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I’m a KJD at a T14 school with slightly above median grades. I’m not entirely confident about landing on a job at OCI so I’m considering doing some pre-OCI job search. My concern is that I’m not spending the summer in the market I want to go so I won’t be able to do call-backs in my target market until one week before the OCI at my school starts. If that is the case, does pre-OCI job search still add value? If yes, when should I start contacting firms? Should I contact the firms that are going to interview at my school anyway? Thanks for any input!

Yes. Absolutely.

And, consider that in many instances the pre-OCI job process might be a phone screener and then callback or just straight to callback, at which point the firm will pay for travel. Unless you're at a 1L SA you're thinking of returning to or some other situation where it will irreparably harm your reputation to take time off for a callback (which is unlikely for the most part in 1L jobs), then you should take time off for a callback.

Second this. I am doing a fed judicial internship in a major/home/target market and really want to get a jump on OCI. I know a lot of this is intuitive, but any specific from those who have successfully done this in the past is surely welcomed.

think i mailed in the first ten-fifteen days of july. i was in the town i targeted most heavily and still only maybe 2 callbacks before i had to go back to school for interviews there in august. picked up more later from the mailings. some of the non NY etc markets move slowly.

i didn't contact firms that were coming to school anyway, but if i were doing it again i probably would. i think my CSO said not to and a handful of people did it because collective action etc. details are a bit fuzzy, it didn't really matter to me at the time.

for a KJD with only slightly better than median grades i would go ahead and spam whoever the hell is hiring in the town you're in now, too. get offers first, get picky later. you're in a town, that's kind of a tie, try to leverage it while you're there into a fallback. you're not really in a position to leave stones unturned.

Yes do it. By the time I got to OCI last year I already knew a few of the recruiters and it helped a lot.