Callback Questions--any info/advice welcome

[deedeeleigh]

I don't know, my Career Offices said the same thing as pikey's, and it does seem like in a tough economy, it could give a slight edge to a marginal candidate.

There are pros and cons though, with the new NALP rules. FWIW, all the NY firms I'm interviewing with seemed to want callbacks quickly, whereas other areas seem okay with scheduling them for further into the future.

[offer]

There is absolutely an advantage to scheduling your callbacks early, and it's called peace of mind. Surely like most of you, I'm the kind of person that likes to get up and do things once they're on the table. It's a trait of our Type A personalities. If I get a callback, I'm going to schedule it early, because I want to get it done.

But, the original question was whether it helps your chances, not whether it gives you a personal sense of relief. As far as your chances, there's nothing to indicate that it helps. Most firms have spare slots available beyond their projected acceptances from 2L's, because they intend to hire a small handful of 1L's. If they end up liking more 2L's than they thought they would, they will generally offer all of them (of course, the threshold for what constitutes "liking" a candidate varies from firm to firm, but it's not going to be affected by when you interview). They're not going to "run out of slots" because the first group of candidates to interview wowed them.

Once again, I am going to have to disagree with you based on detailed conservations I've had as a summer associate at two firms with the recruiting manager and the hiring partner.

[deedeeleigh]

I guess a marginal candidate then could be one they like well enough but don't really love? But you're right, it would help with peace of mind, to have a couple of offers early on would be really nice.

I'm a bit worried about the being burnt out. How many in one week would be too much do you think? I had one callback last week and didn't find it all that tiring, but I wasn't also balancing school and Journal work with it.  I tried to set mine up early because I'm interviewing in two cities and wanted to get the out of town callbacks out of the way to leave room for (hopefully) callbacks in the city my school is located in.

[offer]

There is absolutely an advantage to scheduling your callbacks early, and it's called peace of mind. Surely like most of you, I'm the kind of person that likes to get up and do things once they're on the table. It's a trait of our Type A personalities. If I get a callback, I'm going to schedule it early, because I want to get it done.

But, the original question was whether it helps your chances, not whether it gives you a personal sense of relief. As far as your chances, there's nothing to indicate that it helps. Most firms have spare slots available beyond their projected acceptances from 2L's, because they intend to hire a small handful of 1L's. If they end up liking more 2L's than they thought they would, they will generally offer all of them (of course, the threshold for what constitutes "liking" a candidate varies from firm to firm, but it's not going to be affected by when you interview). They're not going to "run out of slots" because the first group of candidates to interview wowed them.

Once again, I am going to have to disagree with you based on detailed conservations I've had as a summer associate at two firms with the recruiting manager and the hiring partner.

Readers of this forum have two viewpoints to consider.  I have explained my viewpoint based on detailed conservations I've had as a summer associate at two firms with the recruiting manager and hiring partner.  Longhorn has also described his viewpoint, and I'm sure he has some grounds for making those statements and did not just post his reasoning.  This is what forums are all about.

[offer]

Once again, I am going to have to disagree with you based on detailed conservations I've had as a summer associate at two firms with the recruiting manager and the hiring partner.

Disagree all you want. I've got no problem with it. It wouldn't be a very worthwhile discussion forum if everybody said the exact same thing all the time.

Although, I find it very, very hard to believe that any recruiting manager or hiring partner at a reputable firm told you that there's some noticeable boost given to early interviewees. I also worked at two very, very respected firms, and I was told (and experienced) the exact opposite.

And, whether or not there is a boost isn't even the real question, because the inquiry should be whether that boost, if it even exists, outweighs the negative impact of trying to schedule all of your interviews as early as possible.

The reason I post the disagreeing posts is to balance the viewpoints, as you keep posting the opposite over and over again.  It's nothing personal...please don't get so defensive.

BTW, I never used the phrase "noticeable boost" and I never suggested that candidates schedule early without regard to other considerations.

[offer]

Who said I was getting defensive? It's actually the exact opposite -- as I said, I actually appreciate the differing opinion. The value of a message board is greatly diminished if everybody is just puppeting each other and saying the exact same thing all the time.

I agree...that's exactly what I said in my previous post, to which you responded, "disagree all you want."

[offer]

Who said I was getting defensive? It's actually the exact opposite -- as I said, I actually appreciate the differing opinion. The value of a message board is greatly diminished if everybody is just puppeting each other and saying the exact same thing all the time.

I agree...that's exactly what I said in my previous post, to which you responded, "disagree all you want."

Yeah, but I meant that literally, not defiantly. As in, please, disagree all you want, because it's nice and valuable to hear the other side.

Yes, Longhorn, I agree with that...it is good to have differing viewpoints, as I've mentioned before.  That's what forums are all about.

[deedeeleigh]

Fantastic that you all made up...

But, could we get a little more info on callbacks? It seems like both of you have been through this process, so how many callbacks in one week would you say is too many? How did you find the callback process affected your keeping up with classes/Journal?

[Hookem]

How about another perspective.

I didn't expect to do well as a 1L but I did very well first semester. I reached out to a few firms and one Big Law flew me in for a half day in Feb. It went well but I didn't get the offer because the firm experienced a higher level of acceptances than it expected. I was told that if I applied earlier, I would have received an offer. (If the offers were undersubscribed, I suppose I would have been a shoe-in.) 

As a result of my experience, I've gotten an early start and I've asked for the earliest available slots. My concern is that Wall Street is likely to get worse before it gets better and I am concerned that the market for 2Ls will deteriorate in the next few months.

I do have a callback with the firm I interviewed with in Feb for 1L. My grades did drop in the second semester vis-a-vis first semester.

[bossfan2]

My best suggestion is to think ahead of time of 5 different ways to answer the same basic questions (like why you want to work there).  My experience involved 10 attorneys over 3 hours with a sort of "revolving door" feel to it. It flew by and it was lunchtime before I knew it...and I could barely remember what we had talked about.  Considering they'll all talk about you once you leave and the fact that a couple might actually hear you answer the same question twice, it's a good idea to have consistent answers that sound different enough that they don't come across as rehearsed. 

One other thought is to try to remember just one small thing you talked about with each interviewer.  That way you'll have something personal to say in each thank you note.

Good luck!