GUERILLA TACTICS FOR SPRING OCI

1. BE PREPARED

Make sure to have extra copies of everything. This includes:

• resume
• RAP sheet
  
• writing sample
• references

Most likely, your interviewers will only want your RAP sheet. They will already have your resume. Rarely, do interviewers for firms ask for a writing sample, and it's even more rare for them to ask for references. Ususally, the firm will indicate what they would like you to bring prior to the interview. However, you should always have everything on hand just in cases.

The Writing Sample: Your writing sample should definitely be a sample of your legal writing -- usually, people use a paper they wrote during their first semester of legal writing. If you choose to do so, I recommend going over the paper prior to the interview(s) and making any changes and edits indicated by your instructor.

2. KNOW THY RESUME

If there's something on your resume, you should know everything about it. You should be able to speak intelligently about anything you put on your resume. For example, if you detail a particular work experience you should know when you worked there, specifically what you did (i.e., the details of the projects you worked on), the people you worked with, your supervisors, etc. Think of it as a review sheet for a test: everything on your resume is fair game and may be asked about it more detail than appears on the resume.

The Interest Line: Ideally, you have an interest line. There's a good chance that at least half of your 20 minute interview will be spent talking about your interests. So make sure it's something you actually are interested in and can talk about. Don't put stuff on there that you think will make you look intelligent (e.g., postmodern literature), but that you know nothing about.

Sidenote: it extremely important that your resume be meticulously edited and reviewed. I have heard of a few stories about people who lose jobs because of a misspelled word or bad grammar. I even heard one story about a guy who lost an offer after a successful callback because only some of his sentences ended in a period and others did not.

3. KNOW THE INTERVIEWER

It's good to know who you'll be meeting with. Usually, this will be posted up on the web prior to your interview or you'll see their name up on the door before you go in. Look up the interviewer and learn a few things about them. Where they went to school, what type of law they practice and anything else of interest. This will not only show the interviewer that you took the time to learn, i.e. are interested in the firm, but it will also make it much easier to build rapport with the interviewer.

4. KNOW THE FIRM

Get to know the firm you're interviewing with really well. While many firms appear to be the same, each firm believes it's unique. Before going into the interview, figure out what the firm thinks is unique about itself. The following sites are a good start:

• the Firm's website
• Martindale
  
• Vault
• Greedy Associates
  

Also, understand who you are and what the firm's incentives are. A firm doesn't really want to hire someone merely for a summer -- they want to invest in someone who will stay with them in the long run. And most firms invest a lot of money in summer associates.

So, if you're a 1L, a firm may be hesitant to hire you because they will be investing massive amounts of cash in someone who may not come back the following year. For this reason, firm's are much more likely to hire a 2L than a 1L -- and, in turn, that's why fewer 1Ls get firm jobs. For example, if you did really well your first semester, a small or medium-size firm might hesitate to hire you if they suspect that you're just in it for the cash and will likely find a job with a larger firm the following summer. The same is also true with larger firms, who are equally scared of losing a summer associate to a rival. Therefore, you may need to be more enthusiastic about working for a particular firm during these Spring OCIs, especially the smaller ones.

5. BE READY WITH QUESTIONS

At the end of each interview, the interviewer will smile and ask you something to the effect of: "Sooooo, do you have any questions for me?" The quickest way to deflate the interviewer is to say: "Naw, I'm good. Thanks." Even if it's the seventh interview of your callback and you literally know everything about the firm, throw out a question.

The issue: you never know when the "end" of the interview will be. Some interviewers will ask you questions for about 18 minutes before dropping the request for questions. In that case, you'll probably only have time for 1 or 2 questions. Some interviewers even start off with this expecting to see if you can control the interview. So, I think it's good to have a few questions prepared prior to the interview -- I would recommend having 5 questions or so. The interview will probably inspire a couple of questions and then you'll have your prepared ones to fall back on.

Here are some sample questions:

• What projects are you currently working on? OR What projects have you worked on? (this one is better for younger associates--so they can tell you what type of responsibilities they have earlier on)
  
• What do you value in a working environment and how does [FIRM] accomodate those values?
• What's the partnership track like at your firm?
• What are the relationships like between partners and associates?
  
• What's the deal with Oprah? She's fat, she's thin, she's fat, she's thin. I mean, come on, pick a body and go with it.
  

Sidenote: Partner questions vs. Associate questions -- there are certain questions which might be more appropriate for partners than associates. For example, asking about whether people at the firm hang out outside the firm is more appropriate for an associate than a partner. Asking about the vision of the firm, where the firm is headed/growing, is more appropriate for a partner.

6. HAVE AN AGENDA

If there's something you want the firm to know about you, make sure you have a chance to bring it up during the interview. Have a specific agenda as to what you want to get across prior to the interview and then follow through on that agenda at the interview. For example, if there's a particular work experience that you would like your interviewer to know about, or perhaps a project that you did, that you are not asked about, you should find a way to bring it up. You don't want it to come across as forced or pompous, but it's usually fairly easy to find a good way to transition.

But the main thing that firms look for is what's called "fit." Which is basically an answer to the question: "Would my colleagues and I like to work with this person?" Regardless of what you say or don't say about your experience, you need to prove to the interviewer that the answer to this question is yes.

Fit has nothing to do with whether you can actually do legal work -- that determination is made based on your resume and GPA. Firms usually have a certain cut-off GPA below which they do not hire people, but for the vast majority of firms this is a soft cut-off. In other words, they are willing to look deeper into the class if they think the person would fit well with the firm or has something else the firm is looking for.

Note: There are a few firms that have a hard cut-off (i.e., they won't take anyone below a certain GPA) and there are some firms which really have no cut-off (i.e., they don't rely on GPA as a proxy for being able to do lawyer work).