Bad Interview Moments Forum

[A. Nony Mouse]

why did you go to law school?
Are you enjoying law school? What do you like/dislike about it?
What classes do you enjoy/dislike?
Do you feel you're getting a good legal education?
If you could go back and decide whether to go to law school again, would you do it?
Do you feel your GPA and/or class rank is representative of your legal abilities?
Why do you think you'd make a good lawyer?
What is your biggest weakness?
Do you like working on your own or on a team?

I googled 'oci questions' and got this lol. Would you guys say this is what I can expect? or is it more behavioral?

There are lots and lots of threads about OCI interviewing in this forum. I totally get why you're asking about this, but it would be a shame to turn this thread into another advice thread.

[Loney M. Setnick]

I loved the Kirkland & Ellis/Chicago marathon story as well as the "Make America Great Again" hiring partner, but the story below is my favorite. I wish I had been there to observe the associates' facial expressions when it happened

At a callback during the meal portion I'm drinking some water and the associates ask me a question. In my haste to answer the question water dribbled out of my mouth, down my chin, and onto my lap. I tried to discreetly wipe my mouth and lap while answering the question. I'm sure this isn't the reason why, but no offer.

[Anonymous User]

Interview went well. I went to shake the partner's hand but he started reading an email on his phone. He zoned out as he was reading it and didn't let go of my hand for like 10-15 seconds. Other associates around us kept making eye contact with me, and it felt like hours went by. So fucking awkward.

[Anonymous User]

My resume had a line describing some volunteer work I did building homes in a hurricane-ravaged region. Following the advice that every resume line should contain a brief explanation of what the candidate learned from the experience, I put the following description under the line describing my volunteer work: "Gained a unique understanding of the socioeconomic diversity of the United States." I though it sounded pretty high-minded.

My resume worked quite well until I got to one particular screener. After she asked some warm up questions, a cold look came over my interviewer's face and, her voice dripping with incredulity and even disgust, she said, "What does this mean, 'Gained a unique understanding of the socioeconomic diversity of the United States'?"

I stammered, "Um, I... grew up in the suburbs?"

She ended the interview shortly thereafter, and I did not get a call back. I promptly took that line off of my resume.

Honestly I would have dinged you myself. It is not your fault but saying you "learned there are poor people out there" makes you sound like a white guy from Orange County.

[patentlitigatrix]

My resume had a line describing some volunteer work I did building homes in a hurricane-ravaged region. Following the advice that every resume line should contain a brief explanation of what the candidate learned from the experience, I put the following description under the line describing my volunteer work: "Gained a unique understanding of the socioeconomic diversity of the United States." I though it sounded pretty high-minded.

My resume worked quite well until I got to one particular screener. After she asked some warm up questions, a cold look came over my interviewer's face and, her voice dripping with incredulity and even disgust, she said, "What does this mean, 'Gained a unique understanding of the socioeconomic diversity of the United States'?"

I stammered, "Um, I... grew up in the suburbs?"

She ended the interview shortly thereafter, and I did not get a call back. I promptly took that line off of my resume.

Honestly I would have dinged you myself. It is not your fault but saying you "learned there are poor people out there" makes you sound like a white guy from Orange County.

Yeah that's terrible. Both the line on the resume and the response. There is nothing wrong being a white guy from the OC per se, but particularly as someone who is not from the suburbs, it would have made me roll my eyes.

[El Pollito]

lol at putting that on your resume

[Bluem_11]

My resume had a line describing some volunteer work I did building homes in a hurricane-ravaged region. Following the advice that every resume line should contain a brief explanation of what the candidate learned from the experience, I put the following description under the line describing my volunteer work: "Gained a unique understanding of the socioeconomic diversity of the United States." I though it sounded pretty high-minded.

My resume worked quite well until I got to one particular screener. After she asked some warm up questions, a cold look came over my interviewer's face and, her voice dripping with incredulity and even disgust, she said, "What does this mean, 'Gained a unique understanding of the socioeconomic diversity of the United States'?"

I stammered, "Um, I... grew up in the suburbs?"

She ended the interview shortly thereafter, and I did not get a call back. I promptly took that line off of my resume.

