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Do firms pick people just to fill a slot at job fairs and such? Debating whether to decline a screener that will cost about me $1000 with a firm that very probably will not call me back. I suspect they only picked me because I'm IP and there weren't enough decent IP people in the program to fill every slot they had. I like the firm, but I don't want to spend the money and burn 2 days if they're only going to end up hiring a median kid from GTown with just a bio degree or something. TTT25, good but not great grades, mediocre tech background with mediocre UG grades, so they probably weren't thinking I'd be a good prosecution jockey (sadly). I'd be in OMG I have to take every interview mode, but I have a lot lines up before OCI even starts. I'll probably do it if there's any chance, but if there isn't... I seriously doubt that this would be the firm to reach out and save me if nothing else comes through(good firm but not a massive class size, and If I can't get some of the others because of credentials I sure as he'll ain't getting this one). It would just be a place I'd pick over some of the other firms I'm interviewing with.

I know the drill about hiring, I'm a regular - I just want to know whether I should suck it up because there's more than a negligible chance, or whether the 1000 would be better spent paying off loans when I'm inevitably consigned to amberlamps chasin'.

Why would an interview cost you $1,000?

Doesn't seem worth it if it will actually cost you $1,000 and you have a minimal shot of getting the job. If this were a clerkship that you really wanted, then I could see doing it, but not for a screener.

Why don't you see if they'll give you a phone interview?

Wahoo1L wrote:Doesn't seem worth it if it will actually cost you $1,000 and you have a minimal shot of getting the job. If this were a clerkship that you really wanted, then I could see doing it, but not for a screener.

Why don't you see if they'll give you a phone interview?

Or videoconference, even. My school's law library is set up for videoconference and I know a few students interviewed with out of town firms that way.

Anonymous User wrote:Do firms pick people just to fill a slot at job fairs and such? Debating whether to decline a screener that will cost about me $1000 with a firm that very probably will not call me back. I suspect they only picked me because I'm IP and there weren't enough decent IP people in the program to fill every slot they had. I like the firm, but I don't want to spend the money and burn 2 days if they're only going to end up hiring a median kid from GTown with just a bio degree or something. TTT25, good but not great grades, mediocre tech background with mediocre UG grades, so they probably weren't thinking I'd be a good prosecution jockey (sadly). I'd be in OMG I have to take every interview mode, but I have a lot lines up before OCI even starts. I'll probably do it if there's any chance, but if there isn't... I seriously doubt that this would be the firm to reach out and save me if nothing else comes through(good firm but not a massive class size, and If I can't get some of the others because of credentials I sure as he'll ain't getting this one). It would just be a place I'd pick over some of the other firms I'm interviewing with.

I know the drill about hiring, I'm a regular - I just want to know whether I should suck it up because there's more than a negligible chance, or whether the 1000 would be better spent paying off loans when I'm inevitably consigned to amberlamps chasin'.

If you have a lot of interviews lined up already, I'd save the $1000. That's a lot even for a cross-country flight.

If the firm won't comp you for a callback interview, then they probably won't hire you, either.

Good god that's an expensive flight.

Not a callback, just a screener through an offcampus program. Short notice = expensive flight, plus hotel, plus the money I lose by not working those two days. Not a bad suggestion, I'll look into that. I won't be working for them outside of this interview anyway so may as well risk offending them or seeming disinterested. If they don't get why I'd be reluctant to spend that much when I'm far from a sure shot, dunno if I'd want to work there anyway.

Edit: plus food, plus at least a tank of gas to drive to a major city for the flight and then paying for airport parking. May be closer to 800, but even then... that's a lot when you and everyone you know is poor, y'know?