Downsides of massmailing firms coming to OCI? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm planning to do some massmailing before OCI starts and wonder whether I should contact the firms that are coming during OCI. I've heard that firms might frown upon you for not following the process. How true is this? Any other downside I'm not aware of? Thanks!

[Avian]

Is your school's OCI lottery or partial lottery? I suppose one downside (in addition to annoying the recruiters/hiring partner) is that they might fully reject you on paper before you've had a chance to try and change their mind at OCI. Not to say that firms don't already pre-reject some lottery OCI interview candidates as well, but I can't think it would help to be rejected an additional time before they actually interview you. I don't think there's much benefit either because you can always mass-mail after you get your interview schedule if you don't get an interview. The minor time advantage to mass-mailing early is pretty negligible because firms usually will not have extended many offers (if any) at the time you get your interview schedule.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=158683

[bwh8813]

If they're coming to your school, just follow the OCI process. That is how they will get your resume (and cover letter if they require one) and evaluate you. Most V50 firms' websites say something along those lines and then provide for a way for students to apply who attend schools they don't go to. Follow the instructions - not doing so is not the first impression you want to make. Besides, at best you likely just end up in your school's pile anyway.

If you have actual contacts at these firms, that's different and you should reach out to them as it may help get you a screener.

[Br3v]

If you mean should you mass mail firms that you have not got an OCI interview with but you might be able to snag one by mass mailing, yes you should do that.

[MurdockLLP]

Just for clarification then, we should not mass mail until after we find out our interviews through OCI?

[bruinfan10]

i don't see an appreciable downside. i had 5 offers lined up before OCI because I contacted my favorite firms early, told them i was in town for my 1L job, and said hey i'm happy to just come in now and skip the whole cattle call. i hustled aggressively, wasn't interested at all in school career office recommendations, etc. the only firm that didn't interview me early and forced me to wait until OCI still said my early contact showed enthusiasm, and that's actually the firm i ended up summering at.

law students are largely sheep, i believe strongly that you shouldn't follow the pack and need to take serious initiative to get ahead. that said, i was targeting firms i had the credentials for. if your stats aren't in the firms' range, they're not going to call you in early and may get annoyed that you wasted their time.

[patentlitigatrix]

Really don't think you should mass mail firms coming to OCI. Interview with them at OCI. If you don't get a slot, either mail in your resume or otherwise get in contact with them via OCI receptions/resume drops, etc.

And yeah, don't go too much against the grain, but don't be too much of a sheep either. Use common sense and common courtesy. I didn't get an interview slot with my number one choice even though I ranked them as number one in my bidding because at my school way too many people bid #1 on them. I contacted their recruiting, explained why I was really interested in the firm, and politely asked if they could squeeze me in for a screening interview. They couldn't in the formal process, but they had me meet with their screening interviewers at a coffee shop on campus early in the morning before the "official" slots began.

[Br3v]

Really don't think you should mass mail firms coming to OCI. Interview with them at OCI. If you don't get a slot, either mail in your resume or otherwise get in contact with them via OCI receptions/resume drops, etc.

That is mass mailing. OP, you should feel free to mass mail them.

[L’Étranger]

Said another way, if you have an OCI screener (or any other type of screener) with a firm, mass mailing is redundant.

[patentlitigatrix]

Really don't think you should mass mail firms coming to OCI. Interview with them at OCI. If you don't get a slot, either mail in your resume or otherwise get in contact with them via OCI receptions/resume drops, etc.

That is mass mailing. OP, you should feel free to mass mail them.

Not really the same at all, and this isn't pre-OCI. What I am referring to is for firms you wanted to get a slot with, and didn't for whatever reason, with the applications tailored to that situation. That's not going to be hundreds-that is going to be hopefully going to be only a handful to a dozen.

Regardless, mass mailing before OCI seems like a bad plan. It is just going to create unnecessary paperwork for the recruiters to go through (and potentially for recruiting committee members like me to deal with). That is annoying. It just seems so unnecessary if the firm is already coming to your school, and makes the applicant appear at least neurotic if not also ignorant of the recruiting process.

[Br3v]

Really don't think you should mass mail firms coming to OCI. Interview with them at OCI. If you don't get a slot, either mail in your resume or otherwise get in contact with them via OCI receptions/resume drops, etc.

That is mass mailing. OP, you should feel free to mass mail them.

Not really the same at all, and this isn't pre-OCI. What I am referring to is for firms you wanted to get a slot with, and didn't for whatever reason, with the applications tailored to that situation. That's not going to be hundreds-that is going to be hopefully going to be only a handful to a dozen.

Regardless, mass mailing before OCI seems like a bad plan. It is just going to create unnecessary paperwork for the recruiters to go through (and potentially for recruiting committee members like me to deal with). That is annoying. It just seems so unnecessary if the firm is already coming to your school, and makes the applicant appear at least neurotic if not also ignorant of the recruiting process.

If you mean should you mass mail firms that you have not got an OCI interview with but you might be able to snag one by mass mailing, yes you should do that.

