Trying to maintain contact with your interviewer at a firm that rejected you post-interview; bad idea? Forum

[Anonymous User]

If I'm rejected post-interview by a firm that I really want to end up in at some point of my career, would it help at all to try and maintain contact with my interviewer? Especially if the interviewer is in the department that I want to be at?

My main concern is that I was rejected post-interview so the interviewer may not have liked me regardless of how well I thought the interview went. Would it be just obnoxious and bothersome to the interviewer or would it be okay as long as I keep the contact frequency at a reasonable level (not sure how often would be a good rate in this case)? Is it better to just establish contact with someone else at the firm who share some common qualities with me (law school, undergrad, geographic area, field of work before entering law, etc.)?

[Anonymous User]

What do you realistically hope to get from this? Did you get a job with a different firm in the same city? Are you hoping to lateral in a few years? Your work quality will have more of an impact on your ability to transfer than your occasional emails to this person you met via Zoom.

[Anonymous User]

unless you really hit it off/have some serious connection outside of the job, this is likely to be taken as annoying and a bit weird. try to see it from their shoes. would you want to keep in touch with yourself?

[hdr]

What's your objective? If they are in some niche practice area you want to break into, like FDA regulatory, then sure. But if they're a general litigator and you just want to move up the Vault rankings, it's more likely to be bothersome and unhelpful.

[Anonymous User]

Not OP, but I have a semi-related question.

I (a current clerk) applied to a firm a few months ago by emailing the head of the practice group. He responded positively, was interested etc., but later informed me that their only associate opening (it's a small-ish group) had already been filled by an associate transferring from another office.

But he told me let him know where I end up, and I recently accepted an offer from a firm in another market. Should I actually bother following up and letting him know, or is that just a token thing people say?

I assume the answer is somewhere between "yes" and "it really doesn't matter," but I wanted a sanity check. I might be interested in lateralling to this group in the not too distant future.

[hdr]

Yes you should follow up. Maybe he doesn't care but maybe he does. The fact that he reached out at all--rather than just ghost you or have HR send a form rejection--isn't a bad sign.

[Anonymous User]

I've personally interviewed entry-level candidates as a mid-level employee for my particular specialty area and most times we are interviewing 8-10 people for one role. Just because a person isn't selected doesn't mean I didn't like the person and it doesn't mean the person wouldn't be a professional contact I'd be interested in keeping in touch with - quite the contrary. If a person got an interview, they have good credentials and demonstrated interest in my speciality area. Yes, it's awkward the person didn't get the job, but maybe it's just because there was a superstar in the pool. I'd personally be happy to stay in touch with people I've interviewed who weren't selected who are practicing somewhere else in my specialty area. You never know when opportunities may later pop up on either side of that equation.

A polite follow-up email with info on where you landed and a suggestion that you'd be happy to keep in touch is fine. If the person is receptive, you can go from there. Perhaps future follow-up emails every 6 months to a year, or perhaps getting coffee sometime to later catch up.

The worst that will happen if you try to keep in touch is that the person ignores you. Obviously, take the hint if that happens.

[Anonymous User]

I've personally interviewed entry-level candidates as a mid-level employee for my particular specialty area and most times we are interviewing 8-10 people for one role. Just because a person isn't selected doesn't mean I didn't like the person and it doesn't mean the person wouldn't be a professional contact I'd be interested in keeping in touch with - quite the contrary. If a person got an interview, they have good credentials and demonstrated interest in my speciality area. Yes, it's awkward the person didn't get the job, but maybe it's just because there was a superstar in the pool. I'd personally be happy to stay in touch with people I've interviewed who weren't selected who are practicing somewhere else in my specialty area. You never know when opportunities may later pop up on either side of that equation.

A polite follow-up email with info on where you landed and a suggestion that you'd be happy to keep in touch is fine. If the person is receptive, you can go from there. Perhaps future follow-up emails every 6 months to a year, or perhaps getting coffee sometime to later catch up.

The worst that will happen if you try to keep in touch is that the person ignores you. Obviously, take the hint if that happens.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! Would you say your response is limited to callbacks, or for screeners as well? I think I'll reach out to a couple of my interviewers with whom I had good conversations and in the field relevant to what I'll be doing this summer! Thanks again.

[Anonymous User]

unless you really hit it off/have some serious connection outside of the job, this is likely to be taken as annoying and a bit weird. try to see it from their shoes. would you want to keep in touch with yourself?

Yeah, that's my worry as well. Common experience probably leans towards this being annoying but I was wondering if the industry has different norms.