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Anyone have any idea how firms choose which candidates they have interviewed (via pre-select) to invite to firm for callbacks? Even at that point, is it still very much dependent on grades? Or can interviewers build a preference for one candidate over another based primarily on the 20min interaction during the interview? I've always figured that the average social person can handle an interview without too much of a problem, so can firms can't really differentiate between candidates based on the interview. Like who isn't cordial, respectful and seemingly pleasant to be around during an interview?

My take has been that the interview has very little to do with whether or not you get a callback. It's 60% your grades, 30% your resume and 10% the interview.

Anonymous User wrote:My take has been that the interview has very little to do with whether or not you get a callback. It's 60% your grades, 30% your resume and 10% the interview.

ah ok...so i guess the interview isn't something that can help you....and they'd probably pick for callbacks who they would have picked regardless of how the interview went.... i guess i'm not surprised by this....a whole years worth of grades and summer experience should definitely outweigh a 20 min. encounter

najumobi wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:My take has been that the interview has very little to do with whether or not you get a callback. It's 60% your grades, 30% your resume and 10% the interview.

ah ok...so i guess the interview isn't something that can help you....and they'd probably pick for callbacks who they would have picked regardless of how the interview went.... i guess i'm not surprised by this....a whole years worth of grades and summer experience should definitely outweigh a 20 min. encounter

After going through OCI and after talking with some of my interviewers, my experience has been exactly the opposite of this advice. As a partner at one firm told me, all the students he interviewed had stellar grades and journal/moot court experience. For him, deciding who got the CBs was about who "popped" in the interview. I did a fine job in the interviews, but mostly thought my great grades would land me a slew of CBs. Don't make my same mistake. Make sure YOU are the one they remember from the interviews. It makes a difference.

Anonymous User wrote:

najumobi wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:My take has been that the interview has very little to do with whether or not you get a callback. It's 60% your grades, 30% your resume and 10% the interview.

ah ok...so i guess the interview isn't something that can help you....and they'd probably pick for callbacks who they would have picked regardless of how the interview went.... i guess i'm not surprised by this....a whole years worth of grades and summer experience should definitely outweigh a 20 min. encounter

After going through OCI and after talking with some of my interviewers, my experience has been exactly the opposite of this advice. As a partner at one firm told me, all the students he interviewed had stellar grades and journal/moot court experience. For him, deciding who got the CBs was about who "popped" in the interview. I did a fine job in the interviews, but mostly thought my great grades would land me a slew of CBs. Don't make my same mistake. Make sure YOU are the one they remember from the interviews. It makes a difference.

Yea, anybody who breaks it down into percentages has no idea what they are talking about. Generally, conventional wisdom is that grades GET you the preselect, then it's on you to get a callback. If you think about it, it makes sense -- they've pre-selected people within the GPA range they're willing to hire from. Everybody who does a screener should meet the cutoff for callbacks. Once you have a callback, personality and fit are even more important, as they have already decided you are eligible for an offer.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

najumobi wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:My take has been that the interview has very little to do with whether or not you get a callback. It's 60% your grades, 30% your resume and 10% the interview.

ah ok...so i guess the interview isn't something that can help you....and they'd probably pick for callbacks who they would have picked regardless of how the interview went.... i guess i'm not surprised by this....a whole years worth of grades and summer experience should definitely outweigh a 20 min. encounter

After going through OCI and after talking with some of my interviewers, my experience has been exactly the opposite of this advice. As a partner at one firm told me, all the students he interviewed had stellar grades and journal/moot court experience. For him, deciding who got the CBs was about who "popped" in the interview. I did a fine job in the interviews, but mostly thought my great grades would land me a slew of CBs. Don't make my same mistake. Make sure YOU are the one they remember from the interviews. It makes a difference.

Yea, anybody who breaks it down into percentages has no idea what they are talking about. Generally, conventional wisdom is that grades GET you the preselect, then it's on you to get a callback. If you think about it, it makes sense -- they've pre-selected people within the GPA range they're willing to hire from. Everybody who does a screener should meet the cutoff for callbacks. Once you have a callback, personality and fit are even more important, as they have already decided you are eligible for an offer.

hmmm...this is interesting...so once you meet the gpa minimum for a firm, it doesn't matter that another candidate being interviewed is better in grades and/or school than you?

From my experience, once you pass the minimum grade hurdle that a firm has, they are just looking for fit. At my T9 school, there are plenty of people in the top 25%-33% of the class that they can choose from who would probably do a good job at the firm. But they are now looking for a person they'd like to work with for 60+ hours a week.

najumobi wrote: hmmm...this is interesting...so once you meet the gpa minimum for a firm, it doesn't matter that another candidate being interviewed is better in grades and/or school than you?

