Job Searches, Law Schools

Interview Horror Stories: When Ambition Goes Too Far

There is a certain amount of schadenfreude involved in this tale too, a gunner whose gunnering gets them in the end.

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Interview season can be tough — everyone wants a job, and more than that, they want the right job. Nevermind that they aren’t sure exactly what that perfect job is (or if they are, they are probably wrong about it). And the lengths some law students are willing to go to make all of their job dreams come true — well, it can be extreme.

For the latest in our series of posts on interview horror stories, we have a tale of the student who did too much. Trying hard is certainly a laudable goal, but there is a line in the sand, and as a soon-to-be professional you have to know where that is:

I go to a well-known law school in the Northeast, and one of my classmates has proven herself to be probably the most ambitious law student to date (or at least in our class). The day that OCI interviews were announced, she was upset to find that she didn’t receive as many bids as she would have liked. However, she reached out to a couple contacts that she had at one particular firm to see if they could secure an interview slot for her. They politely declined. Not to be so easily let down, she proceeded to contact the firm’s three biggest clients to solicit their endorsements for her to receive an interview. Well…the whole situation blew up in her face. One of the clients reached out to firm, and then the firm reached out to our school’s career services office. Our ambitious classmate was blacklisted from our OCI…and probably in our regional market for a very long time.

Rut-roh. That isn’t a good look on anyone. There is a certain amount of schadenfreude involved in this tale too, a gunner whose gunnering gets them in the end.

Have a terrible tale to tell about an interview gone awry? Please send it our way by email, subject line “Interview Stories.” We’ll read all the submissions and share our favorites in these pages.

(And remember, as we’ve previously explained, “The ‘horror’ in ‘interview horror stories’ is loosely defined. Stories that are somewhat embarrassing or mildly amusing will suffice.”)

Earlier: Interview Horror Stories: When Tragedy Strikes
Interview Horror Stories: How To Respond To A Raging Racist?
Interview Horror Stories: What Was She Thinking — Er, Drinking?
7 Epic Examples Of On-Campus-Interviewing Fails

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