Keg Gives Advice on Getting a BigLaw SA Post-OCI Forum

[keg411]

Bump for people freaking out about OCI.

[ambiTTTTion]

tag. Thanks for doing this!

[vizio24]

Bump for people freaking out about OCI.

[keg411]

Bump for people freaking out about OCI.

Yup I'm freaking out about OCI. Had 4 callbacks so far, and a few more to go. I go to USC and am interviewing only in LA, so obviously a bit different than NY.

Pulling my hair out waiting for offers or dings after callbacks.

You can always mail, mail, and mail some more until you get an offer .

[keg411]

Bump for OCI's that are ending.
Remember it's still August -- for reference purposes, I didn't get my job until October. So don't think you struck out yet!

[stewie27]

Did you send targeted cover letters when you mailed these firms? And, did you ever follow-up by phone, or just email?

[keg411]

Did you send targeted cover letters when you mailed these firms? And, did you ever follow-up by phone, or just email?

1) Yes, I sent targeted cover letters.
2) No, I never followed-up by phone. For me, the follow-ups were more about sending my documents to the firms again in case they were still looking for people.

[Anonymous User]

Does it make any sense to apply to a different office of a firm you have either been rejected from or heard silence from? For example, you applied to the DC office but are interested in their other offices as well?

[Anonymous User]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I am in the transfer boat as well and have yet to get a call back from OCI. I have just a few questions: Did you mass e-mail or snail mail? What about the online resume collect system firms have? Did you submit your resume through that?

THANKS AGAIN!

[Anonymous User]

T14 transfer here. I missed OCI at my new school. Still did about 15 screeners. 3 Rejects. Still waiting on the rest but its brutal.

Keg - can you explain the circumstances in which you got your job in October? How does a NALP firm (or a firm large enough to have a summer associate class) make it all the way to October without filling its class?

[keg411]

Does it make any sense to apply to a different office of a firm you have either been rejected from or heard silence from? For example, you applied to the DC office but are interested in their other offices as well?

It depends if the firm does all of their hiring by bulk or by office. If there is a different recruiting contact for a different office, then by all means, feel free to apply. The worst that can happen is that you get another rejection.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I am in the transfer boat as well and have yet to get a call back from OCI. I have just a few questions: Did you mass e-mail or snail mail? What about the online resume collect system firms have? Did you submit your resume through that?

THANKS AGAIN!

1) E-mail
2) I think the online resume collect systems are terrible, and I had zero luck with them. I went through the process anyway, but it seemed pretty worthless. You're best bet is to try to get the recruiting contact and by-pass the system, but in my experience, even that didn't work. Or even better, hope that your career services office has good connections with the firms.

[keg411]

T14 transfer here. I missed OCI at my new school. Still did about 15 screeners. 3 Rejects. Still waiting on the rest but its brutal.

Keg - can you explain the circumstances in which you got your job in October? How does a NALP firm (or a firm large enough to have a summer associate class) make it all the way to October without filling its class?

Why did you transfer if you were missing OCI? I'll be honest, that wasn't a great decision. And if you knew you were missing OCI, you should've been mailing a lot sooner than now.

You'd also be surprised how many firms make it to October and haven't filled their classes. The job I ended up accepting I got through career services. The firm contacted OCS looking for resumes and career services reached out to me about the opening. I e-mailed the firm, stating career services told me to e-mail them, and got a CB probably about a 1/2 hour or so after the e-mail. However, I also did another CB on the same trip -- one of the firms that I had e-mailed/followed up with called me the same day for a CB! So that's at least two firms that hadn't filled their class in early October last year. And neither of these firms have super-huge class sizes.

[Anonymous User]

T14 transfer here. I missed OCI at my new school. Still did about 15 screeners. 3 Rejects. Still waiting on the rest but its brutal.

Keg - can you explain the circumstances in which you got your job in October? How does a NALP firm (or a firm large enough to have a summer associate class) make it all the way to October without filling its class?

Why did you transfer if you were missing OCI? I'll be honest, that wasn't a great decision. And if you knew you were missing OCI, you should've been mailing a lot sooner than now.

