What to Expect in an In-House Law Firm Interview

The in-house interview is the "meat" of the recruiting process. This stage of the recruiting cycle requires a substantial amount of time and energy and is also the most stressful part. The best advice I can give to you at this stage of the game is to plan, prepare, and listen to what your intuition tells you.

Firms handle the in-house interview process in different ways. Most medium to large firms will fly you to their office, put you up at a nice hotel, feed you extremely well, and roll out the red carpet to impress you. Smaller firms will be less formal and extravagant in their approach. As you talk with multiple firms, the variations between them will either be extremely subtle or be staring you in the face, so pay attention to what goes on around you during this process, as a big decision must be made at the end-where you want to work-and you'll be surprised how everything runs together after a while.

MAKING TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS

If you are looking outside the area of your law school, you'll be faced with making travel arrangements. Making these arrangements is a relatively simple exercise, but if you fumble in this elementary task, it could have an adverse effect on your chances of getting an offer. Play it safe and follow directions from the start.

Reimbursable Expenses

The majority of firms reimburse second-year students for travel expenses related to callback interviews. The following expenses are usually reimbursable:

• Airfare (economy class)
• Mileage reimbursement if you drive to the interview
• Transportation from your school to the airport
• Ground transportation once you arrive at your destination
• Hotel expenses
• Meals
• Parking fees, tolls, etc.
• Local phone calls

If a firm doesn't mention travel reimbursement when the interview is arranged, ask them if they reimburse students for callbacks. If they do, ask what specific expenses they'll reimburse for and how to go about making your arrangements. Large firms, typically, don't differ that much in what they will and will not pay for. Small firms, with smaller recruiting budgets, may not have the resources to roll out the red carpet in the manner that large firms do.

What Firms Won't Pay For

Never abuse the privilege of having a firm put you up in an elegant hotel or flying you across the country for interviews. As recruiting budgets shrink, recruiting coordinators are watching for possible abuses in the process like hawks. Typically, firms won't reimburse students for the following expenses and have been known to make students repay them for these abuses:

• Video rentals in hotels
• Long-distance phone calls (although one or two is probably okay)
• Valet parking
• Laundry services
• Meals for other people
• Business or first-class airfares
• In-room minibar expenses
• Bar bills
• Meals at extravagant restaurants

Making Your Own Arrangements

There are steps you need to take when making your own travel arrangements:

1. Obtain a reimbursement form. Firms should give you a travel reimbursement form either when they send you a letter formally inviting you to the firm for interviews, when they confirm your interview date in writing (if they do this), or during the actual interview process. If not, ask for one.
    
2. If interviewing with multiple firms in the same city, make your arrangements through one firm only. Give your completed form to the same firm, along with a list of the other firms you interviewed with during that trip. They will take care of getting reimbursed from each other.
    
3. Make your trip economical. Schedule your interviews so that you visit as many firms in one trip as possible. Firms appreciate students making this kind of effort. In addition, recruiting professionals talk among themselves, and it's likely that they'll uncover the student who flies east every Friday to interview with only one firm so he can maintain his bicoastal romance. Firms have little tolerance for this type of behavior.
    
4. Don't jump the gun and make arrangements with your own travel agent before you contact the firm you're going to interview with. Many firms have worked out deals with hotels and airlines and often save money by using certain travel agents, airlines, hotels, and so on. Respect the wishes of the firm that is paying for your trip.

Getting Reimbursed

There are a few simple guidelines you should follow when getting reimbursed for your travel expenses:

1. Be prompt in your request for reimbursement. Some firms have put a thirty-day limit on reimbursement—you have to send in your expense form within thirty days of the interview or you will not be reimbursed. It is simply common courtesy not to wait sixty or ninety days for reimbursement. Besides, most students need to be reimbursed promptly so they can pay their own bills.
    
2. Keep good records. Firms are required by law to have receipts for expenditures over a certain dollar amount. Always ask for receipts, even for the smallest expense. This also makes your record keeping much easier in the end.
    
