People who got late offers Forum

[Anonymous User]

How late into the year did you get your offer?

I have 1 ding and 6 CB results I'm waiting on and I'm losing hope fast as Oct draws closer...
Really need some motivation...I would love to hear your success stories
I thought my CBs went pretty well, but my grades are really low, so I'm probably on a bunch of hold lists

Yes, I'm mass mailing :\

[Anonymous User]

Obviously keep up the job search, but keep your head up. I got my first job offer yesterday on a CB I had two and a half weeks ago. Got a second one today on one I had a week ago. FWIW, both of these firms sent out rejections to some people after their CBs. It might be less likely at firms who just wait until the very end to reject people.

[Anonymous User]

I didn't get a biglaw offer until November 17th. CSO, professors, my law school friends, and even my girlfriend and family told me I should stop searching and look into alternative paths -- but I didn't give up. It's never over until it's over. Good luck.

[glitched]

I didn't get a biglaw offer until November 17th. CSO, professors, my law school friends, and even my girlfriend and family told me I should stop searching and look into alternative paths -- but I didn't give up. It's never over until it's over. Good luck.

hi if you have time, could you PM me. I could really use some advice right now. Thanks.

[Anonymous User]

I'm in the same boat here. 9 callbacks 1 rejection a lot of silence. What worries me is that most of my callbacks were more than 2 weeks ago with some being more than 3 weeks ago. Not sure what to think.

[somewhatwayward]

What market(s), OP? There are some markets where firms are more likely to wait until they see all of the candidates before extending offers. Others, like NYC (in most cases), make rolling offers, but even in NYC people do get offers weeks or even months after a CB long after others have heard. Don't lose hope! And keep mass-mailing...

ETA: if you are comfortable with saying, what school range, and what are "bad" grades?

[Anonymous User]

I'm in the same boat here. 9 callbacks 1 rejection a lot of silence. What worries me is that most of my callbacks were more than 2 weeks ago with some being more than 3 weeks ago. Not sure what to think.

im in a similar boat- 8 cbs, 3 rejections silence on 5 ranging from 3 weeks ago (+) to one was last week... definitely been stressful waiting for the calls=/

[Anonymous User]

Obviously keep up the job search, but keep your head up. I got my first job offer yesterday on a CB I had two and a half weeks ago. Got a second one today on one I had a week ago. FWIW, both of these firms sent out rejections to some people after their CBs. It might be less likely at firms who just wait until the very end to reject people.

OP here - thanks for the encouragement and congratulations! Do you mind sharing which markets the offers were from? Did you follow up on the first job offer after the 2 wk mark?

[Anonymous User]

I didn't get a biglaw offer until November 17th. CSO, professors, my law school friends, and even my girlfriend and family told me I should stop searching and look into alternative paths -- but I didn't give up. It's never over until it's over. Good luck.

OP here - wow, that is amazing. Did you just keep mass mailing? Mind sharing a bit more about exactly how you got that success story?

[jess]

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[Anonymous User]

My CSO told me in early september that mass mailing is a waste of my time. I have kept on going... No offer yet, but I will continue. Glad to see some hopeful stories in here.

[Anonymous User]

I'm in the same boat here. 9 callbacks 1 rejection a lot of silence. What worries me is that most of my callbacks were more than 2 weeks ago with some being more than 3 weeks ago. Not sure what to think.

Waitlists should begin moving once the first wave of offers hits the 4-week wall. The question is how much and what firms. That being said not hearing, while bad, is better than straight rejection.

[Anonymous User]

I didn't get a biglaw offer until November 17th. CSO, professors, my law school friends, and even my girlfriend and family told me I should stop searching and look into alternative paths -- but I didn't give up. It's never over until it's over. Good luck.

OP here - wow, that is amazing. Did you just keep mass mailing? Mind sharing a bit more about exactly how you got that success story?

Nothing complicated really. I mass-mailed and kept applying. Interestingly, some of my early mass mailing were the ones I netted callbacks with, months after I first applied. I targeted firms in markets, and with practice groups, that I had a connection to. I ended up with 3 late callbacks in early November after previously striking out at a few callbacks during OCI. Of the three late callbacks - scattered between major and secondary markets - 1 turned into an offer, 1 turned into a rejection, and the third was cancelled shortly before my interview date.

