Timing of Callback Forum

[Anonymous User]

I had scheduling conflicts that made it so I could not schedule a callback until the September 13th due to the location of the office and some other commitments I have. I have started worrying that this is too late and will hurt my chances for a SA offer. I understand some firms are rolling, and if that is the case, do you think the date of this interview will really hurt my chances, have some impact, or what?

[Sup Kid]

September 13th is not that late + you can't move the date up anyways = stop worrying about it and do the things that you can control to improve your chances (practice interviewing, learn about the firm, etc)

[rayiner]

I had scheduling conflicts that made it so I could not schedule a callback until the September 13th due to the location of the office and some other commitments I have. I have started worrying that this is too late and will hurt my chances for a SA offer. I understand some firms are rolling, and if that is the case, do you think the date of this interview will really hurt my chances, have some impact, or what?

What are the other commitments? September 13 is very late for NYC/DC/Chicago. My whole OCI process was over just a bit after that last year.

[Anonymous User]

I had scheduling conflicts that made it so I could not schedule a callback until the September 13th due to the location of the office and some other commitments I have. I have started worrying that this is too late and will hurt my chances for a SA offer. I understand some firms are rolling, and if that is the case, do you think the date of this interview will really hurt my chances, have some impact, or what?

What are the other commitments? September 13 is very late for NYC/DC/Chicago. My whole OCI process was over just a bit after that last year.

I spoke to a bunch of NY recruiting people and they said they do CB's well into October and that mid to late September isn't at all late given how drawn-out the process is and how many people they have to slot in. I wouldn't worry at all about having a mid-September date.

[quakeroats]

I had scheduling conflicts that made it so I could not schedule a callback until the September 13th due to the location of the office and some other commitments I have. I have started worrying that this is too late and will hurt my chances for a SA offer. I understand some firms are rolling, and if that is the case, do you think the date of this interview will really hurt my chances, have some impact, or what?

What are the other commitments? September 13 is very late for NYC/DC/Chicago. My whole OCI process was over just a bit after that last year.

I spoke to a bunch of NY recruiting people and they said they do CB's well into October and that mid to late September isn't at all late given how drawn-out the process is and how many people they have to slot in. I wouldn't worry at all about having a mid-September date.

Ditto. I know of a girl who couldn't do any callbacks until mid-October last year and ended up with a job. I suspect it hurts a little bit though in a rolling-admission process.

[Anonymous User]

I had scheduling conflicts that made it so I could not schedule a callback until the September 13th due to the location of the office and some other commitments I have. I have started worrying that this is too late and will hurt my chances for a SA offer. I understand some firms are rolling, and if that is the case, do you think the date of this interview will really hurt my chances, have some impact, or what?

What are the other commitments? September 13 is very late for NYC/DC/Chicago. My whole OCI process was over just a bit after that last year.

I spoke to a bunch of NY recruiting people and they said they do CB's well into October and that mid to late September isn't at all late given how drawn-out the process is and how many people they have to slot in. I wouldn't worry at all about having a mid-September date.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, but earlier is always better. Just because a firm does CBs well into October doesn't mean that it's a good idea to schedule a callback then. If they get an unexpected number of acceptances from schools with early OCIs, you're putting yourself at a disadvantage.

Ditto. I know of a girl who couldn't do any callbacks until mid-October last year and ended up with a job.

Doesn't mean it's a good idea.

No one suggested its a good idea to schedule that late. We're just saying that, should this be the only timeframe available, you shouldn't feel like you have no chance.

[Unitas]

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

[rayiner]

I had scheduling conflicts that made it so I could not schedule a callback until the September 13th due to the location of the office and some other commitments I have. I have started worrying that this is too late and will hurt my chances for a SA offer. I understand some firms are rolling, and if that is the case, do you think the date of this interview will really hurt my chances, have some impact, or what?

What are the other commitments? September 13 is very late for NYC/DC/Chicago. My whole OCI process was over just a bit after that last year.

I spoke to a bunch of NY recruiting people and they said they do CB's well into October and that mid to late September isn't at all late given how drawn-out the process is and how many people they have to slot in. I wouldn't worry at all about having a mid-September date.

Ditto. I know of a girl who couldn't do any callbacks until mid-October last year and ended up with a job. I suspect it hurts a little bit though in a rolling-admission process.

I spoke to a hiring partner who noted that for 2010 summer, a bunch of Harvard people missed out on offers because they weren't available for callbacks until late September.

Late callbacks hurts a *lot* for the rolling-offer process. At one NY V5 this year, they were trying to grind through all the callbacks at several schools, including Yale and NYU, in mid/late August.

[rayiner]

No one suggested its a good idea to schedule that late. We're just saying that, should this be the only timeframe available, you shouldn't feel like you have no chance.

OP asked whether scheduling could hurt or impact his chances.

Moreover, law students often delay callbacks for retarded things. Like class. I'm curious what OP's scheduling conflicts are.

[ResIpsa21]

I think this is a VERY firm-specific issue. Many firms (it seems mostly big NY firms) try to get everything done very early, and having a callback in mid-September is deadly. Many other firms in other markets don't bother starting callbacks until September and go all the way through October.

