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Hey Everyone, I had a callback with a NJ/NYC firm at the end of August. I've been in contact with the recruiting manager and one of the associates that interviewed me. The legal recruiting manager emailed me last week saying that the firm has not yet made any decisions regarding the summer associates. Does that mean they might not have a summer program anymore or they are just taking a ridiculously long time making decisions? Thanks!

EnviroNerd wrote:Hey Everyone, I had a callback with a NJ/NYC firm at the end of August. I've been in contact with the recruiting manager and one of the associates that interviewed me. The legal recruiting manager emailed me last week saying that the firm has not yet made any decisions regarding the summer associates. Does that mean they might not have a summer program anymore or they are just taking a ridiculously long time making decisions? Thanks!

It's likely you're on the waiting list.

They probably like you, but they've already made other offers, and are waiting to see how many other people accept/reject before they make additional waves of offers.

So it's likely that they did make decisions already? I suspected that given how long it has been.

Yes, this happened to me, but luckily during the recruiting process the partner I had interviewed with was forthright about telling me that they'd made offers, and I too would receive one in the next wave, as long as X number of people rejected.

The good news is, people always turn down offers. How long ago was your CB? Have you followed up since?

Sorry, I just reread your post and it had answered my questions above.

That's strange to me then...they could be just taking a long time for whatever reason. Recruiting departments aren't always very large, and some firms require input from a handful of different people before an offer can go out. It's possible it's taking awhile if a partner has the final say or something, and said partner gets very busy with actual work.

Have you asked when they expect to make decisions by?

Yeah, my Career Development Office told me some firms just take an extremely long time with the hiring decisions. I asked for a timeframe but they didn't provide me with one, just that they hadn't made any decisions regarding the summer associates.

Is it normal for a midsize firm to take this long? They aren’t part of NALP if that helps.

EnviroNerd wrote:Is it normal for a midsize firm to take this long? They aren’t part of NALP if that helps.

If it's not a standard biglaw firm, then there really is no set "normal."

Fair point lol

No, it is not normal for a firm to take four months to make a hiring decision. Just assume it's a ding and move on with life. In the exceedingly unlikely event that you are still under serious consideration and it works out, then it will be a nice surprise. Keep applying.