You'd also be surprised how many firms make it to October and haven't filled their classes. The job I ended up accepting I got through career services. The firm contacted OCS looking for resumes and career services reached out to me about the opening. I e-mailed the firm, stating career services told me to e-mail them, and got a CB probably about a 1/2 hour or so after the e-mail. However, I also did another CB on the same trip -- one of the firms that I had e-mailed/followed up with called me the same day for a CB! So that's at least two firms that hadn't filled their class in early October last year. And neither of these firms have super-huge class sizes.

Never said I didn't mail earlier. How else do you think I got 15 screeners without OCI? I transferred because I was able to interview with most of the firms in my school's market any way and the cost was the same. Kind of a no brainer actually.

Interesting stuff about firms going all the way to October. Good to know.

[traehekat]

T14 transfer here. I missed OCI at my new school. Still did about 15 screeners. 3 Rejects. Still waiting on the rest but its brutal.

Keg - can you explain the circumstances in which you got your job in October? How does a NALP firm (or a firm large enough to have a summer associate class) make it all the way to October without filling its class?

Just to add to this, I didn't get my first offer from a Vault firm until November. You have to keep plugging away and checking in with outstanding application. Don't think that just because it is September, October, etc. that all the opportunities for gainful employment are out the window - they aren't.

[Anonymous User]

also got my first two offers in October, at a v10 and a v25.

[Anonymous User]

I also got my offers late in the game. Don't listen to us and get complacent waiting on CBs thinking that there's plenty of time, but try to chill out.

[Anonymous User]

Its nearing two weeks since my OCI and I still haven't heard back from a number of screeners. Should I follow up with the recruiter or the interviewers next week?

If a firm is just really slow and hasn't made a decision yet or I am on the maybe list, is there any way following up with them could hurt my chances at a CB?

[rayiner]

Great advice here Keg, just great.

[Anonymous User]

2) I think the online resume collect systems are terrible, and I had zero luck with them. I went through the process anyway, but it seemed pretty worthless. You're best bet is to try to get the recruiting contact and by-pass the system, but in my experience, even that didn't work. Or even better, hope that your career services office has good connections with the firms.

Do you mean by this the online applications leading to the lawcruit.net sites or am I missing something?

[keg411]

2) I think the online resume collect systems are terrible, and I had zero luck with them. I went through the process anyway, but it seemed pretty worthless. You're best bet is to try to get the recruiting contact and by-pass the system, but in my experience, even that didn't work. Or even better, hope that your career services office has good connections with the firms.

Do you mean by this the online applications leading to the lawcruit.net sites or am I missing something?

Yeah things like that. When you have to fill out their application online rather than just e-mailing your resume/cover letter/transcript to recruiting.

[Anonymous User]

Did you ever receive any responses from following up with OCI firms where you dropped off your resume at their hospitality suite, but didn't get a screener?

[Anonymous User]

I got rejected by a firm's office in CA at OCI, then applied to their office on the east coast and they gave me a CB.

Do you think the firm on the east coast even knows that I did a screener with their CA office? Will they ask about OCI at my school and if I interviewed with one of their offices? How do I answer these questions?

The office on the east coast is in my hometown so I'd be happy to go there, but I interviewed with their office out west so that looks kinda weird.

[Anonymous User]

Where do you guys find a good list of firms to mass mail? (looking at CA)

[keg411]

Did you ever receive any responses from following up with OCI firms where you dropped off your resume at their hospitality suite, but didn't get a screener?

I received responses, but they were all rejections. I kind of screwed up the hospitality suite process, though.

[keg411]

I got rejected by a firm's office in CA at OCI, then applied to their office on the east coast and they gave me a CB.

Do you think the firm on the east coast even knows that I did a screener with their CA office? Will they ask about OCI at my school and if I interviewed with one of their offices? How do I answer these questions?

The office on the east coast is in my hometown so I'd be happy to go there, but I interviewed with their office out west so that looks kinda weird.

Sorry, but I have no clue. Try asking in one of the attorney threads.