3. Firms should also be prompt in reimbursing you for your out-of-pocket expenses. If you don't receive a check within three weeks, call the recruiting coordinator or office administrator. Letters sometimes get lost in the mail, or paperwork gets backed up on someone's desk. That is a lame excuse, but it does happen.

IN-HOUSE INTERVIEW ETIQUETTE (OR WHAT EMILY POST WOULD TELL LAW STUDENTS)

In-house interviewing is a two-way street. You're there to check out the firm, and the firm, in turn, is looking you over as a potential employee. Using the proper etiquette during the process is vital to your success. Too many students don't know what they should and shouldn't do during this process. And the details make a world of difference, from your end as well as the firm's. Here are some crucial pointers for you to follow as you go through the in-house interview process:

1. Always be on time. Being late, while sometimes outside of your control, is simply rude. Be at the firm fifteen minutes early. It's not necessary to be there any earlier than that. If you're going to be more than fifteen minutes late, find a way to call the firm and tell them. No-shows are inexcusable.
    
2. Call attorneys and professional staff members by their formal names. Even in an informal setting, refer to all attorneys and staff members by "Mr. Smith" or "Ms. Williams" unless instructed otherwise.
    
3. Stand up when others enter an office. This sounds formal and outdated, but you'll be surprised how many people appreciate this display of respect and courtesy. You don't see this too often anymore.
    
4. Shake hands firmly. Always stick your hand out when introduced to someone, and shake firmly, without using the Arnold Schwarzenegger grip. Nothing turns people off more than a weak, limp handshake or a power grip. Many job offers have been lost on this one.
    
5. Treat the staff with respect. You never know how influential the support staff is in a firm until you work there, so you should never underestimate their clout. Be as nice and courteous to the nonlawyers as to the lawyers.
    
6. Never drink alcohol during an interview lunch or dinner. It's inappropriate to order wine, beer, or mixed drinks at an interview meal, even if everyone else at the table is ordering. I would also restrain during the cocktail hour unless you feel relaxed enough with the group around you.
    
7. Be courteous and respectful at all times. If you quickly decide that this isn't the firm for you, act as if it is while you're there. It's amazing how small the legal community is. Recruiting professionals know one another, and they talk. If you act like a jerk at one firm, that news can easily find its way around town. And you never know when you will end up sitting at the same table as the partner you acted like a jerk toward in an interview.
    
8. Be yourself. You won't fit in a place that clashes with who and what you are. Don't change who you are to adapt to a completely new environment.
    
9. Treat the recruiting coordinator with dignity and respect. Most students don't realize how much clout some recruiting coordinators have in the hiring process. Being rude or disrespectful to them can be your kiss of death.
    
10. Always return phone calls to the firm. Even if you decide you're not interested in a firm, return their phone calls to you, anyway. You never know why a firm is calling, and it's simply rude not to return your phone calls.
     
11. Never cancel interviews at the last minute. Many a smug second-year has called to cancel a 10:00 A.M. interview at 9:15 A.M. the same morning, thinking that they'll never encounter anyone from that firm again. WRONG. The law firm community is very small, even in the largest cities. Word gets around, and the hiring partner at the firm you shafted at the last minute may end up one day as the lead partner in your work group! Attorneys, like elephants, never forget.

HOW THE CALLBACK INTERVIEW PROCESS WORKS

It's helpful to understand how the callback process works at firms before you begin your in-house interviews. You'll be much more comfortable and at ease if you have a general idea of what's going to happen when you visit firms.

Whom You'll See and How Long It Takes

You'll encounter a multitude of approaches to the callback interview process when you visit law firms. During callbacks, expect to meet a variety of attorneys, from the most junior associate to the most senior partner. If you expressed a strong interest in a particular practice area, anticipate seeing at least one or two attorneys from that area. Often, you'll be treated to lunch or dinner or, in rare cases, both. Some firms interview students for half days; others take even more time. Just remember that this will be an exhausting exercise, especially if you have scheduled weeks of back-to-back interviews.

