Biglaw, Job Searches

Biglaw Partners Dish: On-Campus Interview Disasters

Don't do these things.

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oci interview biglawIt is self-evident, but you probably don’t want to screw up an interview that will substantially affect the course of your legal career. But rising 2Ls also don’t know what they are in for. Sure, they may have interviewed before, but nothing quite prepares you for the gauntlet that is on-campus interview week.

So, how do you avoid certain disaster? Well, forewarned is forearmed, so the good people at Law.com asked a couple of managing partners for their worst interview stories. Don’t do these things:

R. Charles Miller, managing partner at K&L Gates, has a doozy of a story:

Ninety-five percent are students are well prepared and attentive. It’s always the 5 percent. I had one guy come into an interview. It was a hot day. I had taken off my jacket. He saunters in and says, “Guess I better lose the jacket,” and he kicked his feet up on the desk.

No, you aren’t being cute or funny, and besides, neither of those things will land you the Biglaw job of your dreams.

Richard Batchelder Jr, Ropes & Gray hiring partner, really doesn’t like it when people are less than honest on their résumés. Sure, there are the obvious no-nos: fibbing awards or neglecting to mention a law school you transferred from. But he also tells a fun tale of what can go wrong when you embellish personal interests on your résumé:

One student had “dogs” as his personal interest [on his résumé]. When I brought that up, he said, “I don’t have a dog.” I asked him if he had dogs as a kid. He said that he didn’t. I asked him if he [grew up around] dogs. He said, “I didn’t play with dogs growing up.” And then he said, “I guess that’s not a very good personal interest.”

The very next person I interviewed had “raising miniature schnauzers” on her résumé. I asked, “How many miniature schnauzers have you raised?” She said, “Oh, just one.” I said, “I assumed when you said ‘raising’ you did that often.” She said, “I guess that’s a little misleading.”

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Yup. Listen 2Ls, personal interests are basically only there to spark an interesting conversation with your interviewer; there isn’t much upside to lying here.

Hopefully, knowing what not to do is helpful. You don’t want to screw this up; after all, the rest of your life is at stake.

Hiring Partners Share War Stories from On-Campus Interviews [Law.com]

Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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