Mass mailing from CCN Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am a CCN student and keep hearing advice to mass mail. However, prevailing wisdom is that you shouldn't mass mail firms coming to your OCI/EIP/EIW. Since almost everyone comes to our OCI... um... what do I do?? I've sent out a couple letters to places listed on NALP who aren't coming, but very little response from anyone =/

[adameus]

I am a CCN student and keep hearing advice to mass mail. However, prevailing wisdom is that you shouldn't mass mail firms coming to your OCI/EIP/EIW. Since almost everyone comes to our OCI... um... what do I do?? I've sent out a couple letters to places listed on NALP who aren't coming, but very little response from anyone =/

yeah, we have the same problem at H. I think generally, if you have a connection to a secondary market, there are probably some more regional firms from there that might not be coming to OCI, so you could try mailing them. Or if you have an IP degree, there are a bunch of IP firms that don't come to OCI.

[somewhatwayward]

i am confused about this as well. in the mass-mailing response time thread, someone from NYU said s/he mass-mailed firms coming to NYU's EIW that s/he had not bid on, and s/he got interviews with some of them. is there any down side to doing this other than getting no response? otherwise it means that, although 200+ firms are coming to EIP/EIW, we get to interview with at most ~25 of them.

i have gotten one offer for an interview as a result of my mass-mailing efforts.

[timbs4339]

i am confused about this as well. in the mass-mailing response time thread, someone from NYU said s/he mass-mailed firms coming to NYU's EIW that s/he had not bid on, and s/he got interviews with some of them. is there any down side to doing this other than getting no response? otherwise it means that, although 200+ firms are coming to EIP/EIW, we get to interview with at most ~25 of them.

i have gotten one offer for an interview as a result of my mass-mailing efforts.

I would really recommend this if you are median or below. At most, you waste a day or two at a time when you are probably thinking 24/7 about OCI anyway.

Also, some firms don't hit their hiring targets out of OCI (shocking, I know) and call back people from the mass mail pile. Those crickets you are hearing now could turn into a callback later on.

[Anonymous User]

As someone who struck out at OCI from CCN and am now looking at a future of unemployment I highly recommend mass mailing firms that come to OCI. Seriously, blow this and your life may never be the same. So long as you do not mail firms with a resume that has an interest section including "protocols of the elders of zion" or something there is no way it can hurt you.

[Anonymous User]

Im a CCN transfer with connections to a secondary market very close to the school. I've been doing well with mass mails so far (I think its 6 interviews out of 25-30 applications), but only for firms that aren't coming to OCI. Most are large regional firms, but some are midsized firms in my schools marker. Wouldn't it really turn off the firm to have a kid mass mailing them when the know full well the firm is coming to OCI?

[Anonymous User]

^
I think it could be slightly annoying to them, but we have zero chance of an interview with the ones we didn't bid on if we don't mass-mail.

I think it's definitely a good idea to contact the firms you bid on but did not get an interview with to say, basically, i bid on you, but, due to the nature of the process, i didn't get an interview, so could you squeeze me in? That only gets you up to the thirty you bid on (if all of them actually squeeze you in, which is unlikely....of course, you can also add during add-drop period). Maybe I am too worried about maximizing the number of interviews, though.

[luthersloan]

They will not find it annoying, they do not care how they come by the resume of people they are acctually interested in. I got serveral interviews from firms that came to our OCI, from a mailing I did a month after said OCI.

[timbs4339]

They will not find it annoying, they do not care how they come by the resume of people they are acctually interested in. I got serveral interviews from firms that came to our OCI, from a mailing I did a month after said OCI.

TCR

[ruski]

it probably just be much easier to visit hospitality suites, express interest, and drop off resume/transciprt. you prob wont need a cover letter for this (could be wrong i never actually visited the suites) this way and lets you meet with the recruiter. i know people at ccn who did this and got additional interviews.

[luthersloan]

it probably just be much easier to visit hospitality suites, express interest, and drop off resume/transciprt. you prob wont need a cover letter for this (could be wrong i never actually visited the suites) this way and lets you meet with the recruiter. i know people at ccn who did this and got additional interviews.

Job hunting as a law student is a contact sport, as in the more people you contact the better you will do. Hospitality Suites are certainly a good idea, then again so are smoke signals if they get your resume in front of a hiring person.

[somewhatwayward]

so what's the verdict on cover letters and hospitality suites.....bring them or not? also, is it okay if it is an unofficial transcript?

[viking138]

so what's the verdict on cover letters and hospitality suites.....bring them or not? also, is it okay if it is an unofficial transcript?

unofficial transcript is fine, was never told to bring cover letter to hospitality suites (but was not told not to, either). i haven't gone through the process yet but that's what rising 3Ls and career services told me.

[Anonymous User]

Isn't it kind of awkward to send a mass-mail to firms you didn't bid on saying "please give me an interview even though you're not one of the top-30 firms I'd like to work for"?

Seriously, I would love to mail a bunch of firms who are coming to OCI that I had to take off my bid list for various reasons - but how to do so tactfully? Acknowledge that you obviously didn't bid, or ignore?

Also is mass mailing supposed to happen before OCI (i.e. now) or afterwards?

[timbs4339]

Isn't it kind of awkward to send a mass-mail to firms you didn't bid on saying "please give me an interview even though you're not one of the top-30 firms I'd like to work for"?

Seriously, I would love to mail a bunch of firms who are coming to OCI that I had to take off my bid list for various reasons - but how to do so tactfully? Acknowledge that you obviously didn't bid, or ignore?