Honestly I would have dinged you myself. It is not your fault but saying you "learned there are poor people out there" makes you sound like a white guy from Orange County.

The worst part is 'unique' there. Like you've discovered the mystery of poor people.

[LaLiLuLeLo]

It will never cease to amaze me that someone could write something like that, read it over, and think, "Yup, that sounds fantastic!"

[rpupkin]

It will never cease to amaze me that someone could write something like that, read it over, and think, "Yup, that sounds fantastic!"

To be fair, I think the real problem lies here:

"Following the advice that every resume line should contain a brief explanation of what the candidate learned from the experience . . . ."

This is just horrible advice. I think many resumes are ruined by "experts" who have strange ideas about what an applicant needs to do in order to stand out.

[Micdiddy]

It will never cease to amaze me that someone could write something like that, read it over, and think, "Yup, that sounds fantastic!"

To be fair, I think the real problem lies here:

"Following the advice that every resume line should contain a brief explanation of what the candidate learned from the experience . . . ."

This is just horrible advice. I think many resumes are ruined by "experts" who have strange ideas about what an applicant needs to do in order to stand out.

Now that you point this out, I realize that I have never once heard that advice before. Who is advising you, OP?
I thought the common wisdom was to add a line about what you did,like "I bagged groceries," not like "I learned the important role a grocery bagger plays in the community."

[Anonymous User]

It will never cease to amaze me that someone could write something like that, read it over, and think, "Yup, that sounds fantastic!"

To be fair, I think the real problem lies here:

"Following the advice that every resume line should contain a brief explanation of what the candidate learned from the experience . . . ."

This is just horrible advice. I think many resumes are ruined by "experts" who have strange ideas about what an applicant needs to do in order to stand out.

Now that you point this out, I realize that I have never once heard that advice before. Who is advising you, OP?
I thought the common wisdom was to add a line about what you did,like "I bagged groceries," not like "I learned the important role a grocery bagger plays in the community."

honestly i agree and i wanted to point this out but i held my words in case there was common practice out there that only I didn't know of. But now that everyone mentioned this, not only does no one other than the op himself does it, but I have never heard of such advice and it sounds awful.

[Calvin Murphy]

It will never cease to amaze me that someone could write something like that, read it over, and think, "Yup, that sounds fantastic!"

To be fair, I think the real problem lies here:

"Following the advice that every resume line should contain a brief explanation of what the candidate learned from the experience . . . ."

This is just horrible advice. I think many resumes are ruined by "experts" who have strange ideas about what an applicant needs to do in order to stand out.

Now that you point this out, I realize that I have never once heard that advice before. Who is advising you, OP?
I thought the common wisdom was to add a line about what you did,like "I bagged groceries," not like "I learned the important role a grocery bagger plays in the community."

honestly i agree and i wanted to point this out but i held my words in case there was common practice out there that only I didn't know of. But now that everyone mentioned this, not only does no one other than the op himself does it, but I have never heard of such advice and it sounds awful.

I, too have waited for other people to say something mean on the internet before jumping in on the pile with an anonymous post.

Actually no, I haven't. I'm also wondering who gave the initial advice & hoping it wasn't the career services office.

[Anonymous User]

Near the end of easily the best screener I have had so far I made a (pretty dumb/unfunny) joke that relied on the premise of "all Germans are Nazis"--to the German interviewer.

Don't have high hopes anymore.

[rpupkin]

Near the end of easily the best screener I have had so far I made a (pretty dumb/unfunny) joke that relied on the premise of "all Germans are Nazis"--to the German interviewer.

Don't have high hopes anymore.

C'mon, we deserve to hear the actual joke and the full context. Was it a German law firm? Did your joke involve the holocaust?

This has 180 potential, and you're anonymous. I demand to be entertained.

[Anonymous User]

Near the end of easily the best screener I have had so far I made a (pretty dumb/unfunny) joke that relied on the premise of "all Germans are Nazis"--to the German interviewer.

Don't have high hopes anymore.

C'mon, we deserve to hear the actual joke and the full context. Was it a German law firm? Did your joke involve the holocaust?

