Career Fair Interview Offer, worth it? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I received an offer to interview at a career fair. I am currently out of state and would have to fly over there.

I was wondering if it is worth the money. Do you think the fact that I got an interview means I have a good chance, or are they just going through the motions?

[Anonymous User]

i got a latham preselect even though i'm pretty sure i have no chance. maybe some firms give out their allotted amount of preselects to the best candidates available, even if some of those are below their cutoffs?

[Anonymous User]

i got a latham preselect even though i'm pretty sure i have no chance. maybe some firms give out their allotted amount of preselects to the best candidates available, even if some of those are below their cutoffs?

sorry, didn't mean to imply you're in the same positionas i am with the latham interview. just meant to say that in some cases, yes - i think the firms are just "going through the motions." in your case, can you check what GPA that firm usually gives callbacks to at whatever school you're at? that should make you able to estimate whether you have a chance.

[Anonymous User]

I received an offer to interview for Bowman at the career fair. I am currently out of state and would have to fly over there.

I was wondering if it is worth the money. Do you think the fact that I got an interview means I have a good chance, or are they just going through the motions?

Also, would it be bad if I emailed them and asked if it would be possible to interview in one of their offices (which happens to be in a state I am currently in), instead of the career fair?

I would not fly out there under the circumstances. I would try to get a phone interview or an interview at the nearest office.

[Anonymous User]

I received an offer to interview for Bowman at the career fair. I am currently out of state and would have to fly over there.

I was wondering if it is worth the money. Do you think the fact that I got an interview means I have a good chance, or are they just going through the motions?

Also, would it be bad if I emailed them and asked if it would be possible to interview in one of their offices (which happens to be in a state I am currently in), instead of the career fair?

I would not fly out there under the circumstances. I would try to get a phone interview or an interview at the nearest office.

How much would it cost you to fly out there for the day? I'm in a similar position as you and will be spending $300 to fly out for just the day. I have 2 interviews, so it's a slightly different sitch, but the way I see it the $300 is not a bad deal. The firms I'm screening with are midlaw but have offices in my target market, so that's something. Also, I feel like I'm not in a position to turn down any screeners (not sure what your situation is). Equally important, if I get an offer out of it, even if I'm not totally sold on it, I'll at least have it in my back pocket going into OCI, which wil give me more confidence and make my interviewing style more relaxed. For that, I think the $300 is worth it. But depending on your costs and your school/GPA/OCI situation, that may not be the case for you.

[Anonymous User]

I completely agree and I definitely think it's worth it if it really is a legit interview. The only reason I am unsure is because I am worried that this might not even be an interview in the sense they might not be serious about me. If they are just inviting back a bunch of people with no real interest and just going through the motions even though I have no real chance, then it seems like a total sham.

[Anonymous User]

I completely agree and I definitely think it's worth it if it really is a legit interview. The only reason I am unsure is because I am worried that this might not even be an interview in the sense they might not be serious about me. If they are just inviting back a bunch of people with no real interest and just going through the motions even though I have no real chance, then it seems like a total sham.

True, but who can really know? For me I think it's worth the $300 risk. At the very least, I'll get some extra interview practice out of it. And if that helps me score the $160k job, I'd say the risk was well worth the reward.

Also, do we even know if firms are obligated to take a certain number of screeners? Since this job fair seems more like a resume drop than a bidding-type of OCI, my wishful thinking guess is that firms only invite screeners to those who legitimately have a shot. Seems to make sense in my head anyway. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this.

[Anonymous User]

Don't know why Latham would be handing out these invistes. However, by doing so, they're showing that they "support diversity" effort. The problem is that their normal GPA cutoff at my school is about 0.5-0.8 above mine, so what's the point? There's no way, I'd fly out for that just for Latham.
However, if a regional firm offered an interview, I'd probably think about it because it's a whole lot more believable and more likely to be legitimate.

[cinephile]

At some law schools (such as mine), they "reimburse" you for interview related expenses if you can submit documentation (tickets, hotel receipts, etc.). It's not real reimbursement, it just means you can take out more loans in the fall. But that allows you to pay your credit card bill if you want to get a flight/hotel on credit now and are worried about paying for it.

[Anonymous User]

At some law schools (such as mine), they "reimburse" you for interview related expenses if you can submit documentation (tickets, hotel receipts, etc.). It's not real reimbursement, it just means you can take out more loans in the fall. But that allows you to pay your credit card bill if you want to get a flight/hotel on credit now and are worried about paying for it.

So you're saying we should borrow the $$$ to attend this charity event, where the firms just go through the motions?

[cinephile]

At some law schools (such as mine), they "reimburse" you for interview related expenses if you can submit documentation (tickets, hotel receipts, etc.). It's not real reimbursement, it just means you can take out more loans in the fall. But that allows you to pay your credit card bill if you want to get a flight/hotel on credit now and are worried about paying for it.

So you're saying we should borrow the $$$ to attend this charity event, where the firms just go through the motions?

If you don't think there's a chance of getting an offer, then don't go. But I don't know which firm you're talking about, your stats, or whether this firm normally gives offers to students at career fairs -- but people do actually get jobs from career fairs. So it might be worth it depending on your situation.

[Anonymous User]

What career fair, what firm, and what are your stats? I went to a career fair once (one of those diversity ones) and it was a complete waste of time.