Don't be disappointed or take it personally if, during the interview process, you do not get to speak with the attorneys with whom you particularly wanted to talk. Do not be concerned if you do not talk with a partner or associate in a particular practice area, especially if there are only one or two people in that area. Many students come in for interviews specifically wanting to talk to a specific partner, only to discover that partner is busy with clients or out of the country. Interviewing is important to any firm, but client work will always come first. This is one reason interview schedules frequently change during the course of a day.

Don't be astounded, however, if you're not treated to a meal during the interview process, and don't chalk it up to the myth that "if a firm doesn't take me to lunch, then they must not be interested in me." Firms often have difficulty coaxing busy attorneys to take two hours of their billable day to take recruits to lunch or dinner. The associates want to go home to their families in the evening if they don't have to work late. This is the main reason many firms don't treat recruits to dinner and sometimes skip taking them to lunch.

What Happens Once You Arrive

When you arrive, ask for the recruiting coordinator or whomever your contact is. In some firms, your interviews will begin immediately. At others, you will talk first with the recruiting coordinator, hiring partner, or a member of the firm's hiring committee. Often, you are given a list of the attorneys you're scheduled to meet, along with their biographical profiles. Other firms give you this information at the end of the day in case of schedule changes. If you don't receive this information, ask for a list of the attorneys you interviewed with before you leave the firm.

THINGS TO LOOK FOR DURING THE INTERVIEW

Before you begin the in-house interview process, you should have a general idea of what things you should be looking for. Don't go into the situation blind, afterward wishing you had known what to look out for.

What's the Office Environment Like?

While visiting firms, get a good feel for the office environment, both for aesthetics and intangibles. The external environment of a firm tells you a lot. Ask yourself the following questions as you walk around the halls and meet various people:

• What impression does the firm give you while sitting in the lobby?
• What conversations are taking place around you?
• Do all employees appear happy and content?
• Do people speak to one another while passing in the halls?
• Does the firm seem like a pleasant place to work?
• Does the firm appear to be efficiently run, or is it still in the dark ages?

It's often more revealing to meet with attorneys in their own offices than in a central conference room. Notice what type of offices associates are given. Does everyone have a modern computer and telephone? Are support staff members treated like second-class citizens, while partners have lavish offices the size of many apartments? Is the office dingy, in dire need of renovation? (This could signal that the firm is having economic problems.) What type of library resources are available? How big is the support staff? Pick up on what is going on around you, and let your intuition be your guide.

When speaking with partners and senior associates, ask yourself, is this someone I would enjoy working with, would like taking orders from, and would respect? You really have to respect the people in a firm, and firms attract different types of people. For example, one firm interviewed the son of a well-known entertainer. His grades were mediocre, but he had attended excellent schools all of his life and had many experiences unusual for someone his age. During the interview, he kept dropping the names of famous people he knew on a first-name basis. For some firms, these connections would be very useful. But this particular firm was full of self-made attorneys who had thrived in their careers without help from a well-known father. Therefore, his name-dropping turned off most people at the firm. While this firm didn't call him back, many firms found the well-connected son of a famous professional a strong addition. Different firms look for different types of people.

Look out for red flags as you go through the interview process. If everything sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Most law firms require complete dedication, long hours, hard work, and your firstborn child. Beware if a firm makes promises that aren't the norm. If they tell you that they have no billable hour requirements, that only means that they aren't written down in the firm handbook. Also, don't believe anyone who tells you that everyone (except the support staff) usually works nine to five. Don't be gullible as you go through this process. Large firms do not pay huge salaries so you can work forty or fifty hours a week. Educate yourself before going in so that you know when something deviates from the norm.

Work Distribution and Training

Find out how work is handed out and what level of attorneys summer associates typically work with. As an associate, would you rarely work side by side with a partner, or would you work routinely with a partner early on? If training is important to you, find out how much training is provided for summer associates and young associates. Some firms routinely provide elaborate training sessions. Others adopt an indoctrination by fire attitude. Do you need hand-holding, or do you want to hit the ground running from day one? You should have an idea of which method suits your personality the best.

