2009 Fall On-Campus Interviewing Program: Registration
Those who participate in fall interviewing are expected to be
aware of and to follow all procedures and rules as described. In order to ensure fair and ethical legal hiring practices, NALP has instituted principles and standards that schools, students and employers are expected to follow. Please review the following prior to participation in the Fall Interview Program: NALP Principles for Candidates, NALP Timing of Offers, and Student Professionalism During Interview Season.
Students should also refer
to the rules and ethics code in the student handbook.
Resume
Preparation
Any student planning to
participate in the fall on-campus program for the first time must
have his/her resume reviewed by a career services office advisor.
If you have previously had your resume reviewed for another purpose, you can submit your resume by email to your assigned Career Adviser. If you have never had a CSO Career Adviser review your resume you must make an appointment. Students who participated in the program
last year are not required to have a resume review, but are encouraged
to do so. Call the office at (312) 906-5200 to schedule an appointment. OCI resume reviews end by noon, July 29, 2009.
For assistance in preparing a resume view the CSO resume
handout.
Reporting Grades,
Class Rank, and Honors
Information on your resume must be absolutely accurate.
It is not the responsibility of the career services office to
verify students' academic credentials and inform students of errors.
GPA and CLASS RANK:
You are not required to put your GPA and class rank on your
resume, however, if you are in the top 1/3 of the class, it is
to your advantage to include this information. Class rank provides
employers with insight as to how your academic performance compares
to others in your class. If you choose to include GPA and class
rank, you must use the exact GPA and class rank calculated
by the registrar's office. Do not try to determine your
own GPA and class rank. Use your GPA and class rank as of the completion of the
Spring 2009 term. You must not compute your GPA to include your Summer 2009 grades. If you wish to indicate your Summer 2009 GPA on your resume, you must do so on a separate line.
Do not round up your GPA: For example, a 3.147 may be listed as 3.14/4.0 or 3.147/4.0, but not as 3.15. If
you include your GPA, you should always indicate that it is determined out of a 4.0 scale
(i.e., 3.147/4.0).
Calculating your class rank percentile: When calculating
your class rank percentile (i.e. Top 10%), divide your numerical
rank by the number of students in your class (this number must
be the official number provided by the registrar's office) and convert to a percentile.
You may state your percentile on your resume in one of two ways:
1) State your rank percentile exactly: For example, 32/299 =
.1070 or Top 10.7%.
2) Round your rank percentile up or down based on the following
formula. If your rank falls between the whole number and .4999
you may round down (.2500 through .25499 = Top 25% of class).
If your rank falls above the whole number at .5 or greater, you
must round up (.2550 > = Top 26% of Class). In the example
in #1 above, if rounded, 10.70 would be Top 11%.
HONORS:
If you have just accepted membership on Law Review or in the
Moot Court Honor Society or have served less than two academic
terms, you must qualify the membership statement on your resume
with the phrase "as of (date of admittance)." Ex: Chicago-Kent
Law Review, member as of August 2009.
If you served on Law Review or the Moot Court Honor Society but
are not enrolled this semester, you must qualify your membership
with the period served. Example: Chicago-Kent Law
Review, 2007-2008; Moot Court Honor Society, member 2007-2008,
Executive Board member 2006-2007.
If you were invited to join the Law Review or Moot Court Honor
Society and declined the invitation, but want to show you received
an invitation, your statement should read as follows: "Invited
to join Moot Court Honor Society, respectfully declined invitation."
If you have been on the Dean's List, you must qualify the statement
on your resume with the semester(s) you achieved this honor unless
you achieved Dean's List all eligible semesters (i.e. Dean's list,
2 of 3 semesters; or Dean's List, Spring 2006, Fall 2007 &
Spring 2008).
Other honors that you may wish to include, such as merit scholarships,
CALI awards for highest grade in the class, etc. should also be
qualified with a semester or academic year (i.e. Spring 2008 or
2007-2008).
NOTE: Discrepancies in information on resumes submitted to or
through the career services office, which are either found by
career services staff or brought to their attention, will
be investigated as possible Ethics Code violations.