It was a stressful period -- and my grades were horrible that semester -- but I had friends in the same boat who gave up right after OCI thinking the hiring season was over. A year later, they are still looking for work. So it pays to be proactive by spending lots of time now on looking for work, as opposed to focusing on grades, burying your head in journal work, or banking on a clerkship (which is much harder to land than a post OCI-biglaw job, let me tell you). While the window does close some after the initial OCI period, the market is still at this point on fire compared to trying to find a firm job as a 3L, or worse, a law graduate.

Of course, if your grades definitely don't cut it for biglaw or midlaw, don't waste your time applying to these types of jobs now (i.e. if you didn't get any OCI interviews at all, chances are you won't get any down the line either). But if you were on the fence, or you just don't interview that well, etc., your time will be well spent continuing the hunt for summer associate position.

[Anonymous User]

Offers are still coming. Even first round. Don't give up hope but also don't wait. Take action.

[Anonymous User]

I didn't get a biglaw offer until November 17th. CSO, professors, my law school friends, and even my girlfriend and family told me I should stop searching and look into alternative paths -- but I didn't give up. It's never over until it's over. Good luck.

OP here - wow, that is amazing. Did you just keep mass mailing? Mind sharing a bit more about exactly how you got that success story?

And was this a major market or secondary market?

Non-NYC, major. Was also interviewing in secondaries as well, though. If you have ties to secondary markets, this is the time to use them. Perhaps its more common to get a late offer in a secondary market. Perhaps not though, because the class sizes are much smaller generally.

[Anonymous User]

My CSO told me in early september that mass mailing is a waste of my time. I have kept on going... No offer yet, but I will continue. Glad to see some hopeful stories in here.

Your CSO deserves to be fired for telling you that. Mine told me to start applying to small firms on Martindale -- nothing wrong with those smaller firms of course, but most people on this board are looking for biglaw as they have a shitload of debt. I scored a V50 as late as November. (I'm the same guy as above)

Indeed, telling someone that mass mailing is a waste of time in September is like telling someone that if your house is burning down you might as well stay in your room and go back to sleep because ONE of your TWO exits is already in flames.

[Anonymous User]

I didn't get a biglaw offer until November 17th. CSO, professors, my law school friends, and even my girlfriend and family told me I should stop searching and look into alternative paths -- but I didn't give up. It's never over until it's over. Good luck.

OP here - wow, that is amazing. Did you just keep mass mailing? Mind sharing a bit more about exactly how you got that success story?

Nothing complicated really. I mass-mailed and kept applying. Interestingly, some of my early mass mailing were the ones I netted callbacks with, months after I first applied. I targeted firms in markets, and with practice groups, that I had a connection to. I ended up with 3 late callbacks in early November after previously striking out at a few callbacks during OCI. Of the three late callbacks - scattered between major and secondary markets - 1 turned into an offer, 1 turned into a rejection, and the third was cancelled shortly before my interview date.

It was a stressful period -- and my grades were horrible that semester -- but I had friends in the same boat who gave up right after OCI thinking the hiring season was over. A year later, they are still looking for work. So it pays to be proactive by spending lots of time now on looking for work, as opposed to focusing on grades, burying your head in journal work, or banking on a clerkship (which is much harder to land than a post OCI-biglaw job, let me tell you). While the window does close some after the initial OCI period, the market is still at this point on fire compared to trying to find a firm job as a 3L, or worse, a law graduate.

Of course, if your grades definitely don't cut it for biglaw or midlaw, don't waste your time applying to these types of jobs now (i.e. if you didn't get any OCI interviews at all, chances are you won't get any down the line either). But if you were on the fence, or you just don't interview that well, etc., your time will be well spent continuing the hunt for summer associate position.

OP here- thanks so much for that detailed answer. Did you ever follow up on your early mass mails that you ended up getting CBs with? I sent a whole bunch out to nyc firms in august that I never followed up on

Also, thank you everyone for your support. Gotta keep my head up!

[Anonymous User]

I didn't get a biglaw offer until November 17th. CSO, professors, my law school friends, and even my girlfriend and family told me I should stop searching and look into alternative paths -- but I didn't give up. It's never over until it's over. Good luck.

OP here - wow, that is amazing. Did you just keep mass mailing? Mind sharing a bit more about exactly how you got that success story?

