NU OCI 2013/The Great Jerb Hunt Forum

[Anonymous User]

Have an interests section. I have relatively mundane interests, but I am good at them and can talk about them. I'd say they came up, a lot of the times first, in...75% of interviews, including the ones on callbacks. ESPECIALLY if you have something that can be un-stereotypical for your sex/race/orientation/age/etc. My career adviser said the one first listed on my resume would spark a lot of interest, even though it wasn't anything particularly exciting or novel, because most people wouldn't automatically associate it with my sex.

And put something sports-related in if you can talk with any intelligence about it. There is probably nothing easier to have a friendly, connection-creating conversation about than sports. ("Fantasy football" may have been the two most valuable words on my resume.)

[Anonymous User]

Just focusing on things people haven't already said (lots of great advice in this thread already):

Things 1L's should do now:
--Crank out at least one paper for CLR that you're happy with, because you will need a writing sample and you will hate yourself if you have to spend hours next summer editing. You're a 1L. Your work will be crappy. Try not to make it colossally crappy. (Don't count on your summer-- it's entirely possible that you will not generate anything usable. Just get one good option during CLR.)
--Do the mock interview program this fall. It's 20 minutes. It will help you know what you need to improve on.

Things to do week-of:
--Before each interview, I silently talked to myself about why I was excited about the firm. Not why I wanted to work there-- why I was excited. I think that helped me get into a state of mind where I was genuinely happy to meet each interviewer, even on a day where I had an absurd number of interviews. This was the single most effective prep I did during OCI. It definitely helped me outkick my coverage. It made me appear happy, relaxed, and genuinely excited to be talking to the interviewer (rather than how I actually felt, which was anxious/stressed).
--Bring snacks. Nuts/jerky are great.
--Callback scheduling: Some firms who have people who are really good at scheduling callbacks. Other firms have people who are non-responsive, who lose things, who are just generally human. Be patient. They are busy and they will probably remember if you are understanding (at least, I hope they will).
--Hustle, but don't be a dick to the other people who are just trying to drop off their resumes/get tiny screeners in the hospitality suites. Don't monopolize the attorneys and don't ask invasive questions of your classmates in front of the attorneys.

[Anonymous User]

dings from Leydig and Banner via snail mail...

[Anonymous User]

Are there other people who haven't heard back from firms they did screeners with? I'm still waiting to hear from three firms. Obviously I don't have high hopes from them at this point, but unclear why they won't just ding me already (2 I know have given CB's and rejections, and the other I haven't heard anything about, on this thread or otherwise).

[Anonymous User]

I have yet to hear from Winston post screener. F them.

[Anonymous User]

Are there other people who haven't heard back from firms they did screeners with? I'm still waiting to hear from three firms. Obviously I don't have high hopes from them at this point, but unclear why they won't just ding me already (2 I know have given CB's and rejections, and the other I haven't heard anything about, on this thread or otherwise).

I haven't heard back from several of the large general practice firms in Chicago post screener; my optimistic thought is that these firms have multiple tiers of callbacks since their class sizes are larger...

[bk1]

You may never hear from some firms. Yes, even firms you screened with.

[Anonymous User]

Yeah, quite a few firms. A couple of west coast offices and a couple of big Chicago firms and a couple of Chicago IP firms. A few of them I have hopes that I'm in some sort of second tier of maybes, but the rest I assume are dinging me with silences.

[Roll Fizzlebeef]

You may never hear from some firms. Yes, even firms you screened with.

What's protocol on following up with these places? I have two that I haven't heard from and a few resume drops; should I just email the interviewer I interviewed/left my resume with? Recruiting manager?

[Anonymous User]

You may never hear from some firms. Yes, even firms you screened with.

What's protocol on following up with these places? I have two that I haven't heard from and a few resume drops; should I just email the interviewer I interviewed/left my resume with? Recruiting manager?

2-3 weeks is probably about right. Probably best to e-mail the recruiting contact unless you have a specific connection to someone at the firm. Consider attaching an updated resume/transcript. The main risk is they may interpret it as a request for an expedited decision, turning waitlists into dings. A ding letter arrived for me last week, suspiciously postmarked the same day I followed up by e-mail.

That said, some firms clearly wait until they've finished making offers before they ding anyone. I think Winston does this - I had a catastrophically bad interview, still no official ding.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone get a CB from Wilmer DC?

