If a Law Firm Promises to Call Me Back and Never Does Should I Call Them?

Dear Lawcrossing,

A few months ago, I interviewed with a law firm. It went really well, and the attorney I interviewed with told me that she would really try to get me on board with the firm, hoping she could convince the powers that be that I should be hired. Shortly thereafter, the firm held a partners' meeting where I was on the agenda. I haven't heard anything since that time. Even though it's been a few months, I haven't gotten an offer from anybody else. Should I call the firm again and express my interest? After all, it's been months and I haven't heard from them. And I confess, I've been too chicken to call; I did try once, but nobody ever called me back. Should I try again?


SE, Illinois

Dear SE,

In a word-yes. LawCrossing realizes this seems, offhand, like telling you to put on a hamburger bathing suit and jump into a shark tank, but it isn't that way at all. To understand why, SE, you've got to appreciate all of the perfectly understandable, not- rejecting-you reasons why you might not have received a call. As the Director, Career Services Director at Franklin Pierce Law Center (and an attorney before that), points out, "Not receiving a call doesn't mean anything! It certainly doesn't mean they hated you. For instance, they may be waiting for the business they need to support your salary. When I was starting out, a law firm once told me, 'We're counting on a huge piece of litigation, and if we get it, we'll need you.' There are many firms in that position, but often they won't tell you what's going on."

On the other hand, of course, you don't want to be a pest. the Director says that in order to walk the fine line between showing enthusiasm and being a bother, "If they haven't given you a date when they'll contact you, wait until two weeks after your interview, and then call and say, 'I really enjoyed myself there, and wanted to check on the status of my application.' Most good recruiting coordinators will give you a date when you can call back, but if they don't, ask if you'll be a bother if you call back."

If the law firm you're interviewing with is too small for a recruiting coordinator, it could well be that the lawyers there have simply been too busy to give your situation the attention it deserves. When you call the firm and speak to the hiring partner's secretary, you could well be speaking to somebody who is up to her rhymes- with-"mass" in alligators. If she doesn't give you an answer, or says something like "I don't know where your application is," the Director advises you to ask if it would be a problem if you called back in a week's time. If a week's not okay, the secretary is likely to give you a date that is.

As your situation illustrates, SE, it's important to keep the ball in your court whenever possible. That is, keep the calling privilege for yourself. As Sue Richey advises, "Instead of just leaving a voice mail message for them to call you back, say that you'll try back in a week, and leave them your number in case they want to call you in the meantime."

If time drags on and there is still no decision, think about contacting the person with whom you got along the best to see what else-if anything-you can do to further your cause. Again, couch your request in terms of how much you liked the firm and how you'd like to make a contribution; now is not the time to say, "Honestly, I wouldn't care so much except that I haven't found anything else and I'm getting desperate."

What is the downside risk of this entire approach, SE? There isn't one. As the Director points out, "If they're going to reject you, they won't reject you any harder because you followed up." As LawCrossing stressed at the outset, there are many reasons why you might not receive an offer that have nothing to do with whether they liked you or not. And even if their reasons did involve you, remember that it's only their impression of you, how you did in a single interview, and whatever you showed them of your credentials in the form of resumes, cover letters, writing samples, and the like. They didn't reject you, the flesh-and-blood person, SE-and no employer ever has that power unless you give it to them. LawCrossing trusts that you won't.

To your success,,

No Thank You to 'Thank You Notes'?

Dear Lawcrossing,

Should I send thank you notes after interviews? I always thought you were supposed to, but now some people say you don't have to. I hope that is true because I find it very difficult to know what to say.

JO, AlabtmuL

DEAR JO,

LawCrossing knows that you will be delighted to find out that-for once-something difficult is not worthwhile, after all!
Emily Post may be appalled, but current opinion on "thank you" notes is this: in most cases, don't bother.

Why is that? As the Director of a major law school, and formerly a partner on the recruiting committee at a large law firm, explains: "Thank you letters make absolutely no difference to anybody 1 know. The recruiting committee at our firm never even looked at them. Run-of-the-mill, cookie-cutter thank you notes, written just for the sake of writing them, are a complete waste of time." In fact, JO, LawCrossing has heard more than once that thank you notes often hurt more than they help. "Misspelling someone's name, exhibiting a poor writing style, things like that can actively work against you," says the Director.

So by and large, JO, you needn't bother with a thank you. That covers on-campus interviews and most callbacks, but there are, of course, exceptions. If you got along particularly well with an interviewer, you really hit it off, jot that person a note, handwritten, stating your delight and citing whatever it was that made the interview so memorable, in order to make the note a personal one. And if the interviewer asked you to follow up with something, for instance, an article you've written or a clipping you mentioned in the interview, of course you should do so-but then, that's not a thank you note in the strictest sense, is it?

If you feel compelled to send follow-up correspondence by way of keeping you fresh in the mind of an employer or any other useful contact, that's entirely possible to do without ever sending out a thank you note. Here's how. Make notes after each of your interviews, jotting down any particular interest that the interviewer mentioned, or anything else about them that is obvious from their office decor, like a fly-fishing trophy, or a bit of framed Civil War memorabilia. Let's say, for instance, that you interview with Cleopatra Nile and notice an interesting stuffed snake-an asp-on her desk. When you notice it and say "Nice asp," Cleopatra mentions that she has a live asp at home that she keeps as a pet. After the interview, of course you'd note that interest. Subsequently, you're surfing the web or perusing newspapers or magazines, and you come across an item involving that interest, for instance, a new low-fat asp food that just came out. Download or clip it, and send it to Cleopatra with a note saying hello, mentioning that she might enjoy the item, and updating her briefly on what you're up to. This is a terrific, and non-pesty, way to keep your name at the front of anyone's mind. In fact, law students have been known to endear themselves to LawCrossing by finding out that she loves to cook, and surfing the web for interesting recipes for her.

The Director also recommends that when you see an item in the newspaper mentioning an employer with whom you've interviewed, you should clip that mention and send it to the person you know at the firm. People always enjoy reading about themselves, and often they won't have seen the item until you send it to them.

As you've noticed, JO, LawCrossing has strayed somewhat from thank you notes and well into the territory of ongoing correspondence. She does this merely by way of reassuring you that the odious task of drafting thank you notes is largely one that you can-happily- avoid.