Nothing complicated really. I mass-mailed and kept applying. Interestingly, some of my early mass mailing were the ones I netted callbacks with, months after I first applied. I targeted firms in markets, and with practice groups, that I had a connection to. I ended up with 3 late callbacks in early November after previously striking out at a few callbacks during OCI. Of the three late callbacks - scattered between major and secondary markets - 1 turned into an offer, 1 turned into a rejection, and the third was cancelled shortly before my interview date.

It was a stressful period -- and my grades were horrible that semester -- but I had friends in the same boat who gave up right after OCI thinking the hiring season was over. A year later, they are still looking for work. So it pays to be proactive by spending lots of time now on looking for work, as opposed to focusing on grades, burying your head in journal work, or banking on a clerkship (which is much harder to land than a post OCI-biglaw job, let me tell you). While the window does close some after the initial OCI period, the market is still at this point on fire compared to trying to find a firm job as a 3L, or worse, a law graduate.

Of course, if your grades definitely don't cut it for biglaw or midlaw, don't waste your time applying to these types of jobs now (i.e. if you didn't get any OCI interviews at all, chances are you won't get any down the line either). But if you were on the fence, or you just don't interview that well, etc., your time will be well spent continuing the hunt for summer associate position.

OP here- thanks so much for that detailed answer. Did you ever follow up on your early mass mails that you ended up getting CBs with? I sent a whole bunch out to nyc firms in august that I never followed up on

Also, thank you everyone for your support. Gotta keep my head up!

I don't think I ever followed up, personally. Doesn't mean it's not a good idea, however (it probably is). Good luck.

[Anonymous User]

Probably a dumb question, but when you say "mass mail" do you mean snail mail or email?

I've been emailing recruiters with my resume, writing sample, transcript, and cover letter attached. Haven't heard anything back yet, and I'm wondering if snail mail is the credited method of contact.

[Omerta]

I believe I got mine in late October. I had dozens of screeners and callback numbers in the high teens. It wasn't a fun process, but you gotta persevere. My experience was basically identical to the above poster.

Probably a dumb question, but when you say "mass mail" do you mean snail mail or email?

I've been emailing recruiters with my resume, writing sample, transcript, and cover letter attached. Haven't heard anything back yet, and I'm wondering if snail mail is the credited method of contact.

I would think that this would just irritate firms. Fortunately, firms are almost entirely electronic. I didn't send out a single paper app and I'm shaking thinking about how much time and money it would have taken to send out paper apps. Email all the way.

I don't think I ever followed up, personally. Doesn't mean it's not a good idea, however (it probably is). Good luck.

I followed up on every firm I was moderately interested in if I didn't get a response after about 1.5 weeks. No idea if it lead to getting callbacks, but I definitely think it did. I also parlayed screeners and callbacks incessantly. Ex. I scored a callback with a firm in a mid-sized market. I called every NALP firm in that market and turned 1 callback into 5; I set up all five in one week and just didn't go to school -- firms split the cost pro rata.

[Anonymous User]

I'm in the same boat here. 9 callbacks 1 rejection a lot of silence. What worries me is that most of my callbacks were more than 2 weeks ago with some being more than 3 weeks ago. Not sure what to think.

6 call-backs; 2 rejections; most were 2 weeks ago as of yesterday, one was a week and a half ago; secondary markets. Starting to worry as well.

[09042014]

Weird that so many are outstanding.

LAst year, you heard pretty freaking quick, either way.

[Anonymous User]

i wonder why firms are taking so long ? are more firms waiting to mass reject at the end or just slower to give offers so more people are in maybe piles? i just had the 4 week mark for my first callback and still total silence...

[Anonymous User]

11 CBs in three different markets starting 6 weeks ago (all V100). Haven't heard a peep from anyone until yesterday when I got a call out of the blue saying "we just got back from our last screening school." Trying to stay patient, but I'm definitely jumpy when the phone rings. Four more CBs in the next two weeks and a couple more on campus screeners. Hopefully someone takes my bait.

[Anonymous User]

11 CBs in three different markets starting 6 weeks ago (all V100). Haven't heard a peep from anyone until yesterday when I got a call out of the blue saying "we just got back from our last screening school." Trying to stay patient, but I'm definitely jumpy when the phone rings. Four more CBs in the next two weeks and a couple more on campus screeners. Hopefully someone takes my bait.

You had 11 callbacks, and haven't heard back from anyone, either which way? That's just bizarre.