I've heard radio silence from them on all fronts.

Same. I've heard of NU students getting their rejection e-mails. So maybe we're still in the running at least.

CB and offer as of 9/5. Sorry if this was already covered.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard anything from Foley Chicago or Baker Botts DC?

[Anonymous User]

Just found my Kirkland post-screener ding in my nlaw mail spam folder...just an FYI in case it happened to others as well

[Anonymous User]

Willkie Farr NY has started making offers.

[Anonymous User]

Are there other people who haven't heard back from firms they did screeners with? I'm still waiting to hear from three firms. Obviously I don't have high hopes from them at this point, but unclear why they won't just ding me already (2 I know have given CB's and rejections, and the other I haven't heard anything about, on this thread or otherwise).

Here’s something that’s a bit counter-intuitive. Resist the temptation to over-research a firm or the interviewer. After a total of 26 screeners and 8 CB’s, I can say that I was NEVER grilled on firm facts, whether direct or implied.
For OCI, all you need to know about a firm is the basics: key core practice areas in the particular office/market, and a simple 2-sentence explanation of how and why these areas are of particular interest to your career goals. For the screener, just know his or her practice area.
For Callbacks, same for the firm, but for the interviewer, maybe a tiny bit more specifics about his/her area.
The REALLY important info is something you won’t know until you actually meet the interviewer, and has nothing to do with the firm or practice area: it’s the personal info you glean from what he/she says about herself/himself during the conversation. Because the key concern is whether you can carry a normal conversation, relate to people so that they get comfortable, and have conversation skills that draw people out, you can rely on the fact that most people enjoy talking about themselves.
Therefore, take every opportunity to respond to an interviewer’s statement or question with a query about themselves. For example, if an associate tells you she’s recently married/engaged, congratulate her first, but also follow up with queries about her fiancé, whether he’s a lawyer, and yeah, how she managed (or plans to) juggle marriage and a 90-hour work-week. If he talks about sports, you can tell him about your favorite sport, but quickly shift the focus on him by asking the extent of his participation, presently and during his earlier years. Even the nightmare question of “Well, do you have any questions for me?” can be easily deflected by queries about the interviewer’s past experience, both ancient and recent, his lifestyle, his career path (whether he started at the firm as an SA or lateralled over), his reasons for choosing the firm……. You get the idea…….focus on them, them, them..

I would estimate that the amount of time spent on talking about the firm or practice areas is less than 10-15 percent (5 minutes out of 30. The rest was general non-legal conversation.)
Of the 8 CB’s I went through, I can say that the most positive ones were two firms that didn’t give me any advance notice of whom I’d be meeting that day.
Hope this helps…..including those still going through their CB's

[IAFG]

Are there other people who haven't heard back from firms they did screeners with? I'm still waiting to hear from three firms. Obviously I don't have high hopes from them at this point, but unclear why they won't just ding me already (2 I know have given CB's and rejections, and the other I haven't heard anything about, on this thread or otherwise).

Here’s something that’s a bit counter-intuitive. Resist the temptation to over-research a firm or the interviewer. After a total of 26 screeners and 8 CB’s, I can say that I was NEVER grilled on firm facts, whether direct or implied.
For OCI, all you need to know about a firm is the basics: key core practice areas in the particular office/market, and a simple 2-sentence explanation of how and why these areas are of particular interest to your career goals. For the screener, just know his or her practice area.
For Callbacks, same for the firm, but for the interviewer, maybe a tiny bit more specifics about his/her area.
The REALLY important info is something you won’t know until you actually meet the interviewer, and has nothing to do with the firm or practice area: it’s the personal info you glean from what he/she says about herself/himself during the conversation. Because the key concern is whether you can carry a normal conversation, relate to people so that they get comfortable, and have conversation skills that draw people out, you can rely on the fact that most people enjoy talking about themselves.
Therefore, take every opportunity to respond to an interviewer’s statement or question with a query about themselves. For example, if an associate tells you she’s recently married/engaged, congratulate her first, but also follow up with queries about her fiancé, whether he’s a lawyer, and yeah, how she managed (or plans to) juggle marriage and a 90-hour work-week. If he talks about sports, you can tell him about your favorite sport, but quickly shift the focus on him by asking the extent of his participation, presently and during his earlier years. Even the nightmare question of “Well, do you have any questions for me?” can be easily deflected by queries about the interviewer’s past experience, both ancient and recent, his lifestyle, his career path (whether he started at the firm as an SA or lateralled over), his reasons for choosing the firm……. You get the idea…….focus on them, them, them..

