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I understand that now is the best time to start mass mailing firms. I am also planning to mass mail several firms that will be at my OCI. When should I do it?

Now?
Wait and see if I get selected for an interview and mass mail the rest.
Wait until after OCI as there is a possibility of snapping up canceled interview slots during the OCI week.

Sorry if this has been answered.

DeSimone wrote:I understand that now is the best time to start mass mailing firms. I am also planning to mass mail several firms that will be at my OCI. When should I do it?

Now?
Wait and see if I get selected for an interview and mass mail the rest.
Wait until after OCI as there is a possibility of snapping up canceled interview slots during the OCI week.

Sorry if this has been answered.

You shouldn't be mailing firms that will be coming to your OCI. This has been confirmed 100 times over by pretty much every school's career services office, as well as a number of firms themselves. Only do this if the firm is coming, but not the specific office you desire.

dakatz wrote:

DeSimone wrote:I understand that now is the best time to start mass mailing firms. I am also planning to mass mail several firms that will be at my OCI. When should I do it?

Now?
Wait and see if I get selected for an interview and mass mail the rest.
Wait until after OCI as there is a possibility of snapping up canceled interview slots during the OCI week.

Sorry if this has been answered.

You shouldn't be mailing firms that will be coming to your OCI. This has been confirmed 100 times over by pretty much every school's career services office, as well as a number of firms themselves. Only do this if the firm is coming, but not the specific office you desire.

The OCS at the school OP is likely referring to gives really really conflicting advice on this, which is why I'd bet OP is asking.
They confused the ever loving crap out of me as well.

you should certainly mail firms that are coming to your school for OCI. Career services discourages this (though they don't all) because it makes the recruiting process a mad rush to mail as soon as possible. Firms by contrast could give a fuck how they get your resume, they just want to hire good candidates.

luthersloan wrote:you should certainly mail firms that are coming to your school for OCI. Career services discourages this (though they don't all) because it makes the recruiting process a mad rush to mail as soon as possible. Firms by contrast could give a fuck how they get your resume, they just want to hire good candidates.

This logic MIGHT apply at a school with a pure lottery OCI. However, if you are at a pre-select school it seems totally pointless. If you're not one of their top 19/38 or however many students they're interviewing at your school, there's no way they wanna arrange an interview through mailing.

luthersloan wrote:you should certainly mail firms that are coming to your school for OCI. Career services discourages this (though they don't all) because it makes the recruiting process a mad rush to mail as soon as possible. Firms by contrast could give a fuck how they get your resume, they just want to hire good candidates.

So when should I do it?

Pure lottery btw.

Mass mail them. The career office only tells you not to because its what is best for the SCHOOL not YOU. It essentially gives you an advantage to be considered by all the firms coming rather than some.

My CSO told me it's fine to do it even if the firm is coming as long as it's a secondary market office that you live in/near. That way, if you get an interview out of the way and they like you, you can schedule a call back while you're still home over the summer, saving the firm from having to fly you out and pay for a trip.

Lets say I just transferred into a school that is also my home market. So pretty much all firms coming to OCI are all the big ones I'm interested in. The system is all lottery. You seriously think its a good idea to mass mail these firms a month in advance, even though a good chunk might end up interviewing through the lottery-based OCI?

So let's say I'm at a school with a pure lottery system and missed some firms I'd like to have interviewed with at OCI. The advice you guys are giving is to mail them anyway. But:

1. Isn't the question on their mind going to be, "How much could this candidate want to work here if they didn't bid us high enough to get an interview?"
2. Are the odds any better of getting an interview via mailing than hospitality suites? (Assuming they have them.)

Anonymous User wrote:So let's say I'm at a school with a pure lottery system and missed some firms I'd like to have interviewed with at OCI. The advice you guys are giving is to mail them anyway. But:

1. Isn't the question on their mind going to be, "How much could this candidate want to work here if they didn't bid us high enough to get an interview?"
2. Are the odds any better of getting an interview via mailing than hospitality suites? (Assuming they have them.)

