Pre-OCI: When They Tell You To Bid On Them... Forum

[Anonymous User]

When e-mailing an application to a firm and they tell you to bid on them at OCI, but you don't want to use a bid on them, what is the proper move? Does this essentially mean the firm is a dead application for the candidate if they decide not to bid the firm? My gut tells me that applying to a firm after OCI is not nearly as effective since they (a) know you didn't bid on them and (b) have filled up many spots.

[Anonymous User]

When e-mailing an application to a firm and they tell you to bid on them at OCI, but you don't want to use a bid on them, what is the proper move? Does this essentially mean the firm is a dead application for the candidate if they decide not to bid the firm? My gut tells me that applying to a firm after OCI is not nearly as effective since they (a) know you didn't bid on them and (b) have filled up many spots.

What this means is the firm is telling you in a nice way that you aren't getting a pre-oci interview with them. Its a polite rejection. If they aren't interested now, chances are they won't be interested later. If you have room to bid them, then do so, but dont waste a bid on them if there is another firm that can fill this firm's spot.

[Anonymous User]

When e-mailing an application to a firm and they tell you to bid on them at OCI, but you don't want to use a bid on them, what is the proper move? Does this essentially mean the firm is a dead application for the candidate if they decide not to bid the firm? My gut tells me that applying to a firm after OCI is not nearly as effective since they (a) know you didn't bid on them and (b) have filled up many spots.

What this means is the firm is telling you in a nice way that you aren't getting a pre-oci interview with them. Its a polite rejection. If they aren't interested now, chances are they won't be interested later. If you have room to bid them, then do so, but dont waste a bid on them if there is another firm that can fill this firm's spot.

I disagree. This can be the case, but some firms do not do much pre-oci hiring and legitimately want candidates to show interest by bidding on them at oci.

[Anonymous User]

When e-mailing an application to a firm and they tell you to bid on them at OCI, but you don't want to use a bid on them, what is the proper move? Does this essentially mean the firm is a dead application for the candidate if they decide not to bid the firm? My gut tells me that applying to a firm after OCI is not nearly as effective since they (a) know you didn't bid on them and (b) have filled up many spots.

What this means is the firm is telling you in a nice way that you aren't getting a pre-oci interview with them. Its a polite rejection. If they aren't interested now, chances are they won't be interested later. If you have room to bid them, then do so, but dont waste a bid on them if there is another firm that can fill this firm's spot.

I disagree. This can be the case, but some firms do not do much pre-oci hiring and legitimately want candidates to show interest by bidding on them at oci.

Yah this is nonsense. Firms have a really tough time trying to accurately gauge yield rate, so they have a genuine and reasonable interest in making you go through the bidding process if you don't have a really good prior relationship with them.

Personally, I was able to set up 4 pre-OCI interviews (this is a couple years ago, not sure what has changed since) at Simpson, Weil, Cleary and one other I've now forgotten. All 4 of them came about through strong personal connections made at networking events and maintained throughout 1L and particularly 1L summer in the same city - think, repeated drinks, dinner, etc. I had one really strong connection with DPW and was flatly told that their policy was to respect my law school's request that firms not interview pre-OCI, so clearly with some firms you are out of luck regardless.

Obviously, a pre-OCI interview is great if you can snag it, but don't feel rejected if it doesn't happen.

[Anonymous User]

When e-mailing an application to a firm and they tell you to bid on them at OCI, but you don't want to use a bid on them, what is the proper move? Does this essentially mean the firm is a dead application for the candidate if they decide not to bid the firm? My gut tells me that applying to a firm after OCI is not nearly as effective since they (a) know you didn't bid on them and (b) have filled up many spots.

What this means is the firm is telling you in a nice way that you aren't getting a pre-oci interview with them. Its a polite rejection. If they aren't interested now, chances are they won't be interested later. If you have room to bid them, then do so, but dont waste a bid on them if there is another firm that can fill this firm's spot.

I disagree. This can be the case, but some firms do not do much pre-oci hiring and legitimately want candidates to show interest by bidding on them at oci.

Yah this is nonsense. Firms have a really tough time trying to accurately gauge yield rate, so they have a genuine and reasonable interest in making you go through the bidding process if you don't have a really good prior relationship with them.

Personally, I was able to set up 4 pre-OCI interviews (this is a couple years ago, not sure what has changed since) at Simpson, Weil, Cleary and one other I've now forgotten. All 4 of them came about through strong personal connections made at networking events and maintained throughout 1L and particularly 1L summer in the same city - think, repeated drinks, dinner, etc. I had one really strong connection with DPW and was flatly told that their policy was to respect my law school's request that firms not interview pre-OCI, so clearly with some firms you are out of luck regardless.