[bruinfan10]

Regardless, mass mailing before OCI seems like a bad plan. It is just going to create unnecessary paperwork for the recruiters to go through (and potentially for recruiting committee members like me to deal with). That is annoying. It just seems so unnecessary if the firm is already coming to your school, and makes the applicant appear at least neurotic if not also ignorant of the recruiting process.

this is generally wrong, at least for quinn, dpw, stb, latham, weil, and gdc. i wasn't such an exceptional 1L candidate that those firms would've made a big exception for me (i didn't get callbacks at boies or keker), but i nonetheless received pre-oci interview offers and positive comments about taking the initiative from all of those firms save one, and that holdout mentioned at OCI that my early contact showed i was committed to the firm.

[Br3v]

I just see 0 chance of a firm that already liked you saying "this guy applied to us twice!? No way, we don't need that type of interest here."

[patentlitigatrix]

Regardless, mass mailing before OCI seems like a bad plan. It is just going to create unnecessary paperwork for the recruiters to go through (and potentially for recruiting committee members like me to deal with). That is annoying. It just seems so unnecessary if the firm is already coming to your school, and makes the applicant appear at least neurotic if not also ignorant of the recruiting process.

this is generally wrong, at least for quinn, dpw, stb, latham, weil, and gdc. i wasn't such an exceptional 1L candidate that those firms would've made a big exception for me (i didn't get callbacks at boies or keker), but i nonetheless received pre-oci interview offers and positive comments about taking the initiative from all of those firms save one, and that holdout mentioned at OCI that my early contact showed i was committed to the firm.

Fair enough. This is obviously firm specific and I didn't know that before now. The recruiting committee at my firm would definitely think something along the lines of "why is this person sending their stuff in pre-OCI if we are coming to their school," unless they include something in their cover letter about how they can't attend OCI or whatever. Indeed, we have had those exact discussions at our meetings.

I do wonder why there is a difference. One thing is that my firm is much much smaller than the ones you mentioned, definitely doesn't do OCI at the same range/number of schools as those bigger firms (so we actually have a lot of non-OCI applications to go through from schools where we don't attend OCI), and only have a a handful of in-house recruiters firm-wide and a tiny recruiting committee.

[soj]

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[soj]

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[First Offense]

Really don't think you should mass mail firms coming to OCI. Interview with them at OCI. If you don't get a slot, either mail in your resume or otherwise get in contact with them via OCI receptions/resume drops, etc.

And yeah, don't go too much against the grain, but don't be too much of a sheep either. Use common sense and common courtesy. I didn't get an interview slot with my number one choice even though I ranked them as number one in my bidding because at my school way too many people bid #1 on them. I contacted their recruiting, explained why I was really interested in the firm, and politely asked if they could squeeze me in for a screening interview. They couldn't in the formal process, but they had me meet with their screening interviewers at a coffee shop on campus early in the morning before the "official" slots began.

Ignore this advice.

[First Offense]

if you're not going to bother bidding a firm coming to oci (not even a throwaway bid at the bottom of your list), then yeah, don't bother massmailing them unless you are already in the area for the summer and can request an informational interview.

Eh - I think if you do it early enough it can be a huge benefit.

I guess it depends on the school bidding process too. My school was largely pre-select with a very limited number of slots. Mass mailing saved a lot of people from the fire.

[Br3v]

if you're not going to bother bidding a firm coming to oci (not even a throwaway bid at the bottom of your list), then yeah, don't bother massmailing them unless you are already in the area for the summer and can request an informational interview.

Eh - I think if you do it early enough it can be a huge benefit.

I guess it depends on the school bidding process too. My school was largely pre-select with a very limited number of slots. Mass mailing saved a lot of people from the fire.

I thought we were like half pre select half lottery?

[star fox]

It's probably against your schools rules. Mass Mail OCI firms once you don't get a scheduled interview through the process.

[First Offense]

if you're not going to bother bidding a firm coming to oci (not even a throwaway bid at the bottom of your list), then yeah, don't bother massmailing them unless you are already in the area for the summer and can request an informational interview.

Eh - I think if you do it early enough it can be a huge benefit.

I guess it depends on the school bidding process too. My school was largely pre-select with a very limited number of slots. Mass mailing saved a lot of people from the fire.

I thought we were like half pre select half lottery?

It can be all pre-select. I know some that got like 40 pre-select interviews and had to reject 17 of them.

Edit: Admittedly, I think those people probably don't have to worry much about mass-mailing in general, but still.

[Br3v]

if you're not going to bother bidding a firm coming to oci (not even a throwaway bid at the bottom of your list), then yeah, don't bother massmailing them unless you are already in the area for the summer and can request an informational interview.

Eh - I think if you do it early enough it can be a huge benefit.

I guess it depends on the school bidding process too. My school was largely pre-select with a very limited number of slots. Mass mailing saved a lot of people from the fire.

I thought we were like half pre select half lottery?

It can be all pre-select. I know some that got like 40 pre-select interviews and had to reject 17 of them.

Oh yeah it was like sliding scale

[soj]

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[20160810]

Doing this is a bit like wearing a condom to fuck a chick who's on birth control. It won't really hurt but people will think you're a bit of a goober if they find out.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks for all the helpful advice!

I wish to interview with as many firms as possible. Indeed, I can email and ask firms to squeeze me in if I don't get a slot, but there are only so many interviews I can go to and I don't want to exhaust myself during the intensive week. I also feel that I might have a better chance when attorneys take 20 minutes out of the daily work schedule to meet me than when they are spending the whole day meeting with 30 students like me.

It seems the slight majority suggests against doing this. Maybe I should save my top choices to OCI and email firms that I'm of less interest?