Fall On-Campus Interviewing Program: Answers
to the Most Frequently Asked Questions
1) What is a fall interview program?
Legal recruiters go to law schools nationwide during August, September
and October to interview applicants for employment starting the
following summer or fall. Employers may also request that
we collect resumes from interested students or have students contact employers directly to schedule interviews
at their office.
2) How does a student prepare for the fall interview program?
Begin
preparation in the summer.
Research
participating employers and conduct informational interviews to
identify employers who best match your interests and career goals.
Revise your resume (see Resume
handout) and have it reviewed by a career counselor. If you have had your resume reviewed previously, you can email your resume to your assigned career adviser. If not, you will have to make an appointment with your adviser to have
it reviewed. Appointments fill
up early, so we advise you to make an appointment in June or early July, if possible.If you are a 3L and participated in Fall OCI last year, you do not need to have your resume reviewed although we advise it. All resumes must be reviewed and uploaded into Symplicity by noon on July 29, 2009.
Read the Career
Development Handouts. These will give you assistance
on resume preparation, interviewing techniques and resources available
to research potential employers.
Polish your interviewing skills. Practice interviewing
with classmates or attorneys who are willing to assist you in
this endeavor. Formulate your answers to the standard interview
questions that employers usually ask (See Career Development
Handouts -- Interviewing and Thank You Notes and Callback Interviews) and prepare the questions you want to
ask of the employer. Individual Mock Interviews are available. Call or stop by the Career Services Office
to sign up.
3) What kinds of legal recruiters participate in fall
interview programs?
LAW FIRMS: Generally, large and mid-size law firms
participate. These employers can establish their hiring
needs a year in advance. Occasionally, smaller firms will participate
if they know they will need a new associate a year in advance
or if they plan to hire summer research clerks. The vast
majority of law firms--those with 2-25 attorneys--do not participate
in structured on-campus interview programs. Instead, they
recruit when they need to fill immediate openings.
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES: Federal, State, and Local government
agencies recruit for their summer intern program, graduate honor
program (not all agencies have these) or for entry-level attorney
positions.
Please note: In the past, the Cook County State's Attorney's
Office (CCSAO) has made arrangements to interview graduating students
who have previously worked for them whether or not the students
meet the stated hiring criteria. Graduating
students interested in working for the CCSAO
must register for an on-campus interview
to obtain consideration for employment. In addition, the
City of Chicago Dept. of Law has a City of Chicago residency
requirement for all of its law clerks and new
attorneys at the time of hire. Also, 3Ls interested in working
for the SEC must apply through the fall interview program to be
considered for an entry level attorney position.
ACCOUNTING FIRMS: Accounting firms are interested
in law graduates with accounting backgrounds for their tax departments.
They are generally interested in third year students only.
CORPORATE LAW DEPARTMENTS: Corporate law departments
seldom hire attorneys directly out of law school. Occasionally,
the Direct Contact List may contain one or two corporations, but
most do not participate in on-campus interviews.
4) I am a first or second year evening student.
Should I be concerned now about the fall interview program?
Evening students should participate during the fall of their
third year. Evening students complete the core law school
classes at the end of the second year. Employers seek this
core knowledge and prefer evening students to join the summer
associate class one year before their graduation.
5) What is a summer associate position and is it the
same as a law clerk job?
A summer associate program is a specially structured program
found at many mid-size and large firms. Summer associates
have the opportunity to do the same type of work beginning associates
do--research and writing--under the supervision of various attorneys
in the firm. Law clerks may have the opportunity to
be involved in research and writing assignments while assisting
in other tasks as well. Employers may ask law clerks to
file documents in the various courts and handle general office
duties.
If the firm likes the work of a summer associate and there is
a good match between the student and firm, it may offer a beginning
associate position to that student. This offer may come
at the end of the summer or early in the fall of the student's
final year. Employers who run summer associate programs
anticipate that they will fill most of the new associate positions
from their summer associate classes.
6) I am an evening division student with a full-time job
who will graduate in 2011. Why should I consider interviewing
next fall for a summer associate position?
If your academic credentials are excellent and you have an interest
in employment with a firm that offers such a program, a summer
associate position could be extremely valuable to your career
development. A summer associate position gives you a much
better chance of securing a full-time associate position with
the same firm after graduation.
In recent years, interview opportunities with large law firms
for graduating students have been limited because summer associates
have filled the hiring needs of the employers. Many of the
fall recruiters, if pleased with your work during the summer,
may not only offer you an associate position but may arrange to
have you work for them during your last year of law school to
offset the loss of income from your prior employment. Although
you are taking a risk in leaving your current employment to work
during the summer, that risk could pay off in the end. You
may also consider asking for a leave of absence from your current
employer for the length of the program (typically 10 to 12 weeks).
7) What kinds of credentials are fall recruiters seeking?
Because fall recruiters usually interview at 10-20 campuses across
the country, the competition for positions is extremely high.