Determining Your
Eligibility to Interview with Employers
All employers participating in the Fall On-Campus Program have
indicated their required academic hiring criteria, i.e., top 10%
of class, law review, technical background, etc. In
order to preference a particular employer, you must fall within
the employer's required class rank and other required hiring criteria. Employers expect that we match their exact
hiring criteria when scheduling. Therefore, if an employer requires Top 15% and you are ranked at 16%, unfortunately, you may not bid for an interview with that employer.
We do strongly encourage employers to consider other students who fall within 10% points of their hiring criteria. Students who do not meet the required hiring criteria for certain employers, but who are within 10% of the employer's "required" class rank should prepare a list of those employers. 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 7th. Our office will forward employers the resumes of these students who are within 10% of the hiring criteria.
Also, students who are just outside an employer's hiring criteria should consider writing a persuasive cover letter to the hiring partner or recruiter and sending it directly to the firm along with a resume (get contact name and info from www.nalpdirectory.com). In the cover letter, students should assert their skills, background, qualifications, etc., and ask to be added to the firm's interview schedule. We have had several students find success with this option and not only get added to an interview schedule, but actually get the job. Please Note: If an employer's hiring criteria is listed as "preferred," it indicates that the employer will typically hire from within this class rank or just outside of it. Students should be realistic in their bidding selections.
Many employers also list preferred hiring criteria such as moot
court and/or law review. Look at these criteria carefully
as they will give you an idea of preferred characteristics for
first-year associates. We strongly encourage you to carefully
consider these suggested criteria and plan your preferences accordingly.
Researching Employers
In addition to verifying your eligibility to bid on an employer,
you should also be researching the employers you're interested
in to verify that they have the type of practice you seek. It
would not be to your benefit to interview with a litigation boutique
if you wish to practice corporate transactional law. Don't waste
your bids by being uninformed.
For more information on research techniques and
resources, see the section on researching
employers.
Preferencing Employers
with Whom You Wish to Interview
Once you have determined which employers you are interested in and are eligible to bid for an interview with, you will need to rank those employers beginning with the one you most want to interview
with to your lowest preferred employer. The bidding process
for interviews with on-campus employers will occur online.
Specific instructions for this process will be distributed at
the OCI Program on August 4th at Noon and 5:15pm in the Auditorium. You only need to attend one of these programs.
The computer fills an on-campus employer's interview schedule
with students who have preferenced the employer as number one,
then with students who have preferenced it as number two, etc. It also checks the interview time slots against a student's work
and class schedule and will not schedule an interview during those
times.
Students are prohibited from interviewing during scheduled class times and must include their class conflicts in the Symplicity system. In order to do this, students should click on the "OCI" tab and then click the "Class Schedules/Conflicts" tab. Select timeslots for days/times in which you are unable to interview due to class conflicts. You must click Submit button before leaving this screen for your new exceptions to be saved. Note that any exception (i.e., work conflict or personal event) you enter here or in the Calendar section decreases your chances of getting an interview.
If you preference an employer as your number one choice, and
there is not a class or work schedule conflict, you are likely
to receive an interview with that employer but you are not
guaranteed an interview with that employer. Whether
or not you receive an interview depends on how many other students
preferenced that employer as their number one choice and how many
interview slots an employer has signed up for. If the number
of students preferencing the employer as number one is greater
than the number of interview slots, then the computer will conduct
a random selection among students who have chosen the employer
as number one. Others who have bid but do not receive an interview
will be wait-listed. The employers will also receive the resumes
of all students who met the hiring criteria and who preferenced them regardless of whether or not the student
received an interview.
If you cannot interview on a particular day (out-of-town, religious
holiday, doctor's apointment), and you want your resume sent to
the firm, follow the instructions outlined below. If you fit the employer's required
hiring criteria, you may want to write the firm directly, outlining
the reasons that you are unable to meet with the recruiter on
its scheduled interview date and requesting an in-office interview.
Make your selections carefully; you will be expected to abide
by them. See the Interviewing
Section for consequences for missed interviews.
