... The same may happen to you.

Think about it from the employer's perspective. Why take someone with a wife and kids with the existence of FMLA and all the other costs, i.e. insurance, sick days, divorces, and so on, when you can take someone just as qualified without that "baggage." No one likes hearing it, but employers either intentionally or subconsciously go through an analysis about the worth of a future associate and it's only natural, even if illegal, to consider this. Plus, no metric I know of gives a firm bonus points for hiring married or parent associates.

Also, lol at working hard in LS. LS is more a 9-4 job than anything else with minor stress during the last month of each semester. It is not at all comparable to actually working-especially in big law.

*Again, please don't quote this*

You're anonymous. Why not quote it? Other than the fact that it's based on your assumptions and presumptions that seem to be based more on what people expect or believe big law to be rather than reality.

[kalvano]

Would everyone who is not the senior associate at a top firm who is generously donating time to answer questions please stop junking up this thread with useless opinions?

KTHNXBAI.

[chup]

This thread is a lot less helpful when it's random anon assholes answering questions. We want to get a perspective from someone who actually handles hiring, not someone randomly speculating on their success with or without a ring.

This. If people can't figure this out on their own I'm going to start waving the ban stick around and/or outing anons.

[clint4law]

tag

[henry flower]

Is it okay to ask about face-time requirements? One of my top choices is known (at least on Vault) for not having a face-time requirement, and this is actually a big selling point for me. Would love to be able to do a fair amount of work from home, and would probably be more efficient/productive that way. Should I mention/emphasize this at all?

[pasteurizedmilk]

That's something to ask after offers. I get that it's a selling point, but some will perceive you as lazy. And they will categorically tell you "it's not a face time office" (whether true or not) so you won't be getting any useful information anyway.

No reward, high risk.

[itbdvorm]

Is it okay to ask about face-time requirements? One of my top choices is known (at least on Vault) for not having a face-time requirement, and this is actually a big selling point for me. Would love to be able to do a fair amount of work from home, and would probably be more efficient/productive that way. Should I mention/emphasize this at all?

You can tell people about your desire to do this...when you're a partner.

[Anonymous User]

I have a question about urm white/hispanic.I attend a lower T14, 3.2 GPA, no law review. Ivy League undergrad (with high gpa in undergrad); no work experience, other than summer jobs.
Do I have a shot at any NYC firms? I believe I interview well/decently.
Will being hispanic help at all? Many firms seem to claim they are looking for diversity, but I'm not sure how true that really is.

[Anonymous User]

I have a few questions about screener interviews:

1. What are you looking for generally. Are you judging how intelligent a person seems/how well thought out their responses are or is it really just more personality/fit?

2. Do you ever get turned off by people who seem too up tight? What about people who seem too casual/laid back? Is it better to err on one side or the other?

3. I want to do transactional/corporate. I was an English major in undergrad. Are firms going to grill me hard about my desire to do transactional?

4. Would it be weird to go into an interview and say you were interested in doing tax? Is that too specific?

Feel free to answer all/some/none of the questions. Thx in advance

[itbdvorm]

I have a question about urm white/hispanic.I attend a lower T14, 3.2 GPA, no law review. Ivy League undergrad (with high gpa in undergrad); no work experience, other than summer jobs.
Do I have a shot at any NYC firms? I believe I interview well/decently.
Will being hispanic help at all? Many firms seem to claim they are looking for diversity, but I'm not sure how true that really is.

probably will help. as will ivy league undergrad. but you may need to hustle a bit. still, lots of big firms are out there...

[anon168]

I have a few questions about screener interviews:

1. What are you looking for generally. Are you judging how intelligent a person seems/how well thought out their responses are or is it really just more personality/fit?

When did screening interviews, I just wanted to make sure the person wasn't a complete douche-bag, that he could conjugate his verbs properly, and basically carry on a conversation without swallowing his own tongue.