Generally, fall recruiters are seeking students with a high class
rank and/or other distinguishing academic credentials. Employers
may require criteria ranging from the top 50% to the top 15% to
the top 5%. Law Review and Moot Court Society are two credentials
that many large law firms prefer. Other firms, such as several
large insurance defense firms, often put great emphasis on other
work experience such as medical training or insurance work.
Patent firms, of course, want a technical background such as electrical
or chemical engineering. Accounting firms seek law students
who have had some undergraduate accounting courses or who are
C.P.A.s.
All students should review the list of participating
employers, available after July 1, 2009 to see if their
credentials match the requirements of any of these potential employers.
If you do not meet the hiring criteria of a law firm you are interested
in, please refer to question 14 for suggestions and options.
Once you are logged in to the system, click on the "OCI" tab to view participating employers. Then click on the "Review" tab next to each employer to view the employer's schedule, hiring criteria, and additional information about the employer.
8) Why do recruiters interview and hire many
more second year students than third year students?
Large and mid-size law firms tend to fill most of their beginning
associate needs from their previous year's summer associate program.
Those firms that have very successful summer associate programs
do not need to recruit many, if any, third year students.
Therefore, they focus on hiring second year students to fill future
hiring needs.
9) What if I fall just outside of an employer's hiring criteria?
You are only able to bid on employers whose hiring criteria you meet. However, you may prepare a list of on-campus employers (only those with with an interview date at Chicago-Kent) that you are within 10% of the required hiring criteria. This list should include your name, gpa and class rank at the top of the page, and you should list those employers you are interested in submitting a resume to but fall just outside of the hiring criteria (within 10%). You must submit this list to the Career Services Office by noon on Friday, August 7 . Our office will forward employers the resumes of these students who are within 10% of the hiring criteria.
Also, if you fall outside of the hiring criteria, but
feel that you have compelling reasons or qualifications that warrant
consideration, you are welcome to contact the recruiting administrator
or hiring attorney directly. Send a persuasive cover letter and
resume requesting to be added to their on-campus schedule, or
to interview at their office. If they choose to add you to their
interviewing schedule, they will contact our office and you will
be emailed regarding your interview time.
Often, employers will respond with a form letter which indicates
that you should 1) participate through your law school's Fall
Interview Program or 2) sign up for interviews at your school.
This last phrase does not mean that they automatically granted
you an interview. It means that you should follow the school's
normal recruiting procedures. Additions
to a recruiter's schedule can only be made upon the direct request
of the recruiter by phone or letter to the Career Services Office.
10) What if I want to apply to an employer that is not an OCI employer (not coming on-campus)?
Direct Resume and Collect Resume Employers: There are many employers both in Chicago and in other parts of
the country who decide not to send recruiters to interview at
the law school but who have indicated to us that they are interested in receiving applications from Chicago-Kent
students. Resume Collect employers prefer to have our office collect resumes in our Symplicity system and forward to them for their review, while there are also some employers who request that students send materials directly to them. Both Resume Collect and Direct employers may be found on Symplicity under the "OCI" tab. Instead of listing an Interview Date, they will have an "RC" which stands for Resume Collect. In order to view information about the position and how to apply, simply click on the review tab next to the employer's name.
Please note: For Direct Resume employers, it is up to you to meet the employers’ deadlines as listed in the system. Do not wait until on-campus interviews are completed to send letters to Direct Resume Employers. For Resume Collect employers, you must have all of the required information uploaded onto the Symplicity system by noon on August 7.
If you are interested in an employer that is not an OCI, Resume Collect or Direct employer, we strongly encourage you to contact that employer and find out the name of the hiring partner or person in charge of recruiting and send a cover letter and resume to that person in August or in early September. If the recruiter is interested in interviewing you, he/she will contact you directly during the fall.
11) If I decide not to interview in the fall program,
does that mean I'll be forever unemployed?
No. About 80% of the nation's law graduates do not get
hired through fall interview programs but successfully find employment
after graduation. There are many things you can do to
find employment as a student or graduating third-year.
- Make an appointment to talk to one of our
career counselors to discuss your career plans, job search strategy,
etc. Prepare your resume and tailor a personalized cover
letter to employers of your preference.
- Read the career
development handouts on our Web site.
- Network! Talk to classmates, law school
graduates, and any attorneys you know, about possible clerking
or attorney job openings.
- Review the job postings in Symplicity for attorney, part-time clerk, full-time clerk, summer
law clerk and student intern positions.
- Contact potential employers. For
graduating students who don't participate in the fall interview
program, potential employers should be contacted throughout
the third year of law school, with increased effort during the
last semester. For law clerk positions, there are always
postings in the Symplicity system, and these employers
are usually seeking students to start work immediately. For
summer employment, a few firms can be contacted as early as February
or March, although most firms won't know their summer needs
until April or May.
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