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I have been lucky in getting quite a few Pre-OCI offers/callbacks. Now that I have a few firms locked down that I would be comfortable with working at, I am thinking about turning down some callbacks at firms that are weaker/don't have the practice areas I want in the market I am targeting. How do I politely turn them down?

Thank you, but I have decided to not interview at this time.

r6_philly wrote:Thank you, but I have decided to not interview at this time.

Dont say this unless you are a total dick. Just say "Thank you very much for offering to interview me. However I decided to accept an offer at another firm. I appreciate your time and consideration. Have a great rest of your week.

No a total dick would say nothing. A simple thank you no thank you would be enough.

Also, would you want a letter from a firm telling you that unfortunately they are not able to offer you a position, or one that says they are going with another candidate?

Anonymous User wrote:

r6_philly wrote:Thank you, but I have decided to not interview at this time.

Dont say this unless you are a total dick. Just say "Thank you very much for offering to interview me. However I decided to accept an offer at another firm. I appreciate your time and consideration. Have a great rest of your week.

Great reply but one caution, my experience is that they will ask you what firm you are going to. Be prepared for that.

Toni V wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

r6_philly wrote:Thank you, but I have decided to not interview at this time.

Dont say this unless you are a total dick. Just say "Thank you very much for offering to interview me. However I decided to accept an offer at another firm. I appreciate your time and consideration. Have a great rest of your week.

Great reply but one caution, my experience is that they will ask you what firm you are going to. Be prepared for that.

That is none of their business. Op should not and is not obligated to answer that. Assuming this is email. Thats just weird and i doubt they would as that. It is like a reject applicant asking who the firm hired instead, except because of the disparity in power dynamic it is 100 times weirder and docuhey.

Mine is anecdotal. I’d say most of the time (on phone) it’s asked....common response if you say you received an offer.

I had firms ask me at callback what other firms I have offers from. Some firms care about decorum less than others.

In the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter because you are turning them down. Just a thank you, no thank you is plenty. Seeing that I have never heard back from a few firms after callback, I don't feel anyone owe recruiting departments much more. I'd feel different if I was dealing with attorneys.

Toni V wrote:Mine is anecdotal. I’d say most of the time (on phone) it’s asked....common response if you say you received an offer.

I think such firm will still ask why op is not interviewing anymore after being invited to a callback. Same crap really.

However, if there was a point of contact who communicated primarily over the phone he should break up over the phone.

r6_philly wrote:I had firms ask me at callback what other firms I have offers from. Some firms care about decorum less than others.

In the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter because you are turning them down. Just a thank you, no thank you is plenty. Seeing that I have never heard back from a few firms after callback, I don't feel anyone owe recruiting departments much more. I'd feel different if I was dealing with attorneys.

Honestly because most firms are such dicks when it comes to treating the vast majority of reject applicants, fuck them. Shoot a quick email and give them a taste of their own medicine.

Anonymous User wrote:

Toni V wrote:Mine is anecdotal. I’d say most of the time (on phone) it’s asked....common response if you say you received an offer.

I think such firm will still ask why op is not interviewing anymore after being invited to a callback. Same crap really.

However, if there was a point of contact who communicated primarily over the phone he should break up over the phone.

The courtesy is to give an answer to the interview offer, no more. After spending much time helping with recruiting and hanging out with recruiters, I really think anything beyond whether you are going to come interview matters much to anyone.

You: "Thank you very much for the opportunity to interview with your firm. Regretfully, I have decided to pursue other opportunities."

Recruiting: "I'm sorry to hear that. Out of curiosity, what firm will you be spending your summer with?"

You: "I have not made any final decisions yet, but I will be happy to update you when I know."

*Update them when you accept an offer if you want, or don't update them if you don't want to*

It will play out almost exactly like this whether you tell them by email or phone. No one will care if/when you don't update them.

Do I need to give a heads up to my attorney interviewers or just talk to the HR person they pointed me to? I feel kind of bad because I clicked pretty well with the people that I spoke with.

I also thought this was a little awkward. I felt that if a partner called me to offer the callback, I should email that partner directly rather than emailing HR. I think it's best to be minimal here: "Hi [x], it was great meeting you the other day but unfortunately I won't be able to come in for a callback. All the best, [Y]." In all likelihood they will just forward it to hiring and respond saying "good luck."

Anonymous User wrote:

Toni V wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

r6_philly wrote:Thank you, but I have decided to not interview at this time.

Dont say this unless you are a total dick. Just say "Thank you very much for offering to interview me. However I decided to accept an offer at another firm. I appreciate your time and consideration. Have a great rest of your week.

Great reply but one caution, my experience is that they will ask you what firm you are going to. Be prepared for that.

That is none of their business. Op should not and is not obligated to answer that. Assuming this is email. Thats just weird and i doubt they would as that. It is like a reject applicant asking who the firm hired instead, except because of the disparity in power dynamic it is 100 times weirder and docuhey.

Asking where you accepted an offer is not weird. I had offers at 5 places (4 firms, 1 in-house) for this summer and every single place asked where I was going after I turned them down. You obviously don't have to tell them, but certainly be prepared for them to ask.