ASK GOOD QUESTIONS

Always bring a set of prepared questions to the interview, even if you don't use them. Bring a notebook with you, preferably a legal pad with a leather cover. Make sure it's professional-looking. Your questions should be written down—typed or handwritten—it doesn't matter. You have them with you if you need them, and there is nothing wrong with referring to your questions during an interview. You will appear prepared and interested in the firm— you've done your homework. Have two sets of questions in mind—some that are suitable for associates and another set just for partners. Attorneys often think that you aren't interested in their firm if you don't ask questions about it. Demonstrate that you are interested and that you've done a little background research. It will impress them.

Don't Let Partners Intimidate Your Ability to Ask Questions

Be assertive when you ask partners questions, especially the very tough questions. Partners are just people and are just as approachable as any associate. Avoid "canned" questions that come across as rehearsed and recycled. And never kiss up to partners during an interview. They know when you are doing this despite what you might think, and most do not like it. Just pretend that partners have the same clout as the associates throughout the interview process. For all you know, they do.

Be Creative but Not Fanatical

Use your creativity, indicating that you have done your homework without going overboard. You may appear desperate if you know too much about a firm. Being fanatical won't help your chances of getting an offer. Ask a few thought-provoking questions that indicate you are seriously interested in the firm. For example, it's not necessary to know the complete history of a firm or to know what was in the legal press yesterday. It won't impress anyone if you are knowledgeable about the firm's history. They'll only query why you have so much available time to research information that is really useless for the interview process.

The flip side is that you should be aware of any recent important developments in a firm. If an important government official recently joined the firm or if the firm recently merged with another well-known firm, you should know that.

Some Sample Questions

The following is a list of possible interview questions that can be molded to fit most firms, once you have completed your research on the firm. Tailor your questions to each firm you interview with.

• What made the difference when you decided to join this firm, or how is this firm different from others you considered?
• Expound on your most challenging assignment thus far in your career here.
• What are some of the common attributes members of this firm possess?
• Is the training satisfactory? What changes would you make? Describe a recent training program. Is all training done in-house? In what areas does the training need to be improved?
• What are the best and worst aspects of working here? (Make sure that the interview is going well enough to use this one. Be very positive when you pose this question.)
• Describe a typical day. What do you like the least and the most about your current routine at the firm?
• What is the firm's vision for the future? Does the firm possess a mission statement? If so, how often is that goal or vision altered? (Ask only partners this one.)
• Does the firm teach associates networking and marketing skills? If so, how is this achieved?
• When does the firm expect associates to start building their own client base?
• What are the biggest mistakes associates make in their careers in this firm? (This is another question only for partners or very senior associates.)
• How do you envision technology being utilized in the firm in the future? (This is a good questions for any "techy" attorney you meet.)
• What was the biggest surprise once you joined the firm? How is your position different from what you expected?
• What are the firm's strengths and weaknesses? How are the weaknesses being addressed?

Topics You Shouldn't Broach

It is essential that you ask intelligent and insightful questions during the interview process. Just as important, however, is avoiding certain questions or topics that may be inappropriate, are in bad taste, or should be common sense. The following topics and questions should be completely avoided during the interview process:

• Don't ask for information on maternity and paternity leave. While it is illegal to discriminate against individuals in their childbearing years, firms do sometimes think along these lines. If you have to obtain information on this subject, refer to the firm's National Association for Law Placement form, or contact the personnel director incognito. Asking about paternity leave, even though many firms have paternity leave policies in place, can be the kiss of death in the male-dominated law firm culture.
   
• Don't inquire about how many students are being interviewed or which students from your school are being interviewed. This really does not concern you.
   
• Don't expound on your desire to perform pro bono work, asking what the firm's policy is regarding the amount of pro bono work an associate can perform. If you have an interest in pro bono work, keep it to yourself during the interview process. Firms have different philosophies regarding pro bono work, and until you know for sure what the firm's philosophy is, you are better off keeping your charitable interests to yourself.
   
