2L in-house interview tips? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm a 2L and I have an HR first-round interview with a Fortune 100 company (involved in food production) coming up. I struck out at OCI and mass-mailing unfortunately, but have never interviewed for an in-house position. I'm not sure how different these interviews are from big law screeners. I guess my biggest question is when they ask what I want to do, do I say the goal is to get into in-house as fast as possible and preferably after graduation, or should I be honest that I know it's hard to get into in-house without firm experience so I basically want to know what it's like from the situation of the client? i'm fairly certain this place doesn't make full time offers from summers so I don't want to sound dumb.

[BankruptMe]

Do they plan on hiring you afterwards?

When I was looking for 1L summer positions, I noticed that Ford, Alcoa, etc were hiring 2L Law Interns, but it never stated that they would intend to hire them afterwards, just "we are more diverse that law firm, come apply!!!"

[Anonymous User]

They probably don't plan on hiring. Hence it being entirely different from a normal 2L SA interview. I'm not sure how to approach it.

[Anonymous User]

I interviewed, accepted an offer, and participated in a program (not a law firm / corporation) that hired interns for a period of time, and would consider making full-time offers to a few people afterwards, but it wasn't necessarily normal or expected. I approached the interview saying that I would like to be a part of the program, but would be going on to law school afterwards unless they extended a job offer, which I would take.

In your position, I would say you are looking for a quality summer experience in an area of law/business that you want to do long term, but will seek other legal experiences afterwards to work towards your long-term goal, unless they give you an opportunity to stay on after graduation, which you would accept. Basically, gung-ho about the opportunity, but willing to either move on if they want you to or stay on if they want you to. It would make you seem like a straight-up, flexible, stressfree candidate.

[Anonymous User]

Be prepared to answer "why in-house"? Your answer to this should be fairly different from what'd you give for a 2L SA. I'd recommend trying to talk to people who have worked in-house before about that job experience to be prepared to give thoughtful answers.

[Anonymous User]

I worked in-house last summer. Some tips from my experience:
-Talk about any work experience you had during college/prior to law school
-In my experience, the name recognition/preftige of your school is more important than your grades. Especially in international corporations. The office manager told me that I had the lowest grades of anyone they interviewed, but they same day offered me.
-If they ask why you want to work in house, tell them you want to get experience from a client's perspective. They likely know that you ultimately want to work for a law firm.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the advice, all. i'm def going to emphasize wanting to know from a client's perspective. hopefully that's strong enough of an answer to be "why US over a law firm?" when the real answer is i couldnt get a big law job lol.

[Anonymous User]

What region is the in-house position in?

[Anonymous User]

It's in CA. super ties heavy place, unfortunately i learned out the hard way during OCI.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the advice, all. i'm def going to emphasize wanting to know from a client's perspective. hopefully that's strong enough of an answer to be "why US over a law firm?" when the real answer is i couldnt get a big law job lol.

It's not.

[scrowell]

Safeway? Good luck. I love working in-house. Emphasize that you're interested in business as well as law, and you think that this would be a good opportunity to learn about both.