I would estimate that the amount of time spent on talking about the firm or practice areas is less than 10-15 percent (5 minutes out of 30. The rest was general non-legal conversation.)
Of the 8 CB’s I went through, I can say that the most positive ones were two firms that didn’t give me any advance notice of whom I’d be meeting that day.
Hope this helps…..including those still going through their CB's

I don't really agree with this, though I think it is the TLS CW.

[Flips88]

I don't really agree with this, though I think it is the TLS CW.

I'm mostly wondering why this person answered a question about whether anyone was still waiting to hear from OCI screeners with blanket advice about how to do a callback....oh and did you hear they did 8 callbacks?

[IAFG]

I don't really agree with this, though I think it is the TLS CW.

I'm mostly wondering why this person answered a question about whether anyone was still waiting to hear from OCI screeners with blanket advice about how to do a callback....oh and did you hear they did 8 callbacks?

I think it's basically a guide to OCI when you're in the top 5%.

[greenchair]

Another tip: If you are interviewing at a satellite office, DO NOT rely on the firm's website / attorney bios when you are figuring out the office's strong practice areas.

More than once I have heard of someone get burned by talking about how interested they are in X practice group because it was advertised on a satellite office's website and the interviewer goes, "Well, that work is mostly out of our [other] office." You are basically screwed at that point. No digging yourself out now.

Personally, I've run into situations where I ask the interviewer to tell me more about X practice area because it was mentioned in his/her attorney bio, but the attorney responds, "Wait, that's in my profile? I did like one case on that 3 years ago with the [other] office. We don't do that in this office very often." This is easier to dig yourself out of, because you didn't just profess your undying love for that practice area, but it's not ideal.

Firms are trying to market themselves, so they will stretch the truth to appear more versatile for the client. Do not be fooled!

Best solution? Network with a junior associate (alum from your school?) and ask that person what the real strengths are, and what area looks to be consistently hiring new associates. Other options, but still slightly risky: NALP Directory practice area page and Chambers rankings. I would always feel most comfortable asking a junior associate about it, because just because there are 25 attorneys in "real estate" you have no idea what kind of real estate transactions they do. Just because someone is Chambers ranked band two in estate planning, doesn't mean the office actively looks for new associates in that department.

[Fabulist]

Recruiters Hate Him: Check out these two weird tips for getting a job!

[IAFG]

Recruiters Hate Him: Check out these two weird tips for getting a job!

LOL

[Anonymous User]

So, what's the consensus on this year's OCI so far? To me, it seems that NU got hurt relative to the past 2 years, and the process drawn out over a longer period of agony, regardless of ding or offer. Only consolation is that we're fr from alone.

[Samara]

So, what's the consensus on this year's OCI so far? To me, it seems that NU got hurt relative to the past 2 years, and the process drawn out over a longer period of agony, regardless of ding or offer. Only consolation is that we're fr from alone.

What are you basing this statement on?

[Anonymous User]

So, what's the consensus on this year's OCI so far? To me, it seems that NU got hurt relative to the past 2 years, and the process drawn out over a longer period of agony, regardless of ding or offer. Only consolation is that we're fr from alone.

What are you basing this statement on?

Been checking out OCI blogs for CCN. Quite a few ppl have expressed shock there, especially at NYU, certainly not what they expected for their GPA's. (their OCI is about a week earlier than ours).
As for us, the chatter on NU OCI 2012 blog was a bit cheerier last year by this time. Personally, I was just hoping that NU would do better, school spirit and all.

[Samara]

So, what's the consensus on this year's OCI so far? To me, it seems that NU got hurt relative to the past 2 years, and the process drawn out over a longer period of agony, regardless of ding or offer. Only consolation is that we're fr from alone.

What are you basing this statement on?

Been checking out OCI blogs for CCN. Quite a few ppl have expressed shock there, especially at NYU, certainly not what they expected for their GPA's. (their OCI is about a week earlier than ours).
As for us, the chatter on NU OCI 2012 blog was a bit cheerier last year by this time. Personally, I was just hoping that NU would do better, school spirit and all.

It seems like people are a little more sensitive this year to over sharing their success. I wouldn't read too much into what is or isn't being posted here.