Grades aren't the only thing that counts by far. The girl that's number one in our class, hasn't had an offer anywhere yet, and it's obvious why. She has no social skills. She's a genius, but she's completely socially retarded. I was told by a recruiting attorney at a top 250 firm in Cincinnati that when you go into the interview, they already know whether you're qualified because they've seen you're resume. At that point they just want to be sure they like you. They want to make sure you'll fit in at the firm, and whether they can stand working with you day in and day out.
The other thing he told me is it's frustrating for them that law schools focus solely on numbers in admissions. They don't focus at all on personality and social skills. They can't. There's no way for law schools to interview because of the sheer volume of applicants. He said they would rather have somebody in the top 1/4 to 1/3 because most times those people have a good balance of social skills and brains. He said the top 10 percent guy may be a genius, but if he doesn't have any social skills he's nearly worthless. He's not likable and hard to work with, and they can never put him in front of a client. He said when they interview one of their rules of thumb is can they trust the interviewee by himself on a three hour plane ride with a client. Would a client want to sit next to this guy trapped on a plane and conversate with him/her for an extended period of time.
I met this guy at a recruiting event at my school. After the event there was an hors d'oeuvre buffet. He was sitting by himself at a table so I decided to chat him up. I'm all set with a job, so I figured I could pretty much ask and say whatever (within the bounds of decency anyway
. This guy gave up of a lot of information.
Note: I'm in no way trying to cast any dispersions on the poster. I'm sure he'll be fine. Eventually he'll make a mutually beneficial connection.
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