Also is mass mailing supposed to happen before OCI (i.e. now) or afterwards?

This is a totally normal feeling to have, but in the end it doesn't really matter. Sure some firms may toss your resume or tell you to bid them at OCI or come to the hospitality suite. But some may hang on to it for after OCI, and others may just want to get the best possible summer class they can and they don't care how they do it- OCI, hospitality suites, mass mails. And they definitely won't put you on some super-secret blacklist of people who are applying OCI firms outside of OCI. I would mail them and ignore the fact you didn't bid them. However, if they have a hospitality suite I would go to that instead of mailing. Check with OCS for a list of firms with hospitality suites.

If you're someone who's very likely to get a job from OCI I wouldn't mass mail just because it will probably waste your time.

[Anonymous User]

Isn't it kind of awkward to send a mass-mail to firms you didn't bid on saying "please give me an interview even though you're not one of the top-30 firms I'd like to work for"?

Seriously, I would love to mail a bunch of firms who are coming to OCI that I had to take off my bid list for various reasons - but how to do so tactfully? Acknowledge that you obviously didn't bid, or ignore?

Also is mass mailing supposed to happen before OCI (i.e. now) or afterwards?

I've been mass-mailing firms I didn't bid on, and I just didn't mention bidding at all.

[Anonymous User]

What do you say in the mass-mail cover letter - I'm seeking a 2L SA position etc.?

Our OCI isn't for a couple more weeks; are you saying I should wait for that to happen, go to every hospitality suite I can, and then mass-mail whoever I still haven't gotten an interview with? I'd feel safer waiting until the interview lottery results come out and then mailing every firm I didn't get.

What about firms you didn't bid on due to slim chances - e.g. I didn't bid on Wachtell/S&C/Cravath because I have very decent but not stellar grades and focused my bid list on firms I'd be just as happy to work for and have more realistic chances at. Mass-mail Wachtell etc. now, and ignore that I didn't bid? If so, include GPA/unofficial 1L transcript to save everyone's time?

[Anonymous User]

I mass mailed for 1L summer. Should I do so again? I recently received an e-mail from a V10 stating that my past experience and academic credentials make me a strong candidate for their 2012 Summer class.

I am leaning towards not mailing again. What thinks the crowd?

[Anonymous User]

Been through OCI before. I wouldn't mass mail firms w/ hospitality suites since that will more likely annoy the recruiting persons. Everyone knows how ambigious the game can be, and you are not gonna win by supposedly finding some way around it. When it comes to firms that don't have suites, there have been mixed responses. Some are willing to receive stuff before OCI, while others will prefer to wait till after they have sifted through their OCI applicants. This is true for firms that are not coming to OCI. I sent letters to such firms, and some responded asking me to reapply after they had gone through their OCIs at other schools or wait till they posted on Symplicity. Need to realize that firms are hesitant to look beyond OCI b/c they with OCI they already sunk a bunch of resources into screenings, for them to screen applicants outside OCI would require them to spend additional resources. Many recruiting managers are not willing to look outside OCI b/c they can get away w/ getting the targeted number of candidates through a standardized process. I've been able to talk w/ some of my supervisors who came from the private sector and assisted in recruitment, and the common response I got was that recruiting managers either trashed applicants, especially if they came from outside their usual pool, or dumped it onto a lower ranking person, like an associate, who would never dedicate any real time to it. It is an absolutely ridiculous process, but unfortunately stuck w/ it.

[Anonymous User]

Been through OCI before. I wouldn't mass mail firms w/ hospitality suites since that will more likely annoy the recruiting persons. Everyone knows how ambigious the game can be, and you are not gonna win by supposedly finding some way around it. When it comes to firms that don't have suites, there have been mixed responses. Some are willing to receive stuff before OCI, while others will prefer to wait till after they have sifted through their OCI applicants. This is true for firms that are not coming to OCI. I sent letters to such firms, and some responded asking me to reapply after they had gone through their OCIs at other schools or wait till they posted on Symplicity. Need to realize that firms are hesitant to look beyond OCI b/c they with OCI they already sunk a bunch of resources into screenings, for them to screen applicants outside OCI would require them to spend additional resources. Many recruiting managers are not willing to look outside OCI b/c they can get away w/ getting the targeted number of candidates through a standardized process. I've been able to talk w/ some of my supervisors who came from the private sector and assisted in recruitment, and the common response I got was that recruiting managers either trashed applicants, especially if they came from outside their usual pool, or dumped it onto a lower ranking person, like an associate, who would never dedicate any real time to it. It is an absolutely ridiculous process, but unfortunately stuck w/ it.

How do we know if a firm has a hospitality suite ahead of time?

[Anonymous User]

Isn't it kind of awkward to send a mass-mail to firms you didn't bid on saying "please give me an interview even though you're not one of the top-30 firms I'd like to work for"?

Seriously, I would love to mail a bunch of firms who are coming to OCI that I had to take off my bid list for various reasons - but how to do so tactfully? Acknowledge that you obviously didn't bid, or ignore?

Also is mass mailing supposed to happen before OCI (i.e. now) or afterwards?

I've been mass-mailing firms I didn't bid on, and I just didn't mention bidding at all.

How has that been working out for you? Don't they say "we are visiting your school, so you should definitely bid on us"? I'm really interested to hear how one gets interviews with the firms you don't bid on.

[Anonymous User]

How do we know if a firm has a hospitality suite ahead of time?[/quote]

School releases a list around the time they release your results.