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I'm finding it difficult to gauge my relative chances at callbacks from OCI. Assume for the sake of the exercise that I'm within the firms' grade ranges, have decent work experience, don't do anything stupid (i.e. normal haircut, shaven, conservative suit), am a fairly personable/sociable person, and have sufficient ties. The "problem" is this: The interviews (I've had about 1/3 of my screeners so far) all seem to go similarly; I enter the room and they ask about something on my resume. I give a decently thoughtful answer. I tell a little story or engage them in a question about their practice. I display knowledge of the firm and their practice areas. I mention specific cases or projects that they've worked on. Occasionally we'll veer into topics like football, music, or tv shows. Basically, a normal human conversation ensues. This continues for the full 20 minutes, or maybe a minute or so over.

Are these all good-ish signs or will the callbacks still depend on random voodoo that I can't control? For those of you with SAs or have gotten them in the past, is your gut reaction usually right? Occasionally? I really appreciate any insight!

There is no way to know.

"You'll get a call from us in a few days" with a handshake and a wink once = rejection letter two weeks later for me.

Stories are legion of great interviews turning into nothing and awkward, awful interviews turning into CBs or offers. Most, as you note, are pretty similar. No way to tell.

Welcome to OCI!

My two best interviews at a fair two weeks ago resulted in a ding, two of the bad interviews I wrote off ended up being callback offers. Had another screener at a different fair turned into a CB offer even though I thought I did not say anything they wanted.

It's like law school grades pretty much.

thesealocust wrote:There is no way to know.

"You'll get a call from us in a few days" with a handshake and a wink once = rejection letter two weeks later for me.

Stories are legion of great interviews turning into nothing and awkward, awful interviews turning into CBs or offers. Most, as you note, are pretty similar. No way to tell.

Welcome to OCI!

Heh. That was my suspicion. I guess the best that I can say is that I don't think that I'm totally bombing these things (fumbling repeatedly for answers, telling a lit boutique about their awesome corporate department, etc, etc). And if I could speculate about the latter situation, I wouldn't be surprised if it happens more often when people are either too hard on themselves or have good enough grades/resumes to overcome a subpar performance.

Also, kind of a funny anecdote:

Today 3 of my friends were interviewing for a V25 and the interviewer all told them separately that he picks out a list of 6 people from his interviews (I'm guessing he interviews 15-20) and then the recruiting committee or whoever (basically people who aren't him) then cut it down to the 3-4 that they call back. The funny part of this is that he had unequivocally told all of them that the would for sure be on his initial list of 6. They had 3 of the 4 earliest interview slots, so he was either stretching the truth a little bit (or just pulling a straight-up Pontius Pilate and washing his hands of the matter) or they are all otherworldly interviewers. I imagine it's the former, which could definitely lead to those *wink wink nudge nudge* moments turning into nothing.

I once told an interview that my biggest weakness was writing and got a callback. It's sorta random.

I noticed that when they comment on my 'good grades' its a good sign.

Another one was when one interviewer reverted to personal chit chat like my family, if i had siblings etc.

For me actually terrible/no connection interviews = no callback.

Some i thought went really well didnt result in a callback, but none of my callbacks have been interviews I thought went poorly.

When they start selling their firm without your asking them, this is also generally a good sign. There's no way to know for sure though really.

Desert Fox wrote:I once told an interview that my biggest weakness was writing and got a callback. It's sorta random.

Not everyone is naturally likeable as you, so fuck you.

I almost cried, said "like" as every other word, didn't realize that the guy was teaching a class I mentioned, and blabbered something about banks for 3 minutes (I know nothing about banks). Got a CB.

interviewer straight up told me: "you have a lot to offer and i can tell you're going to get several offers." no callback.

Lasers wrote:interviewer straight up told me: "you have a lot to offer and i can tell you're going to get several offers." no callback.

Lol interviewer said the same exact thing to me. No callback either.

One thing to keep in mind is that your interviewer may have little or no input as to whether you get a callback. This really varies by firm. At some firms, the screeners play a huge role in the callback decision: if your screener really likes you, you're getting a callback. At other firms, however, the screeners are basically just collecting resumes and transcripts. At those firms, the screener's contribution is limited to a couple of notes scribbled on a form; the callback decision is then made by others based largely on your transcript and resume.

Lasers wrote:interviewer straight up told me: "you have a lot to offer and i can tell you're going to get several offers." no callback.

I had this happen to me once --> No CB.
Another time it happened to me --> CB.

You never know.

No. /thread

Anonymous User wrote:

Lasers wrote:interviewer straight up told me: "you have a lot to offer and i can tell you're going to get several offers." no callback.

Lol interviewer said the same exact thing to me. No callback either.

I got an interviewer to go over time when everyone else that day had been cut short by 5 minutes, a warm handshake, wink and "you'll hear from us soon." I did... in a ding letter.

Having done several rounds of OCI, I can tell you that the formula for getting a CB basically boils down to the following equation

1/100 (personality) + 99/100 (grades) = CB chances


If you take anything a screener says or does during OCI as indicative of your chances of getting a CB,* then you're either naive or ignorant, or both.

