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OCI Fail- Drop?

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:36 pm
by Anonymous User
Out of around 30-45 OCI Applications I have only been selected for one interview. OCI at my school is purely pre-select.

Currently 2L attending a T30 (Below Median) , 1L summer at a F500 Corporation.

Want government gig but loosing hope. Should I drop? Or alternative advice?

Re: OCI Fail- Drop?

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:41 pm
by ymmv
No bites through mailing? How many mailers have you sent? Which markets are you targeting?

Re: OCI Fail- Drop?

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:46 pm
by TLSUSER22
Have had a few screeners that lead to rejections. These screeners were through my 1L internship.

Rejected by state governemnt in NYC. Have one interview pending from federal government.

Three interviews next week through job fairs (2 from job fair) and the one from OCI.

Markets, basically I am targeting any and all major cities. The issue is ofc is that government is on a different hiring scheme, many applications due around March. Those that were due earlier, I applied for. I mass mailed but no bite, I would say I mass mailed 75+ offices (that is low).

Re: OCI Fail- Drop?

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:48 pm
by BVest
Anonymous User wrote:Out of around 30-45 OCI Applications I have only been selected for one interview. OCI at my school is purely pre-select.

Currently 2L attending a T30 (Below Median) , 1L summer at a F500 Corporation.

Want government gig but loosing hope. Should I drop? Or alternative advice?
What kind of government gig? And are they even interviewing in this round of OCI? If not, it probably shouldn't concern you that you only got one interview with firms considering that's not what you're aiming for anyway.

Somebody sure hit the panic button around here in the last 5 minutes.

Look, I understand that it stinks to not have as great an OCI experience as you were hoping for. I've been there. (Got my 2nd half gig in January and my first half gig after finals). But you keep plugging away at it, taking advantage of every opportunity that the CSO has and start (if you haven't already) mass-mailing.

You've got time that you presumably set aside for OCI interviews. Use it to build your excel file of agencies/firms you want to mass mail and to craft your mail-merge cover letter.

Re: OCI Fail- Drop?

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:50 pm
by ymmv
Yeah, I missed the hint that by OCI you meant exclusively gov interviews. That time table is glacially slow by comparison with firms, from what I hear.

Re: OCI Fail- Drop?

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:51 pm
by BVest
TLSUSER22 wrote:The issue is ofc is that government is on a different hiring scheme, many applications due around March.
Yeah, that happens. That's why I wondered if they were even participating in OCI.

Re: OCI Fail- Drop?

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:54 pm
by TLSUSER22
My bad let me clarify.

There are basically no governemnt agencies at our OCI. But I doubt getting governemtn gigs is any easier and I am afraid that my stats will not lead anywhere.

Re: OCI Fail- Drop?

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:56 pm
by ymmv
TLSUSER22 wrote:My bad let me clarify.

There are basically no governemnt agencies at our OCI. But I doubt getting governemtn gigs is any easier and I am afraid that my stats will not lead anywhere.
Gov gigs in general care way less about grades. Or so it is frequently said. Start hustling after OCI and don't stop - it's a long haul marathon in PI, not a sprint.

Re: OCI Fail- Drop?

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 9:33 pm
by randomstudent
Would you be happy with working at a smaller firm?

Re: OCI Fail- Drop?

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 9:50 pm
by Nomo
This depends on how much you're borrowing, how far below median you are, and how you feel about working working at a small firm or for a solo.

You may already know this, but getting a 2L summer government job is incredibly easy compared to getting a government job after graduation. Its night and day.

Re: OCI Fail- Drop?

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 9:56 pm
by TLSUSER22
Small firm is not on my agenda but worse comes to worst I can do it for a few years. How far below median? Hard to tell, the median is around 3.3 and I am currently at a 3.177. After median the school stops ranking so I do not know how far behind I am.

Re: OCI Fail- Drop?

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:50 pm
by ymmv
Nomo wrote:This depends on how much you're borrowing, how far below median you are, and how you feel about working working at a small firm or for a solo.

You may already know this, but getting a 2L summer government job is incredibly easy compared to getting a government job after graduation. Its night and day.
I mean it's pretty easy to get a government job after graduation, too. Just not to get paid.