• Do not ask questions that may make the firm appear as though it is behind the technology curve, even if it is.
   
• Never ask what hours you are expected to work. This indicates that you are concerned that you might have to work long hours. I guarantee that you will.
   
• Never ask what the billable hour requirement is. If there is a written requirement, it is on the NALP form. In a large or medium-sized firm, you can assume that the minimum is at least 1,500 hours and, more than likely, much higher than that.
   
• Avoid questions about attrition rates. You do not want to put the interviewer or firm on the defensive. Ask the recruiting coordinator directly about this.
   
• Questions that are in the rumor mill about the firm should be avoided. You do not want to come across as someone who is involved in law school or law firm gossip. And very often, rumors are just that—rumors.
   
• Save your questions about salary and benefits until the appropriate time. While you want to make an informed decision, asking about salary and benefits too early can make it appear as though you think you're getting an offer. Refer to a firm's NALP form for this information, or ask the recruiting coordinator or office administrator, off the record.

MISTAKES TO AVOID

I'm astounded by the mistakes students make during the in-house interview process. Regardless of what school they go to or how intelligent they are, they say the wrong things, make stupid moves, and often don't use common sense. These problems can be completely avoided, however. I'm going to spell it out for you here, giving you examples of some of the blunders I'm talking about. Many of my instructions may seem like common sense. Well, I thought so too until I saw these blatant errors demonstrated time and again.

Tactics You Should Shy Away From

1. Indicating you're interested in areas of law that you have no interest in. Students, in an effort to be agreeable and get a job, say they're interested in areas of practice that don't interest them at all. Don't tell people only what they want to hear! If you make this mistake you may be in for a long summer. Be honest with yourself and with the firm with which you're interviewing. If not, you may be stuck doing something you hate.
    
2. Spreading yourself too thin. This applies particularly to the stellar candidates who have little trouble securing interviews. You may not realize that in "stacking the deck" by taking as many interviews with as many firms as possible, you are wasting much of your own valuable time and that of the busy attorneys who take time to interview you. You don't need to interview with every large firm in San Francisco just to ensure that you have ten job offers to choose from. Only interview with firms you have a strong interest in from the very beginning. But even more important is the fact that you, by interviewing with every firm on both coasts, may be taking interview slots from your less fortunate peers who don't have as many choices as you do.
    
3. Acting like a stud. In other words, don't be a stud. One student from a very prestigious law school with an unbelievable record was invited to attend a firm's weekly Friday evening cocktail party. The firm regularly included the staff at this function. The student, while mingling with the partners and associates, asked a paralegal out for a date. She quickly turned him down, so he then asked out another staff member. Needless to say, the firm was not amused by the student's lack of decorum and his dating techniques.
    
4. Wearing your future plans on your chest. Keep your future plans to yourself. A student from a very good law school, while interviewing in-house with a firm, told several attorneys during the process that he had no interest in working for any firm longer than two years, since it was his intention to eventually work as an attorney in a major corporation. While there are probably thousands of students in law schools with similar plans, don't go into a law firm wearing that message on your chest. He insulted many people and wasted a lot of the firm's money. While there may be some big firms who don't care if students leave after two or three years, because many of them do, the majority of firms don't appreciate this kind of attitude. Keep your long-term plans to yourself if they don't include staying with a firm at least until you see what your partnership prospects look like, even though this plan may not be realistic in today's job market.
    
5. Assuming people don't have influence when they do. Never underestimate the clout that anyone in a firm may have in the recruiting process. This includes secretaries, members of the recruiting staff, and associates. One Yale student wrongly assumed that the two associates he lunched with didn't have the influence to keep him, with his amazing credentials, from getting a summer job offer. Amazingly, during lunch, this student emptied two jars of raw sugar packets into his pockets while dining at a three-star restaurant. Apparently, raw sugar packets are a hot commodity in New Haven. The associates were astounded by his social skills and were on the phone to the hiring partner and recruiting coordinator the minute they returned to the office. Needless to say, the Yale student did not receive a job offer. Recollection of the incident, however, provided hours of entertainment at firm recruiting meetings for weeks.
    