Obviously earlier is better no matter what the situation is. But whether you're totally dead in the water or merely at a slight disadvantage going in mid-September is going to depend on the firm and the market.

EDIT: +1 for rayiner's comment above, there is really no excuse for delaying a callback because of class, even when the firm acts like they care whether you miss class or not.

[Anonymous User]

OP here: the callback is a cross-country trip, and I have a tripped planned for this weekend/early next week. I should have scheduled this callback for this week (before my weekend trip), but I didn't. It's a secondary market, think Dallas/ATL/Miami.

[Anonymous User]

Relax, not a big deal. I had one recruiter in NY tell me they weren't even starting interviewing until that week. It's not late at all, not early but not late.

[Grizz]

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

TCR

[snailio]

This is really firm specific...

I spoke to a hiring partner who noted that for 2010 summer, a bunch of Harvard people missed out on offers because they weren't available for callbacks until late September.

I think Harvard changed their EIP schedule this year to help ameliorate this problem.

[quakeroats]

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

TCR

It's a little early in your career for that.

[rayiner]

OP here: the callback is a cross-country trip, and I have a tripped planned for this weekend/early next week. I should have scheduled this callback for this week (before my weekend trip), but I didn't. It's a secondary market, think Dallas/ATL/Miami.

If secondary market, I wouldn't worry much. Alston Atlanta's callback season started early September last year so mid September isn't that late.

[rayiner]

This is really firm specific...

I spoke to a hiring partner who noted that for 2010 summer, a bunch of Harvard people missed out on offers because they weren't available for callbacks until late September.

I think Harvard changed their EIP schedule this year to help ameliorate this problem.

Yup. Recruiting people I talked to at one big NYC firm noted that NALP's shortening of the offer timeline to 28 days has caused them to substantially compress the callback process. As such they were trying to get the bulk of offers out in the first half of September.

[Anonymous User]

Just spoke with an NY recruiting person. She said her firm does callbacks into November (since they do so many) and that people who interview at the end aren't at a disadvantage since they stagger offers to account for the "waves" of interviews (i.e. they would never give too many offers too early since they want to get the best students out of each wave, not just the best students of those who have early callbacks)

[Anonymous User]

Just spoke with an NY recruiting person. She said her firm does callbacks into November (since they do so many) and that people who interview at the end aren't at a disadvantage since they stagger offers to account for the "waves" of interviews (i.e. they would never give too many offers too early since they want to get the best students out of each wave, not just the best students of those who have early callbacks)

Even if a firm purposely staggers offers to leave room for qualified candidates who interview later in the process, there's always a chance that they will incorrectly estimate yield to the detriment of people with late interviews.

Or perhaps they will make offers conservatively and "hold" some borderline candidates rather than making hasty offers. You never know what a firm's strategy will be. But I'd imagine that they have been doing this for a long time and in a very structured way. One year isn't going to be that substantially different from the next (aside from the worst of the recession year), so I don't think they would interview into November if there was a chance they would be wrapping things up in September.

[rayiner]

Even if a firm purposely staggers offers to leave room for qualified candidates who interview later in the process, there's always a chance that they will incorrectly estimate yield to the detriment of people with late interviews.

Or perhaps they will make offers conservatively and "hold" some borderline candidates rather than making hasty offers. You never know what a firm's strategy will be. But I'd imagine that they have been doing this for a long time and in a very structured way. One year isn't going to be that substantially different from the next (aside from the worst of the recession year), so I don't think they would interview into November if there was a chance they would be wrapping things up in September.

I qualified my comment for a reason, but yield can change drastically from year-to-year at firms that aren't typically people's first choices, especially ITE.

It is not uncommon for firms to run out of slots for folks who interview too late. I interviewed early (all callbacks done by mid-September) and more than one recruiter told me that in the previous year they had run into that situation.

[Anonymous User]

Even if a firm purposely staggers offers to leave room for qualified candidates who interview later in the process, there's always a chance that they will incorrectly estimate yield to the detriment of people with late interviews.

Or perhaps they will make offers conservatively and "hold" some borderline candidates rather than making hasty offers. You never know what a firm's strategy will be. But I'd imagine that they have been doing this for a long time and in a very structured way. One year isn't going to be that substantially different from the next (aside from the worst of the recession year), so I don't think they would interview into November if there was a chance they would be wrapping things up in September.

I qualified my comment for a reason, but yield can change drastically from year-to-year at firms that aren't typically people's first choices, especially ITE.

It is not uncommon for firms to run out of slots for folks who interview too late. I interviewed early (all callbacks done by mid-September) and more than one recruiter told me that in the previous year they had run into that situation.

I'd imagine that, at a few firms, they miscalculate yield or mishandle their offer rate in some way. I could certainly see the last few kids getting screwed toward the very end of the process. But I can't imagine a firm so wildly miscalculating and mishandling the situation as to fill all slots in September or even October, when the firm claims to be doing callbacks as late as Thanksgiving.