Obviously, a pre-OCI interview is great if you can snag it, but don't feel rejected if it doesn't happen.

I know people, including myself who have received DPW interviews pre-OCI. So maybe that has changed?

[Anonymous User]

When e-mailing an application to a firm and they tell you to bid on them at OCI, but you don't want to use a bid on them, what is the proper move? Does this essentially mean the firm is a dead application for the candidate if they decide not to bid the firm? My gut tells me that applying to a firm after OCI is not nearly as effective since they (a) know you didn't bid on them and (b) have filled up many spots.

What this means is the firm is telling you in a nice way that you aren't getting a pre-oci interview with them. Its a polite rejection. If they aren't interested now, chances are they won't be interested later. If you have room to bid them, then do so, but dont waste a bid on them if there is another firm that can fill this firm's spot.

I disagree. This can be the case, but some firms do not do much pre-oci hiring and legitimately want candidates to show interest by bidding on them at oci.

Yah this is nonsense. Firms have a really tough time trying to accurately gauge yield rate, so they have a genuine and reasonable interest in making you go through the bidding process if you don't have a really good prior relationship with them.

Personally, I was able to set up 4 pre-OCI interviews (this is a couple years ago, not sure what has changed since) at Simpson, Weil, Cleary and one other I've now forgotten. All 4 of them came about through strong personal connections made at networking events and maintained throughout 1L and particularly 1L summer in the same city - think, repeated drinks, dinner, etc. I had one really strong connection with DPW and was flatly told that their policy was to respect my law school's request that firms not interview pre-OCI, so clearly with some firms you are out of luck regardless.

Obviously, a pre-OCI interview is great if you can snag it, but don't feel rejected if it doesn't happen.

I know people, including myself who have received DPW interviews pre-OCI. So maybe that has changed?

He said they respected his school's policy to please not interview before OCI, it's not a DPW policy. Reading comprehension...

[Anonymous User]

When e-mailing an application to a firm and they tell you to bid on them at OCI, but you don't want to use a bid on them, what is the proper move? Does this essentially mean the firm is a dead application for the candidate if they decide not to bid the firm? My gut tells me that applying to a firm after OCI is not nearly as effective since they (a) know you didn't bid on them and (b) have filled up many spots.

What this means is the firm is telling you in a nice way that you aren't getting a pre-oci interview with them. Its a polite rejection. If they aren't interested now, chances are they won't be interested later. If you have room to bid them, then do so, but dont waste a bid on them if there is another firm that can fill this firm's spot.

I disagree. This can be the case, but some firms do not do much pre-oci hiring and legitimately want candidates to show interest by bidding on them at oci.

Yah this is nonsense. Firms have a really tough time trying to accurately gauge yield rate, so they have a genuine and reasonable interest in making you go through the bidding process if you don't have a really good prior relationship with them.

Personally, I was able to set up 4 pre-OCI interviews (this is a couple years ago, not sure what has changed since) at Simpson, Weil, Cleary and one other I've now forgotten. All 4 of them came about through strong personal connections made at networking events and maintained throughout 1L and particularly 1L summer in the same city - think, repeated drinks, dinner, etc. I had one really strong connection with DPW and was flatly told that their policy was to respect my law school's request that firms not interview pre-OCI, so clearly with some firms you are out of luck regardless.

Obviously, a pre-OCI interview is great if you can snag it, but don't feel rejected if it doesn't happen.

I know people, including myself who have received DPW interviews pre-OCI. So maybe that has changed?

He said they respected his school's policy to please not interview before OCI, it's not a DPW policy. Reading comprehension...

My school has the same policy...

[oblig.lawl.ref]

Yeah, I received a couple of pre-OCI interviews from V15-type firms. I also received similar requests to just bid at OCI. I also got interviews at places where I did not get a bid slot during OCI, after.

I wouldn't read into any of this. My firm will often say just bid at OCI for administrative ease on their end but if you miss out on them and they want to interview you, they will try to set something up on a case-by-case basis. There aren't any general rules on this stuff and people pretending like there are do not know as much as they think they do,. Maybe certain firms have hard fast rules, idk, but there isn't some general market rule.

Just bid on them and then apply later if you don't get a bid. Let them know you didn't get a slot but that you had reached out earlier. You may be dinged but nothing is really lost and no one really knows how you'll fare based on the info provided.

[Anonymous User]

It just means you're not a strong enough candidate to merit an early interview. This shouldn't impact your decision to bid them at OCI.