6. Not treating all firms you encounter with dignity and respect. Some students, once they decide where they want to work, quit returning phone calls or, in the worst case scenario, fail to respond to job offers and leave firms hanging, often for months. This type of behavior can only hurt you as well as your peers, who might have received the job offer you never responded to. Yes, this does happen. Don't burn your bridges, as the law firm community is just too small and you never know where you might end up. Too many students, either out of ignorance or inexperience, make this mistake over and over again, and it can come back to haunt you. The nice guys don't always finish first.

LAW FIRMS MAKE BLUNDERS, TOO

Practicing attorneys make interviewing mistakes perhaps more often than law students. It's probable that during the in-house interview process you'll be subjected to an occasional whim of an interviewing attorney who may think he's playing by the rules. Others don't care if they abide by the rules or not. And I can think of numerous examples where someone remained within the bounds of the law but exercised really poor judgment during an interview. I'll give you some examples. They have great entertainment value.

The experience of one Georgetown University student paints a very negative picture of one law firm. This second-year female student interviewed with a successful female partner in a prestigious law firm. The partner began the twenty-minute interview only to get up during the session, walk down the hall to the rest room, bringing the student with her. She kept the interview going, without interruption, while she used the bathroom and walked back down the hall to her office, as if nothing out of the ordinary had taken place. While the partner's time management skills are excellent, her interviewing technique needs a little work. The student was horrified by the partner's tactless manners and had zero interest in spending a summer at that firm.

Another story involves two associates who interviewed a second-year student at a medium-sized firm in northern Virginia. The two associates interviewed the candidate at the same time. One of the associates attended the same undergraduate school as the student and managed to carry on a very hospitable and interesting conversation. But the other associate kept picking words off the candidate's resume and continually asked him, during the interview, if he was sure these words were spelled correctly. The student was positive that there were no misspelled words on his resume and was quite annoyed. But to make the situation go from bad to worse, the associate pulled out the dictionary during the interview and started to check the words one by one. As the student had stated, there were no misspelled words. The student walked away from the interview extremely annoyed and with zero interest in that law firm.

FOLLOWING UP AFTER THE INTERVIEW

I can't impress on you enough how important it is to follow up with a firm following your visit there. It's probably more important to follow up now than it is after an on-campus interview, which we talked about in Chapter 3. Good etiquette says you should send a thank-you note even if you're not interested in the firm. Follow the same procedures for sending thank-you notes as we discussed in depth in Chapter 3. You just never know where you might run into an attorney you met along the interview trail later on. And good manners never go out of style.

Timing is key, so make sure you mail your letter within a week of your interview, even if you're on the road. Just carry a box of good letter writing paper with you. You'll always be safe using buff or white Crane notes, and you can buy a box inexpensively at any stationery store. If you spoke with five or more attorneys, send a note to one person, asking him or her to forward a copy to others in the firm. Or you can send a letter to the recruiting coordinator or her counterpart, asking him or her to do the same.

SUMMER HIRING DECISIONS

Evaluating students at the in-house interview is an uncomplicated process. Each firm estimates how many offers it needs to make to hire their optimal number of summer associates. Believe me, in many instances, it's just a "crap-shoot." Firms never know what their acceptance rate is going to be, and you hear horror stories (for the recruiting coordinator, anyway) such as the large New York firm that had a surprisingly high acceptance rate and ended up with a summer program of 60 law students, much to the dismay of the 60 students—many of whom weren't hired. But usually firms know enough about their past history to gauge how many offers they need to extend to fill their summer class. Smaller firms tend to make one or two offers and then wait until the offers are accepted or rejected before extending additional offers.