If a firm recruits at your school, your competition will be your classmates, not people who go to a better school than you. Firms need to keep relationships with local schools (or at least local top tier schools) as well as whatever schools they typically recruit at, which requires balancing the class.

But grades could still matter. I've been to CBs where every single interviewer had a copy of my transcript in front of them--I obviously met the GPA cutoff because I got a CB, but that doesn't mean that grades are now meaningless.

Anonymous User wrote:From my experience, once you pass the minimum grade hurdle that a firm has, they are just looking for fit. At my T9 school, there are plenty of people in the top 25%-33% of the class that they can choose from who would probably do a good job at the firm. But they are now looking for a person they'd like to work with for 60+ hours a week.

that's an interesting way to think about it.....though it would definitely be frustrating to walk out of an interview thinking you meshed well with the interviewers and still not get a callback.
i guess with all the candidates firms interview they can afford to offer callbacks to only those candidates with whom they have an extraordinary 20 min interaction

If you get preselected, grades still count, but they are good enough that the firm wants to talk to you at least. They still count in a big way in committee post CB as well. Personality is important too, but even if you're preselected, it's not the whole deal. You want both facets.

Grizz wrote:If you get preselected, grades still count, but they are good enough that the firm wants to talk to you at least. They still count in a big way in committee post CB as well. Personality is important too, but even if you're preselected, it's not the whole deal. You want both facets.

+100 the committee can ding you for grades. And, most if not all of the hiring committee never met you, so your glowing personality can only be conveyed by your CB reviews. Thus, grades.

Some people with stellar grades can't interview their way out of a brown paper bag. The interview is very important. These people will have to work with you, they aren't taking a stupor star just because.

snailio wrote:Some people with stellar grades can't interview their way out of a brown paper bag. The interview is very important. These people will have to work with you, they aren't taking a stupor star just because.

True too. So,

a) If you have stellar grades, you can still be SOL if you can't interview.

b) If you don't have great grades, a great interview can overcome.

snailio wrote:Some people with stellar grades can't interview their way out of a brown paper bag. The interview is very important. These people will have to work with you, they aren't taking a stupor star just because.

hahah....hilarioius

Anonymous User wrote:

snailio wrote:Some people with stellar grades can't interview their way out of a brown paper bag. The interview is very important. These people will have to work with you, they aren't taking a stupor star just because.

True too. So,

a) If you have stellar grades, you can still be SOL if you can't interview.

b) If you don't have great grades, a great interview can overcome.

c) If you have great grades and interview well, you're still probably not getting an offer because you're one of 30+ people gunning for a single spot.

Your grades matter during preselect. Once you're preselected, its the interview that matters.

Eco wrote:Your grades matter during preselect. Once you're preselected, its the interview that matters.

Not necessarily. Firms need to fill their interview schedule and may not get enough people in their preferred grade range. Grades are still weighed.

Eco wrote:Your grades matter during preselect. Once you're preselected, its the interview that matters.

Overly simplistic

Can we just agree that it's essentially a sliding scale for most firms?

Anonymous User wrote:Can we just agree that it's essentially a sliding scale for most firms?

I think we should analyze it more.

It strikes me that this is largely a pointless discussion.

Everyone is generalizing from a small sample size. Unless someone has aggregate data, how much grades matter for "firms" may be very dependent on the firm and the school at which they are interviewing.

DallasCowboy wrote:

Eco wrote:Your grades matter during preselect. Once you're preselected, its the interview that matters.

Not necessarily. Firms need to fill their interview schedule and may not get enough people in their preferred grade range. Grades are still weighed.

From my OCI experience, I think grades are still extremely important with preselect. I've had about 10 on campus interviews and gotten 0 CBs. I'm not a socially awkward person or anything, so I'm pretty sure it is all grades. I'm just outside the Top 10% but have been preselected for firms that say Top 10% required. I don't think I really had a chance. It seems like the same few people are getting all the CBs, and they are all Top 5% or a diversity candidate that's still Top 10%.

^ I didn't say they don't matter at all, just saying that if you are a great interviewer you can get a CB your grades would otherwise have shut you out from.

Eco wrote:^ I didn't say they don't matter at all, just saying that if you are a great interviewer you can get a CB your grades would otherwise have shut you out from.

That's not really what your post said.

From my experience (and from asking interviewers), it varies. Some interviewers don't care about your interview and it's basically grades/resume/undergrad school + undergrad GPA. For others it's how well you sell that you want to be at THAT firm and they are less concerned about grades/resume. For others, it's just how you come across in the interview (i.e. if you come across as "anxious" or "nervous"). For some, it's just something random that happens in the interview (you happen to share common interests, etc.).