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I interviewed with a firm last year as a 2L, got called back, but ultimately didn't get an offer. I received an offer from my firm this summer but am still interested in working at the firm I got rejected at last year. The firm is coming to OCI again, to interview 2Ls as well as 3Ls, and one of the interviewers is someone who interviewed me during callbacks and the other came to my school last year for screeners.

How do I handle this situation? Should I acknowledged that I interviewed last year and that I remain very interested in the firm? Or should I pretend like I'm meeting them for the first time? I was thinking about talking about what a good experience I had during my callback interviews at the firm to answer the "why us?" question, but I'm not sure if this is a good idea because it highlights the fact that I got rejected last year.

They have records. They will know that you interviewed with them last year and that they rejected you after a callback, so there's no point in trying to hide it. In fact, if you do, it will look strange. So just say you really liked their firm when you interviewed last year and, while you have an offer from your SA firm, you remain interested in working with them. But don't get your hopes up. Unless their needs have changed or your profile has changed (e.g., big jump in grades 2L year), if they rejected you last year, they're probably going to do the same this year.

enibs wrote:They have records. They will know that you interviewed with them last year and that they rejected you after a callback, so there's no point in trying to hide it. In fact, if you do, it will look strange. So just say you really liked their firm when you interviewed last year and, while you have an offer from your SA firm, you remain interested in working with them. But don't get your hopes up. Unless their needs have changed or your profile has changed (e.g., big jump in grades 2L year), if they rejected you last year, they're probably going to do the same this year.

do people ever get 3L offers from firms that rejected them during 2L OCI (no CB)

remember all the bullshit you lied about in the first interview

enibs wrote:They have records. They will know that you interviewed with them last year and that they rejected you after a callback, so there's no point in trying to hide it. In fact, if you do, it will look strange. So just say you really liked their firm when you interviewed last year and, while you have an offer from your SA firm, you remain interested in working with them. But don't get your hopes up. Unless their needs have changed or your profile has changed (e.g., big jump in grades 2L year), if they rejected you last year, they're probably going to do the same this year.

Doubt grades had much influence at the cb stage but if there's a need and you were a close call you have a shot. These are two somewhat unlikely things, though.

enibs wrote:They have records. They will know that you interviewed with them last year and that they rejected you after a callback, so there's no point in trying to hide it. In fact, if you do, it will look strange. So just say you really liked their firm when you interviewed last year and, while you have an offer from your SA firm, you remain interested in working with them. But don't get your hopes up. Unless their needs have changed or your profile has changed (e.g., big jump in grades 2L year), if they rejected you last year, they're probably going to do the same this year.

I know this would be true of the HR people but do the interviewers typically look at that information before taking interviews?

Either way I doubt the interviewer would completely forget you so I think the OP is either in a situation where they acknowledge they did not receive an offer or the interviewer will think the OP received an offer and rejected for something else and is now coming back. The former seems a better position to me.