bad interview? Forum

[Anonymous User]

so i just had a screener and all we talked about was a common interest that we had (he taught at a foreign country, i'm from that country). 20 minutes. nothing about why this area? didn't even ask me if i had any questions.

am i totally out of the running and that is why he's like that? has anyone gotten callbacks after screeners like this?

[SFSpartan]

It sounds like your interview went fine. Honestly, screeners are about getting people to like you so that they'll recommend you be brought back.

[Anonymous User]

Might be a really good sign, actually. Interviews are supposed to be organic conversations, not just rehearsed answers. I got an offer from a firm, and I had at least a couple callback interviews that went just like this.

[acr]

so i just had a screener and all we talked about was a common interest that we had (he taught at a foreign country, i'm from that country). 20 minutes. nothing about why this area? didn't even ask me if i had any questions.

am i totally out of the running and that is why he's like that? has anyone got callbacks after screeners like this?

Not bad at all. If anything better.

He's probably interviewed like 200 or more law students over the last month.

He doesn't walk to spend every conversation talking about awful, boring legal experience. It gets boring and sounds the same.

Stop worrying

[Anonymous User]

you guys have brightened my day. i guess i should send him a thank you e-mail and sort of write the things i hoped to talk about?

[acr]

you guys have brightened my day. i guess i should send him a thank you e-mail and sort of write the things i hoped to talk about?

absolutely not, that's weird

[Anonymous User]

what about something along the lines of: i really enjoyed talking to you, i would love to be able to come in and further express my interest?

[acr]

what about something along the lines of: i really enjoyed talking to you, i would love to be able to come in and further express my interest?

no, it sounds like the interview went well, so just let it be

[grixxlybear99]

so i just had a screener and all we talked about was a common interest that we had (he taught at a foreign country, i'm from that country). 20 minutes. nothing about why this area? didn't even ask me if i had any questions.

am i totally out of the running and that is why he's like that? has anyone gotten callbacks after screeners like this?

you guys have brightened my day. i guess i should send him a thank you e-mail and sort of write the things i hoped to talk about?

absolutely not, that's weird

what about something along the lines of: i really enjoyed talking to you, i would love to be able to come in and further express my interest?

no, it sounds like the interview went well, so just let it be

Truly the best advice given in Legal Employment here in years. Buck the aspy trend

[Anonymous User]

full disclosure: i only got this screener because i asked for coffee with him. i meet the minimum requirements listed but the people i saw interviewing him were top of the class kids. hence my feeling that he was just being nice...

[Roy McAvoy]

full disclosure: i only got this screener because i asked for coffee with him. i meet the minimum requirements listed but the people i saw interviewing him were top of the class kids. hence my feeling that he was just being nice...

So you met him for coffee and he liked you enough to bring you in for a screener. Great first step. Then you had the screener and it went well. Continuing on a positive path. So far this is looking like you've done everything correctly, don't screw it up with a weird thank you note.

[Anonymous User]

full disclosure: i only got this screener because i asked for coffee with him. i meet the minimum requirements listed but the people i saw interviewing him were top of the class kids. hence my feeling that he was just being nice...

Like someone else said, he liked you enough to interview you. Sounds like you are doing great so far. Don't worry about the other people he is interviewing. By CB GPA data I should not have ended up at the firm I'm going to, but like you had a great interview. If you get a CB focus on crushing that. Do not worry about the other candidates. I agree with the others who said not to email.

[Anonymous User]

Oh no no, i asked him for coffee, but he was busy and just thought we should meet at oci instead. But yea, all advice noted. Thanks!

[byrdscales]

I hate to bring a negative voice to this otherwise encouraging thread, but I have heard a partner say he spent an entire screener talking about someone's interests because he looked at their gpa, saw there was no way he could call them back, and isn't supposed to tell people that when they walk in.

Then again, at least at my firm, gpa standards are flexible if someone senior likes you enough...

[Anonymous User]

I hate to bring a negative voice to this otherwise encouraging thread, but I have heard a partner say he spent an entire screener talking about someone's interests because he looked at their gpa, saw there was no way he could call them back, and isn't supposed to tell people that when they walk in.

Yup, exact same thing happened to me.

[lolwat]

I hate to bring a negative voice to this otherwise encouraging thread, but I have heard a partner say he spent an entire screener talking about someone's interests because he looked at their gpa, saw there was no way he could call them back, and isn't supposed to tell people that when they walk in.

Yup, exact same thing happened to me.

These kinds of interviews basically happen for two reasons: either you're an auto-ding or you're pretty much a lock for a CB if you could carry on a normal conversation. That's why they spend the entire interview talking about your interests, because you're either already qualified or unqualified on paper.

My best interviews & offer came from conversations like that. Mostly shooting the shit about interests and the interviewer sharing war stories and stuff, with minimal question time or a few things they wanted to tell me about the firm.

[Anonymous User]

op here. i see but do you guys think that applies here? so the school career website stated "top 20% required." i am a hair above that. but i know that those requirements are the MINIMUM and the firms just take the top 10% kids anyway. but still, i meet the requirement...

the firm has attorneys with magna cum laude, but it also has people without honors from my school, so i don't know what to think. to be clear, he asked me SOME things, like: what do you want to practice? how was your summer job? oh i see you worked here. what's your journal topic going to be? now that i write it out, it seems like we did talk about career-related stuff, but still with other interviews, i spend a lot of time talking about my career stuff.

edit: also it seems like i could have parlayed those basic questions and said more substantive things. but also: it's not like i got this from lottery. would a partner waste time on someone who had no chance?

[cavalier1138]

op here. i see but do you guys think that applies here? so the school career website stated "top 20% required." i am a hair above that. but i know that those requirements are the MINIMUM and the firms just take the top 10% kids anyway. but still, i meet the requirement...

the firm has attorneys with magna cum laude, but it also has people without honors from my school, so i don't know what to think. to be clear, he asked me SOME things, like: what do you want to practice? how was your summer job? oh i see you worked here. what's your journal topic going to be? now that i write it out, it seems like we did talk about career-related stuff, but still with other interviews, i spend a lot of time talking about my career stuff.

edit: also it seems like i could have parlayed those basic questions and said more substantive things. but also: it's not like i got this from lottery. would a partner waste time on someone who had no chance?

Your school's CSO has a lot of motivation to get you to interview with as many firms as possible, and their statistics likely mean that the firm has dipped as low as the top 20% of the class in the past. But you have no idea how many people outside the top 10%/LR have gotten callbacks, what year they got them, etc.

But most importantly, the screener is over. You're done. Stop obsessing over it, because anything you do at this point can only have a negative effect.