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I understand this is an unique situation and I really need your advice about the best way to proceed.

I did bid to a firm's New York office via OCI but did not get an interview offer. However, during cocktail reception night, I happened to meet the interviewer for the firm and engaged in a conversation with him. Turned out he was the lead counsel and represented my company in a key case (I work as a patent agent inhouse) and worked closely with my manager. He is also the hiring partner for the New York office. We talked for nearly half an hour chatting about my office and people in general and also about my application. He seemed to be interested in me and I treated the conversation like an informal interview. He requested for my application materials and also suggested me to take part in the campus resume collect program and apply to the firm from there. I sent him a thank you note the next day and received a reply within a few minutes stating he would like to talk to me soon. Now nearly two weeks have passed and I have not heard back from him or the firm. Also, I can't find the firm on my school's resume collect program. Should I send him a mail asking about my application? Alternately, should I email him mentioning that I can't find the firm on the resume collect program? Or should I just accept that I'm not going to get a callback from them at all?

Yes for sure follow up with an email. Partners are busy people and hiring partners even moreso during hiring season.

I'm not quite as sure about the content of the email though unfortunately.

Thank you for the suggestion. I'm still debating about the content of the email. Any advice regarding that would be great.

Side note - You should probably remove the firm name from the OP, because there is definitely enough information on here to out you if somebody cared enough.

MarkinKansasCity wrote:Side note - You should probably remove the firm name from the OP, because there is definitely enough information on here to out you if somebody cared enough.

Thank you. I just did that.

Anonymous User wrote:Thank you for the suggestion. I'm still debating about the content of the email. Any advice regarding that would be great.

I hate potentially giving bad advice, but to me something as simple as just checking in is not a terrible email to send. Noting that your school does not have a resume collect for the firm might be helpful as kind of a follow up on something mentioned. No idea. What was the last contact? The email he sent saying he'd like to talk to you soon?

I'd keep it relatively short though. Generally speaking I've realized partners sometimes don't read too far beyond the first sentence or two ...

lolwat wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Thank you for the suggestion. I'm still debating about the content of the email. Any advice regarding that would be great.

I hate potentially giving bad advice, but to me something as simple as just checking in is not a terrible email to send. Noting that your school does not have a resume collect for the firm might be helpful as kind of a follow up on something mentioned. No idea. What was the last contact? The email he sent saying he'd like to talk to you soon?

I'd keep it relatively short though. Generally speaking I've realized partners sometimes don't read too far beyond the first sentence or two ...

Here is his exact reply
"Hi, ***—it was a great pleasure seeing you, and please pass along my kind regards to *** (you’re very fortunate to have him as a supervisor). Look forward to speaking soon, and have a nice weekend."

I talked to him on August 3rd evening and sent a thank you mail on August 4 th afternoon. He replied on the same day.

I probably wouldn't quote the email here

anyway, it's not quite an invitation to follow up. do you have an updated resume that is any different from the one youve already sent him? Updating resume is (usually) a good excuse for another email. Esp combined with the fact that your school doesnt have a resume collect for the firm

lolwat wrote:I probably wouldn't quote the email here

anyway, it's not quite an invitation to follow up. do you have an updated resume that is any different from the one youve already sent him? Updating resume is (usually) a good excuse for another email. Esp combined with the fact that your school doesnt have a resume collect for the firm

Not really. Nothing worth mentioning happened in last two weeks.

Suggest sending a short email just saying that following up to your conversation, you checked and your school actually doesn't seem to have a resume collect for the firm. Ask if there is some other route by which you should submit your materials, and say that you're very enthusiastic about his firm and you hope to have the opportunity to come in and meet with them soon.

Anonymous User wrote: I did bid to a firm's New York office via OCI but did not get an interview offer. However, during cocktail reception night, I happened to meet the interviewer for the firm and engaged in a conversation with him. Turned out he was the lead counsel and represented my company in a key case (I work as a patent agent inhouse) and worked closely with my manager. He is also the hiring partner for the New York office. We talked for nearly half an hour chatting about my office and people in general and also about my application. He seemed to be interested in me and I treated the conversation like an informal interview. He requested for my application materials and also suggested me to take part in the campus resume collect program and apply to the firm from there. I sent him a thank you note the next day and received a reply within a few minutes stating he would like to talk to me soon.

I'm confused. Did you send your resume and transcript to him, or did you just send a thank-you note?

He asked for my resume and other application materials on the spot at the end of the conversation. Since I was carrying them with me for earlier OCI interviews, I gave all my application materials to him directly. He pretty much treated the whole conversation like an interview/ personal conversation. I sent him a thank you letter the next day and got a reply.

Anonymous User wrote:He asked for my resume and other application materials on the spot at the end of the conversation. Since I was carrying them with me for earlier OCI interviews, I gave all my application materials to him directly. He pretty much treated the whole conversation like an interview/ personal conversation. I sent him a thank you letter the next day and got a reply.

Definitely no harm in sending him an email just checking in. Don't overthink it. He's probably just busy, but it might be helpful to get you back on his radar.

clerk1251 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:He asked for my resume and other application materials on the spot at the end of the conversation. Since I was carrying them with me for earlier OCI interviews, I gave all my application materials to him directly. He pretty much treated the whole conversation like an interview/ personal conversation. I sent him a thank you letter the next day and got a reply.

Definitely no harm in sending him an email just checking in. Don't overthink it. He's probably just busy, but it might be helpful to get you back on his radar.

So he just had hard copies? Might also make sense to send him copies of the materials in the email then. Say your school doesn't have a resume collect for the firm and you wanted to make sure he had an electronic copy of your stuff. Your paper resume might be at the bottom of a messy desk and no one else knows it even exists.

lolwat wrote:

clerk1251 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:He asked for my resume and other application materials on the spot at the end of the conversation. Since I was carrying them with me for earlier OCI interviews, I gave all my application materials to him directly. He pretty much treated the whole conversation like an interview/ personal conversation. I sent him a thank you letter the next day and got a reply.

Definitely no harm in sending him an email just checking in. Don't overthink it. He's probably just busy, but it might be helpful to get you back on his radar.

So he just had hard copies? Might also make sense to send him copies of the materials in the email then. Say your school doesn't have a resume collect for the firm and you wanted to make sure he had an electronic copy of your stuff. Your paper resume might be at the bottom of a messy desk and no one else knows it even exists.

Completely agree.

I just checked in with him late last night. He wrote back this morning saying they are still sorting resumes and should contact me soon.

Anonymous User wrote:I just checked in with him late last night. He wrote back this morning saying they are still sorting resumes and should contact me soon.

Cool, good luck. Hopefully that email also helped remind him of who you were and he made sure your resume got sorted into the cb pile.

I definitely hope it went to the CB pile.