interviewers for callbacks Forum

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zachanson

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interviewers for callbacks

Post by zachanson » Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:21 pm

is it normal to get the notice about who the interviewers will be THE day before the callback interview?

i guess i would have to stay up all night before the interview...

Omerta

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Re: interviewers for callbacks

Post by Omerta » Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:24 pm

Hey you should probably stop being so neurotic; interviewers can smell fear. And no, though they'll likely be attorneys in the practice areas that you expressed interest in.

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Doritos

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Re: interviewers for callbacks

Post by Doritos » Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:38 pm

zachanson wrote:is it normal to get the notice about who the interviewers will be THE day before the callback interview?

i guess i would have to stay up all night before the interview...
Yes it is normal. However, staying up all night studying your interviewers is not.

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Cavalier

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Re: interviewers for callbacks

Post by Cavalier » Wed Aug 10, 2011 7:19 pm

zachanson wrote:is it normal to get the notice about who the interviewers will be THE day before the callback interview?

i guess i would have to stay up all night before the interview...
That's not uncommon, although generally you'll have more notice. Staying up all night before the interview is absurd though; you really only need a couple minutes per interviewer to determine practice area, schools, notable cases/deals, and anything else that looks interesting. If you're reading their publications or combing through Lexis to read the cases they argued, you're doing way too much.

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Re: interviewers for callbacks

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Aug 10, 2011 8:00 pm

Several firms don't (and can't) tell you who you'll be interviewing with until you get there. Some don't even tell you once you're there, they just lead you around to various interviewers. This happened at least at Cravath & Skadden last year, and probably at several other firms.

Relax.

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Re: interviewers for callbacks

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Aug 10, 2011 9:59 pm

I somehow ran out of research time before my last CB (it had been a crazy couple of days) and only got about 4 hours of sleep. Turns out I didn't use 5% of the stuff I had looked up for 2 reasons: (1) the few questions I got were extremely generic "why this city" type deal. Instead, just about everyone I met kinda laid back and let me do the talking, so I ended up asking a million questions, some of them rather obvious because gee, I had no clue I would have do the driving. (2) I expected to be in a room, and have the interviewers come to me in turn, like at my last job. This would have allowed me to look at my notes on my cell phone between the talks. Instead, I was walked from office to office, and never had a moment to myself to check my notes. Thus, I never got to use the specific questions I had prepared for each interviewer (lesson: print your notes).

Because I was tired (that was not my only short night of late), I felt like I was not on top of my social game. And this one CB was all about the social game. I wasn't asked a single thing to test my knowledge. Nothing. I have never been shy, and can carry on a conversation for as long as required, and I did, but in that whole process, I am pretty sure I forgot to "sell myself." I just... talked.

In retrospect, this has to be the easiest CB ever, yet I'm pretty sure I blew it because I was prepared for something else entirely: to be offered opportunities to demonstrate my knowledge. Instead, I think I was supposed to create those opportunities myself. I have learned my lesson, but the likely cost is a job at this firm, which unfortunately is where I most wanted to work.

Hope this helps...

Geist13

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Re: interviewers for callbacks

Post by Geist13 » Wed Aug 10, 2011 11:56 pm

Anonymous User wrote: In retrospect, this has to be the easiest CB ever, yet I'm pretty sure I blew it because I was prepared for something else entirely: to be offered opportunities to demonstrate my knowledge. Instead, I think I was supposed to create those opportunities myself. I have learned my lesson, but the likely cost is a job at this firm, which unfortunately is where I most wanted to work.

Hope this helps...
You're a rising 2L; what knowledge could you have to demonstrate? Like a quiz on the elements of promissory estoppel?

zachanson

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Re: interviewers for callbacks

Post by zachanson » Thu Aug 11, 2011 12:33 am

Anonymous User wrote:I somehow ran out of research time before my last CB (it had been a crazy couple of days) and only got about 4 hours of sleep. Turns out I didn't use 5% of the stuff I had looked up for 2 reasons: (1) the few questions I got were extremely generic "why this city" type deal. Instead, just about everyone I met kinda laid back and let me do the talking, so I ended up asking a million questions, some of them rather obvious because gee, I had no clue I would have do the driving. (2) I expected to be in a room, and have the interviewers come to me in turn, like at my last job. This would have allowed me to look at my notes on my cell phone between the talks. Instead, I was walked from office to office, and never had a moment to myself to check my notes. Thus, I never got to use the specific questions I had prepared for each interviewer (lesson: print your notes).

Because I was tired (that was not my only short night of late), I felt like I was not on top of my social game. And this one CB was all about the social game. I wasn't asked a single thing to test my knowledge. Nothing. I have never been shy, and can carry on a conversation for as long as required, and I did, but in that whole process, I am pretty sure I forgot to "sell myself." I just... talked.

In retrospect, this has to be the easiest CB ever, yet I'm pretty sure I blew it because I was prepared for something else entirely: to be offered opportunities to demonstrate my knowledge. Instead, I think I was supposed to create those opportunities myself. I have learned my lesson, but the likely cost is a job at this firm, which unfortunately is where I most wanted to work.

Hope this helps...

Thanks for the story. This is actually a very interesting scenario. I've had similar interviews before.

I don't think you did terrible by talking about anything but law. In fact, some attorneys suggested me not to oversell yourself. And some interviewers actually take control of the interview and want you not to talk about law.

I'm wondering what should be the best approach... Maybe it wasn't your fault but some other reasons behind the scene.

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