The resume gets you the callback, the screen is basically just to make sure you can fog up a mirror on a cold night.

2. Do you ever get turned off by people who seem too up tight? What about people who seem too casual/laid back? Is it better to err on one side or the other?

You don't want to be either. Think "Goldilocks".

3. I want to do transactional/corporate. I was an English major in undergrad. Are firms going to grill me hard about my desire to do transactional?

Nope. Transactional lawyers do all sorts of reading, and writing. Sometimes of the creative type, as well.

4. Would it be weird to go into an interview and say you were interested in doing tax? Is that too specific?

Yes, if the firm you are interviewing with had no tax dept.

[Anonymous User]

I tried to read thruogh all 51 pages and I didn't see this question.

When you interview and ask the question "Why our firm" what types of answers are you looking for? How much research should someone do in order to give what an interviewer considers a "good answer" to that question.

Would it be appropriate if I answered it by including some awards your firm has won (ex. pro bono or diversity awards)?

[Anonymous User]

I tried to read thruogh all 51 pages and I didn't see this question.

When you interview and ask the question "Why our firm" what types of answers are you looking for? How much research should someone do in order to give what an interviewer considers a "good answer" to that question.

Would it be appropriate if I answered it by including some awards your firm has won (ex. pro bono or diversity awards)?

+1

[Zeile]

tagged

[Evaly]

Thanks for taking questions. I just got a callback interview. The attorney who notified me mentioned that if there is a particular attorney I would like to meet during the callback I should make that request to the recruiting mananger. Honestly I do not have the burning desire to meet a particular person. Is it bad if I don't make a request? If I do make one, what type of attorney should I request? The rain maker partner, an attorney with similar backgrounds, or an alum of my law school?

[itbdvorm]

I have a few questions about screener interviews:

1. What are you looking for generally. Are you judging how intelligent a person seems/how well thought out their responses are or is it really just more personality/fit?

When did screening interviews, I just wanted to make sure the person wasn't a complete douche-bag, that he could conjugate his verbs properly, and basically carry on a conversation without swallowing his own tongue.

The resume gets you the callback, the screen is basically just to make sure you can fog up a mirror on a cold night.

2. Do you ever get turned off by people who seem too up tight? What about people who seem too casual/laid back? Is it better to err on one side or the other?

You don't want to be either. Think "Goldilocks".

3. I want to do transactional/corporate. I was an English major in undergrad. Are firms going to grill me hard about my desire to do transactional?

Nope. Transactional lawyers do all sorts of reading, and writing. Sometimes of the creative type, as well.

4. Would it be weird to go into an interview and say you were interested in doing tax? Is that too specific?

Yes, if the firm you are interviewing with had no tax dept.

Generally agree w/the above. You can say anything you want about the type of law you want to do so long as you can back it up with good reasons why / what interests you. I think I have higher intelligence/composure/charisma/etc. standards than the person above.

[itbdvorm]

I tried to read thruogh all 51 pages and I didn't see this question.

When you interview and ask the question "Why our firm" what types of answers are you looking for? How much research should someone do in order to give what an interviewer considers a "good answer" to that question.

Would it be appropriate if I answered it by including some awards your firm has won (ex. pro bono or diversity awards)?

I wouldn't focus on those types of awards. I would focus on practice areas, expertise, reputation, etc. and softer versions of those things ("culture" is a good buzzword, if appropriate). But with specific examples. I.e., you want to do litigation, mention big case X the firm has done or famous litigator Y who works there...

[itbdvorm]

Thanks for taking questions. I just got a callback interview. The attorney who notified me mentioned that if there is a particular attorney I would like to meet during the callback I should make that request to the recruiting mananger. Honestly I do not have the burning desire to meet a particular person. Is it bad if I don't make a request? If I do make one, what type of attorney should I request? The rain maker partner, an attorney with similar backgrounds, or an alum of my law school?

Not bad. But if there's something you want to do / practice area / etc., you shuld...