Lateral Offer Timeline Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi all,

I am in the process of trying to lateral. I've had two rounds at two firms (screener and callback/full round) and one round (going back to meet with some folks who were unavailable at the time) at another. For those who have been in this stressful place before, how long did it take to go from full-round to offer? And what form did the offer come in (call, email, etc.)?

Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous User]

Hi all,

I am in the process of trying to lateral. I've had two rounds at two firms (screener and callback/full round) and one round (going back to meet with some folks who were unavailable at the time) at another. For those who have been in this stressful place before, how long did it take to go from full-round to offer? And what form did the offer come in (call, email, etc.)?

Thanks in advance!

1 week. Call from head of group followed shortly by offer letter.

[Anonymous User]

Mine took 3-4 days after CB.

[Anonymous User]

When I lateraled from a small firm to a big firm I had a screener followed by a callback 2 weeks later and then a second callback lunch 2 months after the first callback and then received an offer less than 2 weeks later. I don’t think my experience is typically, though.

[Anonymous User]

In all cases but one (about 5), it was under a week. In one case it took about two months.

In the latter case, I had a couple of post-callback one-off interviews with partners or whomever that were supposedly unavailable during the main callback. I suspect that was BS and they were just unsure or it was a tiebreak type thing, but I can't prove that. It is both a stressful and frustrating place to be in, for sure. I'd just make sure you check in every once in a while to make it clear you're still interested and so you don't fall off their radar.

[Anonymous User]

I've just been though the process - applied far too many places and ended up with two offers in a major market and two in a secondary market. Close friend went through the process at the same time in the major market and got three offers. Our (limited) experience was that a week or so is common, but it can vary widely. I got an offer on the spot at one callback, for example. In another case, my friend and I interviewed around the same time at the same firm, they made her an offer a few days after her interview, and then when she rejected them over two weeks later they made an offer to me within a day (which I rejected over a week later). I got many more rejections and can tell you that a lot of firms don't seem to actively reject, but if they do it is by email and the timeline varies even more.