This has 180 potential, and you're anonymous. I demand to be entertained.

wtf this is something Brad Pitt would say

[Anonymous User]

Near the end of easily the best screener I have had so far I made a (pretty dumb/unfunny) joke that relied on the premise of "all Germans are Nazis"--to the German interviewer.

Don't have high hopes anymore.

C'mon, we deserve to hear the actual joke and the full context. Was it a German law firm? Did your joke involve the holocaust?

This has 180 potential, and you're anonymous. I demand to be entertained.

He was asking about a political activity on my resume to that was essentially ____ youth. I'm an international and don't believe the US would have an appropriate analogy but when I started saying that he interrupted to say ~" we have basically the same thing back in Germany." To which I said something along the lines of "I guess a political youth group would have a worse connotation in Germany though" as the worst attempt at a joke I've made recently.

Not a German firm, didn't even know he was originally from Germany (basically no accent).

[rpupkin]

Near the end of easily the best screener I have had so far I made a (pretty dumb/unfunny) joke that relied on the premise of "all Germans are Nazis"--to the German interviewer.

Don't have high hopes anymore.

C'mon, we deserve to hear the actual joke and the full context. Was it a German law firm? Did your joke involve the holocaust?

This has 180 potential, and you're anonymous. I demand to be entertained.

He was asking about a political activity on my resume to that was essentially ____ youth. I'm an international and don't believe the US would have an appropriate analogy but when I started saying that he interrupted to say ~" we have basically the same thing back in Germany." To which I said something along the lines of "I guess a political youth group would have a worse connotation in Germany though" as the worst attempt at a joke I've made recently.

Not a German firm, didn't even know he was originally from Germany (basically no accent).

Thanks for sharing. For what it's worth, that doesn't sound all that bad.

[Anonymous User]

Near the end of easily the best screener I have had so far I made a (pretty dumb/unfunny) joke that relied on the premise of "all Germans are Nazis"--to the German interviewer.

Don't have high hopes anymore.

C'mon, we deserve to hear the actual joke and the full context. Was it a German law firm? Did your joke involve the holocaust?

This has 180 potential, and you're anonymous. I demand to be entertained.

He was asking about a political activity on my resume to that was essentially ____ youth. I'm an international and don't believe the US would have an appropriate analogy but when I started saying that he interrupted to say ~" we have basically the same thing back in Germany." To which I said something along the lines of "I guess a political youth group would have a worse connotation in Germany though" as the worst attempt at a joke I've made recently.

Not a German firm, didn't even know he was originally from Germany (basically no accent).

Thanks for sharing. For what it's worth, that doesn't sound all that bad.

Yeah I didn't mean to get your hopes up about being 180 (hence the generic version first). It wasn't like I was thrown out but it felt a little different after and it's enough to make me not expect a callback.

[Wipfelder]

I mean, either of you could be taking about the Hitler Youth or the Young Pioneers in DDR. But both organizations had instances of basically cumpulsory service for young men.

And also, it really does have a different, sometimes negative connotation in Germany........its been a rough century in ol' Central Europe

[cron1834]

Near the end of easily the best screener I have had so far I made a (pretty dumb/unfunny) joke that relied on the premise of "all Germans are Nazis"--to the German interviewer.

Don't have high hopes anymore.

C'mon, we deserve to hear the actual joke and the full context. Was it a German law firm? Did your joke involve the holocaust?

This has 180 potential, and you're anonymous. I demand to be entertained.

He was asking about a political activity on my resume to that was essentially ____ youth. I'm an international and don't believe the US would have an appropriate analogy but when I started saying that he interrupted to say ~" we have basically the same thing back in Germany." To which I said something along the lines of "I guess a political youth group would have a worse connotation in Germany though" as the worst attempt at a joke I've made recently.

Not a German firm, didn't even know he was originally from Germany (basically no accent).

Thanks for sharing. For what it's worth, that doesn't sound all that bad.

Yeah I didn't mean to get your hopes up about being 180 (hence the generic version first). It wasn't like I was thrown out but it felt a little different after and it's enough to make me not expect a callback.

I enjoyed. This thread goes stale after October, and I for one am excited to see it rise like a Phoenix.