Submission of Registration
Forms
Make sure a copy of your resume is uploaded onto the Symplicity system by noon on Friday, August 7th. Please note that for some Collect Resume Employers and Direct Resume Employers there may be early or late deadlines, which will be listed in Symplicity. Also, with some Collect Resume Employers, you will need to upload additional documents such as a cover letter, unofficial transcript, writing sample, references, or recommendation letters. In order to submit a transcript, you will need to create an unofficial transcript (using a Word document) listing your classes and grades. Click here for example format for unofficial transcript. You should then be able to upload the Word document to the system and submit it for this position. Cover letters, writing samples, and reference lists can be uploaded from a Word document to the system.
In addition to the on-line submissions, you must also submit the following hardcopy materials to the Career Services Office,
room 360, by the deadline of
noon on Friday August 7th. We
cannot accept late forms since scheduling will be done immediately
after forms are submitted.
-
Student Registration Form
- Class Schedules/Conflicts Printout - print out 1 week from
Symplicity
- Employers/Bidding Printout - printout from Symplicity
-
Ethical Practices Agreement and Resume Release Form
- One (1) hard copy of resume
- A list of OCI employers (only those with an interview date at Chicago-Kent; not Resume Collect employers) you are interested in submitting a resume to but whose hiring criteria you are just outside of (Note: you must be within 10% of the required rank). Please include your name, GPA and Class Rank at the top of the list. For each employer on the list, you must print out a copy of your resume (it doesn't need to be on resume paper) and write the name of the employer on the back of the resume. We will forward these resumes to the employers that are coming on-campus to interview and encourage them to either add students to their schedule or contact students directly, if interested in setting up an interview. Note: 3Ls who are unable to bid on CCSAO because they fall outside of the hiring criteria, but who clerked for the CCSAO before, may include the CCSAO on this list of employers submitted to the Career Services Office. Even if you are more than 10% outside of the hiring criteria, as long as you have worked at CCSAO in the past, we will submit your resume for review.
Photocopy all forms for your records.
You must thoroughly and accurately enter your class/work schedule
into the Symplicity system for every day from August 24 - September 11 so that the computer will
not schedule your interviews at times when you are in class or
otherwise unable to interview.
Interviews are generally scheduled from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.,
Monday through Fridays with a noon to 1:00 p.m. lunch break.
A few recruiters have requested half-day schedules. Interviews
are generally 20 or 30 minutes long, though some are longer, depending
upon the employer's preference. 3L Evening students will need
to report their work schedules in such a way that some blocks
of time are made available for interviews.
Once this information is given to us,
it cannot be changed after 12:00 p.m. on Friday, August 7th. The
computer will calculate all fall interview schedules at the same
time, and schedules will be issued to students for the entire
fall season. Should you change your work schedule at
a later date, we will not be able to change your interview times.
Therefore, fill out the class/work schedule form carefully!
Interview Schedules
Your personal interview schedule for
preferenced employers will be available for viewing on-line on
August 14, 2009. Hard copies of interview schedules
will not be distributed; you must view your schedule on-line,
and are responsible for knowing your schedule! If you do not show
for an interview, you may risk forfeiting all of your interviews.
If you are selected for an interview with a Joint Schedule employer,
we will notify you by e-mail of your interview time approximately
one week before the interview.
Resume Collect employers mwill most likely contact you directly to schedule interviews on campus. In the rare case that a Resume Collect employer ask the CSO to assist in arranging interviews, we will e-mail you. Read
your email daily!
If you are not scheduled for an interview with an employer in whom
you are very interested, you may write to that employer directly
for an interview. If the employer is willing to interview
you on-campus, the recruiter must indicate
in writing or by phone to the career services office that it will
add you to its schedule at the beginning or end of the day,
or during the lunch break.
Official Mode of Communication
The official means
of communication during fall interviewing is email.
You should check your email daily for communications from our
office. We will not call you with changes or updates
(this includes interview time changes and additional or canceled
interviews).
Changes/Additions to
the Interview Program
Additions and changes to the interview program will be announced
in The
Record, posted on the Fall Interview Bulletin Board outside
the Career Services Office, and updated on the web. Although it is rare, sometimes unforeseen circumstances require that an employer change their interviewer or room assignment. Therefore, it is advisable to check your email daily. Also, please check the bulletin board outside our office (Room 360) on the day of your interview(s) to confirm room assignments and interviewer names.
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