Secondary market and significant other Forum

[Anonymous User]

I attend YH with my BF. We are each originally from secondary markets (Chicago, Texas). We aren't sure where we want to end up, but when OCI comes around we will each be bidding on firms from the other's home city. Without ties to those markets, how should we inform interviewers that we want to work there because of our SO? We are not engaged and I'm worried interviewers will be skeptical. Thank you.

[BarbellDreams]

I see no problem telling them you plan on getting engaged after graduation (this doesn't have to be the truth...) and are looking to settle down in his hometown.

[09042014]

I attend YH with my BF. We are each originally from secondary markets (Chicago, Texas). We aren't sure where we want to end up, but when OCI comes around we will each be bidding on firms from the other's home city. Without ties to those markets, how should we inform interviewers that we want to work there because of our SO? We are not engaged and I'm worried interviewers will be skeptical. Thank you.

I see no problem telling them you plan on getting engaged after graduation (this doesn't have to be the truth...) and are looking to settle down in his hometown.

Just say you are engaged.

[RVP11]

I attend YH with my BF. We are each originally from secondary markets (Chicago, Texas). We aren't sure where we want to end up, but when OCI comes around we will each be bidding on firms from the other's home city. Without ties to those markets, how should we inform interviewers that we want to work there because of our SO? We are not engaged and I'm worried interviewers will be skeptical. Thank you.

I see no problem telling them you plan on getting engaged after graduation (this doesn't have to be the truth...) and are looking to settle down in his hometown.

Just say you are engaged.

This. Either get engaged or say you are. Firms won't take "boyfriend/girlfriend" seriously.

Also, Chicago is not a secondary market.

[jpSartre]

Also, Chicago is not a secondary market.

tyft

[09042014]

I attend YH with my BF. We are each originally from secondary markets (Chicago, Texas). We aren't sure where we want to end up, but when OCI comes around we will each be bidding on firms from the other's home city. Without ties to those markets, how should we inform interviewers that we want to work there because of our SO? We are not engaged and I'm worried interviewers will be skeptical. Thank you.

I see no problem telling them you plan on getting engaged after graduation (this doesn't have to be the truth...) and are looking to settle down in his hometown.

Just say you are engaged.

This. Either get engaged or say you are. Firms won't take "boyfriend/girlfriend" seriously.

Also, Chicago is not a secondary market.

It's not but it's a market that will want ties.

[Master Tofu]

I attend YH with my BF. We are each originally from secondary markets (Chicago, Texas). We aren't sure where we want to end up, but when OCI comes around we will each be bidding on firms from the other's home city. Without ties to those markets, how should we inform interviewers that we want to work there because of our SO? We are not engaged and I'm worried interviewers will be skeptical. Thank you.

I see no problem telling them you plan on getting engaged after graduation (this doesn't have to be the truth...) and are looking to settle down in his hometown.

Just say you are engaged.

This. Either get engaged or say you are. Firms won't take "boyfriend/girlfriend" seriously.

Also, Chicago is not a secondary market.

What is the basis of the bolded? Are you speaking from experience?

[pehaigllleises]

I'm from NYC, but I'm a Chicago student. I would tell them that my husband, to whom I was getting married / just married within 5 days of any given OCI interview, was in Chicago for a six year residency. I explained all the reasons why we both chose to leave New York to start our careers in Chicago. I still got some sass from a couple Chicago firms re: insufficient ties. I thought that was ridiculous. To be honest, if I was an interviewer, right or (more likely) judgmental and wrong, I wouldn't take the boyfriend/girlfriend thing seriously. Borrow an engagement ring or refer to him/her as your partner.

[General Tso]

interviewers are forbidden to ask questions about marital status. just tell them you are moving with your "partner" and they are unlikely to delve deeper into the issue.

[Kohinoor]

interviewers are forbidden to ask questions about marital status. just tell them you are moving with your "partner" and they are unlikely to delve deeper into the issue.

They're also unlikely to think that your partner is your spouse so you're right back where you started.

[gabbagabba]

interviewers are forbidden to ask questions about marital status. just tell them you are moving with your "partner" and they are unlikely to delve deeper into the issue.

There's a lot of things interviewers are "forbidden" to do, but they do it anyway.

If you can, try applying for state citizenship, joining the local bar, say you're engaged and want to settle down in the area, etc \

[Anonymous User]

Not sure if my situation is typical, but I had no problem establishing ties to Texas based on my boyfriend's ties to Texas.

My boyfriend had a 1L SA in Houston, and we both decided we wanted to go there after graduation. He didn't really have any ties to Houston other than the 1L SA, and I'm from NYC.

I thought hard about lying and saying we were engaged, but I eventually decided against it because I thought it would be awkward to pretend to be engaged during OCI and then have to keep pretending over the summer and even as a first year associate if we weren't actually engaged by then.

Instead, I just met with some firms while visiting him in Houston last summer to show my interest and made my connection clear in cover letters (I used "long-term significant other" or something like that). When I interviewed and got asked "Why Houston?", I went into all my other reasons for wanting to go there and then added in the stuff about my boyfriend at the end. I got 7 CBs and several offers. I'm top 15% at MVP.

[Anonymous User]

To the OP- what a delightful thread to read. You are not at the fiance stage, but you are already thinking about the long term future. I wish I know where I stand with my SO. We are both shy.

Good luck with OCI. I am sure you (and your SO) will do well.

[Anonymous User]

Either get engaged or say you are. Firms won't take "boyfriend/girlfriend" seriously.

Completely untrue in my experience. And I was in a much smaller market that probably cares way more about ties than Texas and Chicago. I know nothing about Texas and Chicago so I can't say for sure.

But if OP wants to go out of her way to emphasize seriousness without lying, she can say they've been together X years. She can also say (since it sounds like it'd be true here) that they plan on getting married after graduation.

Putting aside the ethics of lying that you're engaged, I'd advise against it on purely practical grounds. It's not going to be a one-time lie because you're going to work there for the whole summer and possibly after graduation. You will be not only working, but drinking and socializing with these people and sometimes be invited to bring each other along. There's a chance one or more people at the firm will know people in you or your BF's (whosever hometown it is) family or social circle. You may even have someone from your law school in the SA class.

There's really very little upside to the lie that I can see, and a large potential downside.