After you get your interview schedule, you can e-mail the contact listed on symplicity explaining that you didn't get an interview but you'd love to interview with the firm blah blah reasons why you like firm and see if they can squeeze you into their schedule. Attach a resume and transcript in this e-mail as well.

starchinkilt wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:So let's say I'm at a school with a pure lottery system and missed some firms I'd like to have interviewed with at OCI. The advice you guys are giving is to mail them anyway. But:

1. Isn't the question on their mind going to be, "How much could this candidate want to work here if they didn't bid us high enough to get an interview?"
2. Are the odds any better of getting an interview via mailing than hospitality suites? (Assuming they have them.)

After you get your interview schedule, you can e-mail the contact listed on symplicity explaining that you didn't get an interview but you'd love to interview with the firm blah blah reasons why you like firm and see if they can squeeze you into their schedule. Attach a resume and transcript in this e-mail as well.

Makes sense to me. Absent narrow scenarios related to geography I'd never recommend contacting a firm you have bid on for an interview at OCI in advance of getting the results.

starchinkilt wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:So let's say I'm at a school with a pure lottery system and missed some firms I'd like to have interviewed with at OCI. The advice you guys are giving is to mail them anyway. But:

1. Isn't the question on their mind going to be, "How much could this candidate want to work here if they didn't bid us high enough to get an interview?"
2. Are the odds any better of getting an interview via mailing than hospitality suites? (Assuming they have them.)

After you get your interview schedule, you can e-mail the contact listed on symplicity explaining that you didn't get an interview but you'd love to interview with the firm blah blah reasons why you like firm and see if they can squeeze you into their schedule. Attach a resume and transcript in this e-mail as well.

This is credited.. Last year there were something like 10 firms that came to OCI at my school that were interviewing 3Ls at all (I wanted a different firm), and I didn't get any interviews through the lottery. Through emailing, I managed to scrape up nearly 15 interviews at OCI at times before the first time slot, during lunches, after the last slot, an open slot (if they had one), hospitality suites, etc. One recruiter just met up with me for drinks in the hotel bar well after OCI hours. Some firms couldn't squeeze me in at OCI, but just did over the phone interviews. Emailing definitely can get you interviews outside the OCI lottery.

--LinkRemoved--

"It's about getting into the game early" brah

i have read through other threads on this as well and i'm just looking for some clarification...

during 1L, do you mass mail firms before or after oci? i have read that you mail firms that will not be at oci before and mail the ones that will be at oci and you did not get to meet with after oci.

thanks!

Peace of Mind wrote:i have read through other threads on this as well and i'm just looking for some clarification...

during 1L, do you mass mail firms before or after oci? i have read that you mail firms that will not be at oci before and mail the ones that will be at oci and you did not get to meet with after oci.

thanks!

1L year:

Most schools have no 1L OCI, or such a paltry one as to be the equivalent of none. Mass mailing is the only way to get jobs, and per the NALP rules it can't begin before December 1st.


2L year:

For the most part, people don't mail firms that come to OCI. That's a fairly fringe strategy. When people refer to mass mailing, it's usually sending out applications to firms that aren't coming to OCI, and it's usually done before OCI. It can be done whenever though, and people who struggle in the fall will often be mass mailing in one form or another well into the Spring.

thesealocust wrote:

Peace of Mind wrote:i have read through other threads on this as well and i'm just looking for some clarification...

during 1L, do you mass mail firms before or after oci? i have read that you mail firms that will not be at oci before and mail the ones that will be at oci and you did not get to meet with after oci.

thanks!

1L year:

Most schools have no 1L OCI, or such a paltry one as to be the equivalent of none. Mass mailing is the only way to get jobs, and per the NALP rules it can't begin before December 1st.


