Top Law Schools

I emailed a firm that doesn't come to my T14 school's OCI (submitting resume, cover letter, and expressing interest) and never received a response. Email was sent about 2 weeks ago. Would it be appropriate to send an email saying "I'd like to reiterate my interest in X?"

no. i can assure you they got it. if anything you can apply to a new open position like you are applying for the first time but no need to reiterate that you sent one in 2 weeks ago. I've had bigfirms email me a month later after not even sending an acknowledgment of receipt. Others rejected the same day.

You have literally nothing to lose. I got a few interviews doing this.

Anonymous User wrote:no. i can assure you they got it. if anything you can apply to a new open position like you are applying for the first time but no need to reiterate that you sent one in 2 weeks ago. I've had bigfirms email me a month later after not even sending an acknowledgment of receipt. Others rejected the same day.

OP here. It's for a summer associate position, so it's not in response to any job posting.

hoos89 wrote:You have literally nothing to lose. I got a few interviews doing this.

what size firms? were you already a strong candidate?

hoos89 wrote:You have literally nothing to lose. I got a few interviews doing this.

OP here. I guess the only thing I'm worried about is annoying a recruiter who would have otherwise eventually reached out to me. But I guess a few weeks out is enough to assume that I won't be hearing back...

I'm of the opinion that if the worst they can do is not interview you, that's already happening. Why not email again? HR gets inundated this time of year and your email or its response could fall through the cracks. I might give it more than 2 weeks though (because, again, HR is busy), and I agree with the above poster that there's no need to "reiterate."

+1 to having nothing to lose and just going for it

Anonymous User wrote:

hoos89 wrote:You have literally nothing to lose. I got a few interviews doing this.

what size firms? were you already a strong candidate?

Smallish but Biglaw (about 100 SAs nationwide). Hard to say if I'm a strong candidate for the specific firm because they don't have ties to our school. But I'm a strong candidate in general.

Anonymous User wrote:I'm of the opinion that if the worst they can do is not interview you, that's already happening. Why not email again? HR gets inundated this time of year and your email or its response could fall through the cracks. I might give it more than 2 weeks though (because, again, HR is busy), and I agree with the above poster that there's no need to "reiterate."

Ah, so, should it be more like "I just wanted to check and see if you received my documents?"

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I'm of the opinion that if the worst they can do is not interview you, that's already happening. Why not email again? HR gets inundated this time of year and your email or its response could fall through the cracks. I might give it more than 2 weeks though (because, again, HR is busy), and I agree with the above poster that there's no need to "reiterate."

Ah, so, should it be more like "I just wanted to check and see if you received my documents?"

No, I would just ask again and express interest. I did this several times during my process (admittedly several years ago) and I'm now working at a firm I mailed at least twice. I asked our HR about it later (after my offer, of course) and they had no idea I'd mailed more than once. The idea that HR will remember your name out of the literally thousands of resumes they see is a bit implausible. Definitely didn't happen with me. I opted against the "checking in" email form, though others may disagree. It just seemed a little presumptuous to me, and I thought I'd have better luck with an email expressing interest than one reminding them I had done so in some previous email they'd have to go find.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I'm of the opinion that if the worst they can do is not interview you, that's already happening. Why not email again? HR gets inundated this time of year and your email or its response could fall through the cracks. I might give it more than 2 weeks though (because, again, HR is busy), and I agree with the above poster that there's no need to "reiterate."

Ah, so, should it be more like "I just wanted to check and see if you received my documents?"

No, I would just ask again and express interest. I did this several times during my process (admittedly several years ago) and I'm now working at a firm I mailed at least twice. I asked our HR about it later (after my offer, of course) and they had no idea I'd mailed more than once. The idea that HR will remember your name out of the literally thousands of resumes they see is a bit implausible. Definitely didn't happen with me. I opted against the "checking in" email form, though others may disagree. It just seemed a little presumptuous to me, and I thought I'd have better luck with an email expressing interest than one reminding them I had done so in some previous email they'd have to go find.

I took a similar approach. I waited a couple weeks and would send a follow up email with the original below and reiterate interest while adding an update like I am in town, have time in my schedule, met someone at a networking reception, etc. Most of these resulted in dings, but I did get one interview out of it. Basically, you don't have anything to lose if you try to push the envelope.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I'm of the opinion that if the worst they can do is not interview you, that's already happening. Why not email again? HR gets inundated this time of year and your email or its response could fall through the cracks. I might give it more than 2 weeks though (because, again, HR is busy), and I agree with the above poster that there's no need to "reiterate."

Ah, so, should it be more like "I just wanted to check and see if you received my documents?"

I would try to come up with something (no matter how minor) to update with, because I just think it looks a lot better to essentially say "I'm definitely still interested; I've attached an updated resume/transcript/whatever." Regardless, I don't think it's good to say you're checking to see if they received the documents. If you've got nothing else to say just say you're e-mailing to let them know you're still interested (and for this kind of followup I think it makes sense to wait a bit longer).

I emailed the firm I work at like 4 or 5 times before I heard anything. I just sent the exact same email each time when I had any updates to my resume.

JustHawkin wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I'm of the opinion that if the worst they can do is not interview you, that's already happening. Why not email again? HR gets inundated this time of year and your email or its response could fall through the cracks. I might give it more than 2 weeks though (because, again, HR is busy), and I agree with the above poster that there's no need to "reiterate."

Ah, so, should it be more like "I just wanted to check and see if you received my documents?"

No, I would just ask again and express interest. I did this several times during my process (admittedly several years ago) and I'm now working at a firm I mailed at least twice. I asked our HR about it later (after my offer, of course) and they had no idea I'd mailed more than once. The idea that HR will remember your name out of the literally thousands of resumes they see is a bit implausible. Definitely didn't happen with me. I opted against the "checking in" email form, though others may disagree. It just seemed a little presumptuous to me, and I thought I'd have better luck with an email expressing interest than one reminding them I had done so in some previous email they'd have to go find.

I took a similar approach. I waited a couple weeks and would send a follow up email with the original below and reiterate interest while adding an update like I am in town, have time in my schedule, met someone at a networking reception, etc. Most of these resulted in dings, but I did get one interview out of it. Basically, you don't have anything to lose if you try to push the envelope.

Fun practice tip: Tell them you're going to be in town on X date. If you get a screener, book the flight. Otherwise don't go. Works great for networking with clients--no reason it couldn't work for law firms too.

On a related note, how bad of an idea is calling the recruiting coordinator if you've sent 3 emails (since June, with substantive resume updates each time) and received no response whatsoever?

I generally think calling is a bad idea. Recruiters are busy and I can't imagine any want law students calling. If they've ignored 3 emails you have to decide whether the firm is just not that into you. Are you within the realm of students they usually recruit? Is there something special about you that connects to the firm? You may have better luck trying to set up coffee with someone who works there. If they like you they may either pass your name to HR or say to mention them.