Falling Apart at the Seams

Today is my last day of interviewing "on campus" and I'm so happy to be done with it. It's such a pain in the ass. Almost all of my interviews have been in the afternoon and it's a hassle to try to get a suit to school and change later in the day. So I have ended up just wearing my suit all day and that's oh so fun. Also, is it possible to get a suit dry cleaned too much?

This morning just as I was leaving the house I went to tie my shoe and my pants ripped. And I didn't have time to change. So now I'm trying to keep my legs together lest someone see my unmentionables. Then I discovered that I have 2 buttons missing on my dress shirt and there is a rip at one of the button holes. Now I have to find somewhere to buy news pants and a dress shirt and I'm such a clothes whore that I'm probably going to end up buying a whole suit.

My first interview this morning went very well. It was at a firm that I didn't know a whole lot about. I heard that it was gay friendly and its in the city (although I think most firms in the city ARE gay friendly). I was tempted to cancel it because it's the last day of interviewing and the interview was at 9am. But I forced myself out of bed and went to the interview.

Then at the end of the 20 minutes, the interviwer told me that he was going to recommend that I get a call back interview. Yay! I think it helped that he was also gay and had experience with the queer caucus here at school. The career services offer says that once you have a call back it's around 80% chance that you'll get an offer for a summer associate position. Woot!

Other funny interview stories....

My 3rd interviwer was horribly awkward. The guys were from the tax department and it was at this firm that I never should have interviwed at. I think I had previously decided not to interview with them but somehow I must have gone back and bid on them. They were focused on technology and the tech industry and while I'm interested in intellectual property, I don't like the tech aspect. So the tax department guys were asking me odd questions. Normally you get things like "Why do you want to work at (Firm X) or why did you go to law school, what area are you interested, etc."

These guys were asking things like "How do you motivate people" or "What's a conflict that you've faced in your career or school experience and how did you deal with it" And so I would answer these questions as best as I could and then there was an uncomfortable pause as if they were expecting me to say more. But they didn't say "could you elaborate" so I figured my answer was fine. After 20 painful minutes, it was time to leave.

But as I was leaving I accidentally knocked into a pile of resumes/transcripts that was sitting precariously on the edge of the desk. So I fumbled to keep it from falling. Ha ha. Totally not a good impression to make. But I didn't want to work for them and I wasn't surprised when I got the rejection letter from them.

Then I was interviewing at another firm, against with 2 guys in the room. And the interview for the most part was ok, but then on the way out I forgot to shake their hands.

On Weds of this week there was a reception at one firm that I really want to work at. They were hosting a reception for the queer caucus. Although only 4 students showed up, both of the attorneys who came were super nice. So at the beginning one of the other students was talking to the attorney from the SF office and mentioned that he had interviewed with the firm. I also interviewed with the same guy at the firm but I didn't say anything. Stupid me almost blew it!

But then at the end of the reception I mentioned that I had interviwed with them and hoped to hear something back. And the attorney was like "Oh, you didn't speak up earlier!" But he was nice about it and said that he was going to go talk to the interviwer and mention that he met us. I'm hoping it works out.

Now I just have to wait for more callbacks or rejections. My first callback is next Friday and then I'm hoping I can go back to Reno the week after.

I talked with a few other transfers and I've heard some horror stories. One girl said that the interviewer told her "We don't hire people from the school you transferred from, so come back when you have grades for boalt." And another interviwer said that they don't hire transfer students at all.

At Boalt they have a policy where the employers can't prescreen the candidates. So everyone has an equal shot. In theory it's great because the firms can't just skim from the top. But on the other hand if the firm absolutely doesn't hire transfers, it's just a waste of everyone's time.

Fortunately my experiences have been positive.