Bad Interview Moments Forum

[El Pollito]

lol jfc

try not to schedule stuff on the same day as flying in general, unless it's before a flight

[Anonymous User]

Headed into a screener with the most prestigious firm at my regional (t-25) school's OCI. Partner 1 seems like a pretty chill older guy. Partner 2 is a stereotype -- maybe early 40's, a brown mop of hair, a haggard face with a reddish tint, fidgety.

The old guy talks about the firm for maybe two minutes, then the young guy cuts him off and goes on some tangent about his practice area and his career. Mercifully, he finally shuts up. It's my turn to ask questions.

"I'm interested in your [practice area]. Specifically, [some work they've done for their biggest client]."

Partner 2's timer finally goes off. He explodes, "WE DON'T REPRESENT [biggest client who apparently JUST left them]. DID YOU KNOW THAT WE ARE THE BIGGEST LAWFIRM IN [MARKET]? WE DON'T NEED [CLIENT]! WE DON'T NEED THEM! WE DO OTHER WORK! WE HAVE [#] ATTORNEYS! WE'VE BEEN THE BEST FIRM HERE FOR 100 YEARS! WE DO A HELL OF A LOT MORE THAN JUST WORK FOR ONE CLIENT!"

I'm tempted to walk out, but out of respect to my CSO and out of my own curiosity, I stay and decide to ask the biggest troll question I can muster off the cuff. "I must have been mistaken that you represent them. What's this other work that you do? -- I don't believe I'm familiar with it."

Pretty sure the dude is about to go postal when old partner quickly intervenes, seemingly aware of my instigation and recognizing that this thing is going down the shitter in a hurry. He politely answers the question about other practice groups, then wraps up the screener about halfway through the allotted time. Middle-aged dude didn't say anything else after his blow-up, just sat there steaming for the final 3-4 minutes.

(No CB.)

[Anonymous User]

CB Lunch, Sushi place, V5 NY. Went with two associates - proceeded to knock the wasabi onto my shirt & then in my haste to clean it up spill my water glass onto one of the associates.

.... Day later, got the offer. Answered the partner calling with "wait... really?".

TLDR: I'm socially inept but stumbled into an offer. Yay!

[Anonymous User]

Accidentally said "jerking off" during a callback interview a few years ago.

[Hikikomorist]

Accidentally said "jerking off" during a callback interview a few years ago.

Context?

[SplitMyPants]

lol jfc

try not to schedule stuff on the same day as flying in general, unless it's before a flight

I scheduled way too many out-and-backs last year before I learned to schedule a CB but wait to actually book flights until you have a fuller picture of the rest of your week... Learn from my mistakes, 2Ls.

[Anonymous User]

Accidentally said "jerking off" during a callback interview a few years ago.

Context?

Was in a panel interview with 4 or 5 attorneys, they asked me why I was able to succeed in law school. I took a few years after undergrad before law school, and was comparing myself to K-JDs. I meant to say something like, "while other students were still treating it like undergrad and joking around, I was focused, yadda yadda yadda." Instead of "joking around", I accidentally said jerking off. The one female attorney on the panel didn't seem to appreciate it.

[rpupkin]

Accidentally said "jerking off" during a callback interview a few years ago.

Context?

Was in a panel interview with 4 or 5 attorneys, they asked me why I was able to succeed in law school. I took a few years after undergrad before law school, and was comparing myself to K-JDs. I meant to say something like, "while other students were still treating it like undergrad and joking around, I was focused, yadda yadda yadda." Instead of "joking around", I accidentally said jerking off. The one female attorney on the panel didn't seem to appreciate it.

For what it's worth, it wouldn't have been much better if you had said "joking around." It's generally not a good idea to promote oneself by pointing out the weaknesses of others.

[El Pollito]

^ "jerking off" is hardly the problem there

[Anonymous User]

^ "jerking off" is hardly the problem there

It rarely is.

Anyway, during one callback I had, the last interviewer of my day was clearly having some kind of deep personal issues. He kept staring out his window and trailing off, saying things like, "I just don't know..." and "Sometimes things just get to you..." I was vamping like crazy, trying to fill the space, and just got increasingly flustered. It's been a couple weeks and I haven't heard back. On one hand, I'd be pissed if that one interview sank things; on the other hand, maybe I dodged a bullet.

[Anonymous User]

Last interview of OCI, in the last time slot on the last day. Interviewer is probably as tired as I am. I spent a solid 5 minutes rambling about how I had to miss the previous night's reception because my spouse was working late and I needed to take care of the dog, because we didn't want it to pee in the house. the words "furbaby" and "dog parent" were used. CB.

[rpupkin]

Last interview of OCI, in the last time slot on the last day. Interviewer is probably as tired as I am. I spent a solid 5 minutes rambling about how I had to miss the previous night's reception because my spouse was working late and I needed to take care of the dog, because we didn't want it to pee in the house. the words "furbaby" and "dog parent" were used. CB.

You should post this in a thread about "good interview moments." Seriously, this is the kind of conversation you want to have during an interview.

[Anonymous User]

lol jfc

try not to schedule stuff on the same day as flying in general, unless it's before a flight

I scheduled way too many out-and-backs last year before I learned to schedule a CB but wait to actually book flights until you have a fuller picture of the rest of your week... Learn from my mistakes, 2Ls.

