LGBT at SEMJF Forum

[Anonymous User]

~Top 5% at t30. I'm thinking about participating in the SE Minority Job Fair. I'm a white male and LGBT. Many of the firms participating in the job fair will likely be at my school's OCI. I'm wondering if there is any advantage/disadvantage to interviewing with these firms at SEMJF as opposed to waiting until OCI (where I would not emphasize diversity issues)? I'm interested to hear from others who have been in my situation or any insights people have about LGBT students at SEMJF (or the other minority job fairs). Thanks.

[Anonymous User]

I was in a similar position. I was a URM at a regional diversity fair located in same city as my school and target legal market. There was nearly 100% overlap of the firms represented at the fair and OCI. My bid lists for OCI and the diversity fair were nearly exactly the same. There was only one firm that scheduled me for a screening interview at both the regional fair and OCI; that firm called up my OCS a week after the interview schedule was posted and told my OCS to cancel the OCI screening interview because they were going to interview me at the fair. It seems fairly obvious to me that the recruiters who schedule screening interviews are careful to make sure that they don't interview the same candidate twice.

I am under the impression that firms take OCI much more seriously than they do regional fairs. I converted 70% of my OCI interviews into callbacks but just 50% of my fair interviews. Assuming your OCI is preselect, bid only at OCI for firms you really want to work for.

Take the five or so firms that you really want and only bid them at OCI. Do not give those firms the chance to push you out to diversity fair. For the rest of the firms, you are probably fine bidding for them at both the fair and OCI.

[Anonymous User]

I'm LGBT and a non-URM minority and participated in SEMJF last year. I echo the sentiment above: firms generally take school OCIs more seriously, but it's not to say they won't call back anyone. I think at SEMJF, they specifically require firms to report to the job fair committee their callback rates. Anyhow, for major firms that have some connection to your school, it's probably best to bid on them through OCI. For ones that don't visit or have few interview slots, maybe allocate those to the job fairs if you need to free up bid slots for other firms. While I struck out from SEMJF (mainly due to the market I was focusing on), I did get offers from another, similar job fair.

As far as this is concerned:

I'm wondering if there is any advantage/disadvantage to interviewing with these firms at SEMJF as opposed to waiting until OCI (where I would not emphasize diversity issues)?

The only advantage is that you get to interview before OCI and get one of the first callbacks. Depending on the firm, this advantage could be pretty significant. Even at SEMJF, your interview would be no different from a regular interview—there's no need to "emphasize" diversity issues just because you're at a diversity fair.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks for the advice. I have a good idea of the firms I want to bid on now.

Even at SEMJF, your interview would be no different from a regular interview—there's no need to "emphasize" diversity issues just because you're at a diversity fair.

Should I at least mention diversity in my cover letters for SEMJF? Like I said, I am a white male. Right now I have one paragraph in my cover letter explaining how my background is diverse. But I certainly don't want this to overshadow my academic/professional credentials.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks for the advice. I have a good idea of the firms I want to bid on now.

Even at SEMJF, your interview would be no different from a regular interview—there's no need to "emphasize" diversity issues just because you're at a diversity fair.

Should I at least mention diversity in my cover letters for SEMJF? Like I said, I am a white male. Right now I have one paragraph in my cover letter explaining how my background is diverse. But I certainly don't want this to overshadow my academic/professional credentials.

Nope, it's absolutely not necessary. However, just to avoid raising any eyebrows, include the "diversity group" affiliation under school activities (even if you're not an active member). No one will ask about it unless you bring it up.

[Anonymous User]

Also a white male and LGBT. Participated in my city's URM fair. No eyebrows were raised. A couple other like me were there. Had a few interviews at the fair, now summering at one of those firms. All the firms participating in the fair came to my T30 OCI.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know what the overlap of firms looks like between Emory OCI and SEMJF?