2L year:

For the most part, people don't mail firms that come to OCI. That's a fairly fringe strategy. When people refer to mass mailing, it's usually sending out applications to firms that aren't coming to OCI, and it's usually done before OCI. It can be done whenever though, and people who struggle in the fall will often be mass mailing in one form or another well into the Spring.

great! thank you for clarifying!

for pre-select schools, i am under the impresion that the school weeds out candidates. i applied through my school for a prestigious fall internship and automatically received a rejection. they obviously didnt send my resume. i then applied to the place myself and got the internship. i think they do this for OCI as well. which is why i will be applying directly to all firms.

DeSimone wrote:Pure lottery btw.

do it after the lottery runs and when the firms get their schedule and only if you REALLY want the firm and have a shot at it

this is what our OCS told us

Anonymous User wrote:for pre-select schools, i am under the impresion that the school weeds out candidates. i applied through my school for a prestigious fall internship and automatically received a rejection. they obviously didnt send my resume. i then applied to the place myself and got the internship. i think they do this for OCI as well. which is why i will be applying directly to all firms.

This is very strange, and not how it works at most schools. Firms choose who they will and will not interview.

thesealocust wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:for pre-select schools, i am under the impresion that the school weeds out candidates. i applied through my school for a prestigious fall internship and automatically received a rejection. they obviously didnt send my resume. i then applied to the place myself and got the internship. i think they do this for OCI as well. which is why i will be applying directly to all firms.

This is very strange, and not how it works at most schools. Firms choose who they will and will not interview.

I had spoken to a recruiter that I know, and he said "send me your resume directly, b/c I dont think i get to pick everyone we interview at ____." I think this may be common for lower ranked schools that use pre-select system for OCI. It is shady, but it kind of makes sense. When the requriements are top 10% or top 15%, firms probably dont want to receive 200 resumes from students with no shot?

Anonymous User wrote:

thesealocust wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:for pre-select schools, i am under the impresion that the school weeds out candidates. i applied through my school for a prestigious fall internship and automatically received a rejection. they obviously didnt send my resume. i then applied to the place myself and got the internship. i think they do this for OCI as well. which is why i will be applying directly to all firms.

This is very strange, and not how it works at most schools. Firms choose who they will and will not interview.

I had spoken to a recruiter that I know, and he said "send me your resume directly, b/c I dont think i get to pick everyone we interview at ____." I think this may be common for lower ranked schools that use pre-select system for OCI. It is shady, but it kind of makes sense. When the requriements are top 10% or top 15%, firms probably dont want to receive 200 resumes from students with no shot?

I've never heard of it before, and I'd be surprised if it happened at more than a few shady schools. Investigate that shit / report it to ATL.

thesealocust wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

thesealocust wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:for pre-select schools, i am under the impresion that the school weeds out candidates. i applied through my school for a prestigious fall internship and automatically received a rejection. they obviously didnt send my resume. i then applied to the place myself and got the internship. i think they do this for OCI as well. which is why i will be applying directly to all firms.

This is very strange, and not how it works at most schools. Firms choose who they will and will not interview.

I had spoken to a recruiter that I know, and he said "send me your resume directly, b/c I dont think i get to pick everyone we interview at ____." I think this may be common for lower ranked schools that use pre-select system for OCI. It is shady, but it kind of makes sense. When the requriements are top 10% or top 15%, firms probably dont want to receive 200 resumes from students with no shot?

I've never heard of it before, and I'd be surprised if it happened at more than a few shady schools. Investigate that shit / report it to ATL.

Definitely. That's ridiculous--I'd be livid if our career services did that!

thesealocust wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:for pre-select schools, i am under the impresion that the school weeds out candidates. i applied through my school for a prestigious fall internship and automatically received a rejection. they obviously didnt send my resume. i then applied to the place myself and got the internship. i think they do this for OCI as well. which is why i will be applying directly to all firms.

This is very strange, and not how it works at most schools. Firms choose who they will and will not interview.

If it's a dumb preselect system where people can bid on every single firm, this makes sense. Firms interview only the tippity top people on campus, because everyone bids on every firm, but they might be willing to hire lower ranked people generally.