OCI/2L Job Search Thread

[nickg1532]

With job search season about here, I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread in which we can discuss our experiences (good or bad), share any relevant insight that may have dawned on us while interviewing, and answer any questions that 1L newbs might have.

Anyways, at our school we do 2 rounds of OCI, with the first being the biggie (we have about 90 firms here for the first, and like half that for the second). Our first round just finished up yesterday.

I had 16 interviews in 5 days. About 8 or 9 were w/ Vault 100 firms, 3 or 4 were with good, well-respected, and pretty big (200-400 attorney) firms that didn't quite make the Vault 100, and the last few were with smaller (75-150) firms.

All in all, the week went pretty smoothly. I have no disaster stories. Nobody grilled me very hard w/ tough questions. The interviewers were all very nice, friendly, and easy to talk to. Almost all my interviews felt like casual 20 minute conversations. A few times, for example, it got brought up early in the interview that I played college baseball, and we proceeded to spend the entire interview talking about sports. I feel like I generally had to be prepared for the same few questions in almost all my interviews:
-why do you like our firm?
-why do you like our city?
etc.

A few interviewers threw in a few curveballs every once in a while.

I would recommend preparing by doing the obvious (researching the firm and your interviewer, thinking through some of your answers to different questions, and coming up with your own intelligent questions for them). Even though I found that I didn't need to use most of what I had prepared, I'd rather do a bit of extra work and be prepared just in case.

So far I have one rejection (from a firm that only hired 1 SA last year, so I'm not too upset), and one callback (from a Vault top 30 firm).

So anyways, how is it going for you guys?

[Hey_Porter]

Did you ever get the dreaded "what is your biggest weakness" question? I was lucky enough to never get one of those, and have no idea what I would have said.

[nickg1532]

haha, no i didn't get that one. what a stupid [censored] question. you can't really answer it without either calling their attention to a legitimate weakness, or sounding like a douchebag for answering with "i'm too much of a perfectionist." i guess i was prepared to answer that one with something like "i don't have much professional experience." but again, what a stupid question. i don't think any good interviewers will ask it.

[eviljeff]

God I hated this process.

My advice is to suck it up and really put in effort during callbacks. The OCI is just a resume pickup/retard eliminator, but during the callback a firm wants to get to know your personality and see that you're interested in the firm.

Here are my unsolicited tips:

1) Dress sharp. Get everything cleaned, pressed, and ironed. If you're a fashion retard, have someone else pick out your clothes and colors. Err on the conservative side.

2) Maintain eye contact throughout your entire interview. Don't wear a watch.

3) No matter what anyone else does, never order an alcoholic drink, use a cuss word, smoke before or after, speak badly about anyone, or engage in even mildly inappropriate conversation.

4) Follow up with every attorney you meet. A short e-mail is probably best. Don't be generic. Reference something specific that you talked about so they know you remember them and were paying attention.

[nickg1532]

[ QUOTE ]


4) Follow up with every attorney you meet. A short e-mail is probably best. Don't be generic. Reference something specific that you talked about so they know you remember them and were paying attention.

[/ QUOTE ]

i assume you mean this for after the callback. what is your opinion on thank you's after the initial OCI? i noticed a lot of my classmates doing these.

[nickg1532]

also, in the right context, i think ordering an alcoholic drink is ok. if they take you out to dinner or have some kind of reception, and everyone has a glass of wine or a beer, i don't think it would be a bad idea for you to as well. of course, being very cautious about not drinking too much is important. nurse a drink or two, though, and you're fine imo