[Anonymous User]

Not from OCI, but I went to what I thought was a post-grad, post-bar, school-paid internship interview I set up. (In my region and practice area, no one hires you until you know you've passed the bar and your start date is usually the day after swearing-in, so this is pretty routine.) I show up expecting a relatively chill chat with a potential supervisor where I try to convince them to let me work for free. They bring me in to a full panel interview and start by announcing, "oh, we just fired someone and have an entry level spot open ASAP, so this is an interview for a real job." So, that was a great start.

One particular asshole on the panel did the following:
- quizzed me for literally for like 15 minutes about WHY I didn't make moot court, while no one else in the room really tried to intervene. It went kind of like this: Him: So, you weren't on moot court? Me: No, I participated in our school's 1L competition, which is the only opportunity to make the board. I had a great learning experience and enjoyed it blah blah blah. Him: So why exactly didn't you make the board? Me: Well, I think it's pretty standard that only the top X% are invited to the board. I apparently didn't make that cut but I learned a lot from the experience, I think I did well in X areas, and later did X competition to further work on my skills in XYZ. Him: No, what exactly are your personal shortcomings that you failed to make the cut? What did you do wrong that you didn't score high enough. ... etc. etc. etc. This went on forever, no idea what eventually came out of my mouth regarding my personal failings in moot court competition that satisfied him to make us move on to another topic.
- quizzed me for about 10 minutes about a minor criminal offense from 10 years prior (which came up when I was asked if anything negative would show up on my background check). gave a standard interview answer that amounts to I was young and stupid, definitely learned from the experience, clearly an anomaly compared to the rest of my life, gives me perspective on the justice system, etc. Asks a million invasive follow-up questions. Finally asks "did you feel like you failed your parents?" This is where I start crying.

p.s. got the job. three years later I still work here, happy as a clam, and my d-bag interviewer got shitcanned awhile ago for being batshit insane. karma.

[bretby]

Near the end of easily the best screener I have had so far I made a (pretty dumb/unfunny) joke that relied on the premise of "all Germans are Nazis"--to the German interviewer.

Don't have high hopes anymore.

C'mon, we deserve to hear the actual joke and the full context. Was it a German law firm? Did your joke involve the holocaust?

This has 180 potential, and you're anonymous. I demand to be entertained.

He was asking about a political activity on my resume to that was essentially ____ youth. I'm an international and don't believe the US would have an appropriate analogy but when I started saying that he interrupted to say ~" we have basically the same thing back in Germany." To which I said something along the lines of "I guess a political youth group would have a worse connotation in Germany though" as the worst attempt at a joke I've made recently.

Not a German firm, didn't even know he was originally from Germany (basically no accent).

I am always surprised at how sensitive Germans - even young Germans - are about Nazis. A lot of my German friends complain about the sheer quantity of Hitler/Nazi references and jokes in the U.S. Until they complained, I hadn't really noticed just how pervasive they are, but they are everywhere.

[pancakes3]

it's a big deal in germany and highly taboo. they carry a deep national shame about the whole thing. iirc holocaust denial is a crime there.

[Wipfelder]

It kinda sucks being stigmatized for something pretty much everyone in Europe was involved in. We blame Germany basically because they lost the war and it was politically convenient.

But on the other hand, having spent many years in rural Bavaria and Austria, there is a certain amount of pride and reverence for what the German people's were able to "accomplish" with the whole world against them........

Secret Opinion shared by many Germans:

"Boy, the Holocaust and the migrations out of the east were really awful....but we sure showed those Frenchies and Slavs. If it weren't for those meddling Yankees, amirite!?"

[lavarman84]

It kinda sucks being stigmatized for something pretty much everyone in Europe was involved in. We blame Germany basically because they lost the war and it was politically convenient.

But on the other hand, having spent many years in rural Bavaria and Austria, there is a certain amount of pride and reverence for what the German people's were able to "accomplish" with the whole world against them........

Secret Opinion shared by many Germans:

"Boy, the Holocaust and the migrations out of the east were really awful....but we sure showed those Frenchies and Slavs. If it weren't for those meddling Yankees, amirite!?"

No, we blame the Germans because they were the ones who organized it and ordered it. We're not talking about WWI here. The Germans are absolutely to blame for the Holocaust.