(*With the exception of them saying something like, "Please go away and never call us again.")

anon168 wrote:Having done several rounds of OCI, I can tell you that the formula for getting a CB basically boils down to the following equation

1/100 (personality) + 99/100 (grades) = CB chances


If you take anything a screener says or does during OCI as indicative of your chances of getting a CB,* then you're either naive or ignorant, or both.

(*With the exception of them saying something like, "Please go away and never call us again.")

while i wouldn't quite say the odds are that grade-centric, it definitely is more so than personality-centric.

i'd estimate it at 75/25 favoring grades.

Lasers wrote:

anon168 wrote:Having done several rounds of OCI, I can tell you that the formula for getting a CB basically boils down to the following equation

1/100 (personality) + 99/100 (grades) = CB chances


If you take anything a screener says or does during OCI as indicative of your chances of getting a CB,* then you're either naive or ignorant, or both.

(*With the exception of them saying something like, "Please go away and never call us again.")

while i wouldn't quite say the odds are that grade-centric, it definitely is more so than personality-centric.

i'd estimate it at 75/25 favoring grades.

It varies widely by school and firm.

IAFG wrote:

Lasers wrote:

anon168 wrote:Having done several rounds of OCI, I can tell you that the formula for getting a CB basically boils down to the following equation

1/100 (personality) + 99/100 (grades) = CB chances


If you take anything a screener says or does during OCI as indicative of your chances of getting a CB,* then you're either naive or ignorant, or both.

(*With the exception of them saying something like, "Please go away and never call us again.")

while i wouldn't quite say the odds are that grade-centric, it definitely is more so than personality-centric.

i'd estimate it at 75/25 favoring grades.

It varies widely by school and firm.

good point. i imagine interviewers don't give a flying fuck about grades if you go to HYS.

Lasers wrote:

IAFG wrote:

Lasers wrote:

anon168 wrote:Having done several rounds of OCI, I can tell you that the formula for getting a CB basically boils down to the following equation

1/100 (personality) + 99/100 (grades) = CB chances


If you take anything a screener says or does during OCI as indicative of your chances of getting a CB,* then you're either naive or ignorant, or both.

(*With the exception of them saying something like, "Please go away and never call us again.")

while i wouldn't quite say the odds are that grade-centric, it definitely is more so than personality-centric.

i'd estimate it at 75/25 favoring grades.

It varies widely by school and firm.

good point. i imagine interviewers don't give a flying fuck about grades if you go to HYS.

wrong. they still do.

You'll know when you actually get a CB.

Anonymous User wrote:I'm finding it difficult to gauge my relative chances at callbacks from OCI. Assume for the sake of the exercise that I'm within the firms' grade ranges, have decent work experience, don't do anything stupid (i.e. normal haircut, shaven, conservative suit), am a fairly personable/sociable person, and have sufficient ties. The "problem" is this: The interviews (I've had about 1/3 of my screeners so far) all seem to go similarly; I enter the room and they ask about something on my resume. I give a decently thoughtful answer. I tell a little story or engage them in a question about their practice. I display knowledge of the firm and their practice areas. I mention specific cases or projects that they've worked on. Occasionally we'll veer into topics like football, music, or tv shows. Basically, a normal human conversation ensues. This continues for the full 20 minutes, or maybe a minute or so over.

Are these all good-ish signs or will the callbacks still depend on random voodoo that I can't control? For those of you with SAs or have gotten them in the past, is your gut reaction usually right? Occasionally? I really appreciate any insight!

If you are within the firms' grade range, then I would say yes. When my grades/journal were above a firm's normal range they pull from, then odds were against me. Still, only twice out of 29 screeners (went 20/29) was I surprised I didn't get a callback when I thought I would. But those were at firms where we really hit it off, they were just much less-grade selective firms at my school like Hughes Hubbard and Baker Botts.

As for what you do - the bolded part - my law review had a panel of former alum who conduct screeners at our school. The mix of partners and senior associates were from Skadden, S & C, Milbank, Cleary, and Simpson. They all agreed NOT to mention cases/deals they've worked on that are on their bio. They unanimously agreed that while it's on their website and easily accessible, they found it creepy. Also, they said the information is dated and while they may remember (though sometimes not) the case/deal, they have an entirely new workload that occupies them and their ability to talk about those old cases/deals is limited. In short, ask them about interesting things they're working on now, don't bring up specific things they've worked on you came across in your light internet stalking.

I once had a screener interview for a prosecutor position where the guy walked me out and whispered, "don't discuss any of the hypotheticals with anyone else, but you nailed every answer. Perfect." He then added that I was in a very good spot to get an offer over their summer interns.

And I never heard from that office again.

Anonymous User wrote:

Lasers wrote:interviewer straight up told me: "you have a lot to offer and i can tell you're going to get several offers." no callback.

Lol interviewer said the same exact thing to me. No callback either.

SAME TO ME! No CB from that firm!

Lasers wrote:interviewer straight up told me: "you have a lot to offer and i can tell you're going to get several offers." no callback.

I actually think this line is a bad sign.

bk187 wrote:

Lasers wrote:interviewer straight up told me: "you have a lot to offer and i can tell you're going to get several offers." no callback.

I actually think this line is a bad sign.

Now that you mention it, it was in one of my ding letters.