I didn't do out and backs but I still second this advice. I had two weeks last fall of: flying to CB city on Sunday, CB and flying back on Monday, flying to CB city Tuesday, CB and flying back Wednesday, flying to CB city Thursday, CB and flying back Friday. Wish I would have handled it better logistically.

[GoneSouth]

lol jfc

try not to schedule stuff on the same day as flying in general, unless it's before a flight

I scheduled way too many out-and-backs last year before I learned to schedule a CB but wait to actually book flights until you have a fuller picture of the rest of your week... Learn from my mistakes, 2Ls.

I didn't do out and backs but I still second this advice. I had two weeks last fall of: flying to CB city on Sunday, CB and flying back on Monday, flying to CB city Tuesday, CB and flying back Wednesday, flying to CB city Thursday, CB and flying back Friday. Wish I would have handled it better logistically.

Wait why? Even though you screwed up booking travel in the first place, why didn't you just call the firms afterwards and tell them to cancel some of the flights. At least they could have gotten something back out of them

[Anonymous User]

Got the Asian glow at the firm reception the day before the screening interview smh

[Anonymous User]

I didn't do out and backs but I still second this advice. I had two weeks last fall of: flying to CB city on Sunday, CB and flying back on Monday, flying to CB city Tuesday, CB and flying back Wednesday, flying to CB city Thursday, CB and flying back Friday. Wish I would have handled it better logistically.

Wait why? Even though you screwed up booking travel in the first place, why didn't you just call the firms afterwards and tell them to cancel some of the flights. At least they could have gotten something back out of them

I initially thought it was a good idea because I could go to some classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In hindsight... LOL at class in Aug/Sept of 2L. I should have just flown up Sunday and stayed in the city all week when I had three interviews M-W-F, even with dead days there with no interviewing.

I think I also had trepidation about asking the firms to accommodate me because I believed the standard to be one hotel night per interview. Three interviews means Sunday, Monday, Tuesday night... but I would also need Wednesday and Thursday. Again in hindsight, the firms obviously would have accommodated two additional hotel nights in exchange for saving two round trip flights, but as a neurotic interviewing 2L, I didn't want to make any waves. I was offered one hotel night plus one round trip per interview, so I took that deal and made it work.

On the bright side though I quickly racked up a bunch of frequent flier miles on a major carrier and they bumped me to their top status level for the first six months of 2016. But now I am back to living like a peasant in coach.

[RaceJudicata]

...and back to the bad interview stories. Have to be some good ones from this OCI cycle... Anyone spring for the 5 course meal this go-round?

[barkschool]

I want to hear about the inability for 2Ls to ask if associates would like any bread

[Winter is Coming]

Got the Asian glow at the firm reception the day before the screening interview smh

We call this the "Irish tan" in my neck of the woods. #yournenotalone

[Anonymous User]

OCI screener: Managing partner asks why I chose my 1L summer internship so I tell him that my professor worked on a particular case which he discussed in class and got me interested in this particular area of law. Partner then asks what side my professor worked on and I tell him prosecution. He then starts freaking out a little bit and not quite yells "is your professor ashamed of himself? X people lost their jobs because of that case!"
No callback

[stoopkid13]

Got the Asian glow at the firm reception the day before the screening interview smh

We call this the "Irish tan" in my neck of the woods. #yournenotalone

Take some pepcid 20 min beforehand.

[Anonymous User]

First screener, happens to be with my first choice firm. Hand the interviewer my resume and do the usual "the only updates are journal and [other somewhat minor change]"

She says "oh hold on let me write [other change] down." I'm thinking WHY write it down it's right there on the page that I just handed you.

But of course later, when I checked the resumes that I had printed out, the journal was there, but the other update wasn't. Turns out I had updated it, printed a bunch and forgotten to save before closing. So when I opened the file and saw journal I assumed it was the fully updated version and just printed more.

No CB.

[Anonymous User]

First screener, happens to be with my first choice firm. Hand the interviewer my resume and do the usual "the only updates are journal and [other somewhat minor change]"

She says "oh hold on let me write [other change] down." I'm thinking WHY write it down it's right there on the page that I just handed you.

But of course later, when I checked the resumes that I had printed out, the journal was there, but the other update wasn't. Turns out I had updated it, printed a bunch and forgotten to save before closing. So when I opened the file and saw journal I assumed it was the fully updated version and just printed more.

No CB.

Had a similar issue with probably half of my interviews. Not sure if I should reach out to recruiting with the correct copy.

[Anonymous User]

Strictly speaking this did not happen during an OCI or callback; it happened during the "call" itself. I forgot about the time difference between the east and the west coast, assumed no firm will extend a cb at that time, and forgot to check where the call was from because I was right on the phone and picked it up really quickly...literally screamed excitedly when my interviewer said "this is xx from [my dream firm]."
Now I am reading the career office's advice: "make sure you are ready to speak in a professional way, in a quiet place, and are not caught off-guard."

[El Pollito]

Strictly speaking this did not happen during an OCI or callback; it happened during the "call" itself. I forgot about the time difference between the east and the west coast, assumed no firm will extend a cb at that time, and forgot to check where the call was from because I was right on the phone and picked it up really quickly...literally screamed excitedly when my interviewer said "this is xx from [my dream firm]."
Now I am reading the career office's advice: "make sure you are ready to speak in a professional way, in a quiet place, and are not caught off-guard."

lol if the person who called you isn't a jerk this is probably a good thing