How Students Are Evaluated

As you come through a firm, written evaluations are completed by the interviewing attorneys. It's almost like going to a wine tasting and filling out a form on each wine you taste, keeping in mind how much you liked the wines you've already tasted. Often firms create their own evaluation forms. At Baker & McKenzie , we used the same evaluation form for all law school candidates.

Completed evaluations are sent to the recruiting coordinator or counterpart, who tabulates them for the hiring committee or whomever is making the hiring decisions. Rarely does anyone receive 100 percent "recommend for immediate hiring." But rarely will you rate "do not recommend" from everyone you interview with. Usually, you end up somewhere in the middle. It takes a lot to impress attorneys. They also prefer to keep intangible, intuitive, or "gut" feelings about prospective candidates to themselves, so they're often called on to elaborate on their spartan comments.

CANDIDATE EVALUATION FORM

Interviewee	Date of Interview
School/Firm/Aeencv
Position
Section 1 Please complete this section based 1.   Verbal ability	on the following 5-point scale: 5 — Outstanding
2.   Confidence and poise	4 — Above average
3.   Personality	3 — Average
4.   Motivation	2 — Below average
5.   Demeanor	1 — Unacceptable
6.   Long-term commitment to Washington area	X — Unable to evaluate from interview
7.   Valuable experience
8.   Intellectual ability
Section II

Please check below:

• I recommend for immediate hiring.
• I have no reservations regarding hiring.
• I have reservations regarding hiring. {Please comment below.)
• This candidate should not be considered further for hiring. (Please comment below.)
• Section III Please comment:
• Section II
• Signed

The Hiring Committee's Part in the Process

Law firm hiring committees meet weekly or biweekly—whatever it takes— during the busy recruiting season to make decisions about candidates. While the process varies in every firm, hiring committees often are blessed with the task of selecting summer associate candidates, monitoring the acceptance rate, and following up with students who have outstanding offers. This can be a full-time job if a firm anticipates having a large summer program.

During hiring committee meetings, the attorneys discuss candidates based on the completed evaluation forms from the interview process. If necessary, references are sometimes checked on "borderline" candidates or for clarification on a candidate's past work history or academic record. Often students are put on "hold," waiting for other candidates to come through, waiting for students to decline or accept offers, or simply because a committee can't make a decision on a candidate. Being put on hold is not a sign of weakness, nor does it demonstrate a lack of interest in your candidacy. It's often a result of timing, so don't despair when you don't hear from a firm. At this point, assume that no news is good news. Nevertheless, every firm handles this process a little bit differently, with the same of goal of hiring the best and the brightest students.

Courting Students

Some firms heavily court students during the summer associate hiring process, while others don't. Much depends on the personality of a firm, its hiring goals, and in some cases, how badly a firm wants to hire a candidate. We've all heard of firms that call students every three days attempting to get them to accept the offer or firms that are constantly taking students out to lunch, dinner, or for cocktails as a recruiting tool. Other firms simply have the attitude that if a student really likes us and really wants to work for us, then the frills aren't necessary.

One large litigation firm actively courts its recruits, calling them two or three times a week. This behavior is a reflection of the character of the firm—an aggressive working atmosphere, where everyone is expected to go for the gusto. The firm looks favorably on candidates who like this type of persistent personality. Another well-known firm has the completely opposite attitude. This firm prefers the self-motivated personality who doesn't need or want to be stroked. They rarely make multiple phone calls to recruits and prefer not to wine and dine candidates. But they often get the students they want using this approach because it works for them.
 

• The Five Musts of Interviewing
• The Best Way to Prepare for a Job Search and Interviews
• How to Talk About Other Interviews in Your Interviews
• Employers Want to Hire You
• How To Answer The Tell Me About Yourself Interview Questions

See the following articles for more information:

• 21 Major Interview Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs
   
• The Best Way to Prepare for a Job Search and Interviews
   
• How to Talk About Other Interviews in Your Interviews
   
• How to Answer the Tell Me About Yourself Interview Question
   
• How to Answer the Do You Have Any Questions for Me Interview Question