OCI: Interview #1
Scene: Interviewer is sitting across table from me. In front of him is my resume on top of a pile of resumes of all the other students he's going to interview today. We spend some time chit-chatting about my past job history, the firm, the area, etc....
Interviewer: "Well, what I'm trying to do is show my hiring committee that people who aren't in the top 10% or even the top 25% an still be great candidates for summer associateships and eventual hiring."
TOUCHES MY RESUME
Me: "Uh-huh"
Interviewer: "Because you know that I believe that the major judgment on grades is at the beginning of the law school process when you're applying for entrance...after that if you're even in the bottom 50% that's still totally respectable."
TOUCHES MY RESUME
Me: "Uh-huh" (thinking, I'm not in the bottom 50%, but whatever)
Interviewer: "I mean, in law school there is a lot of competition, and not everyone can have stellar grades."
TOUCHES MY RESUME
Me: "Well, you know, I believe that when there are 60 people in a class and the point spread between top and bottom is 4 or 5 points, the grade itself doesn't tell a whole lot about the aptitude of individual students."
Interviewer: "I am totally with you on that. However, you know the hiring committee really worries about things like grades and unfortunately it's often difficult to get them to consider people who maybe haven't made the best grades but have other strengths."
TOUCHES MY RESUME
Anyway, the whole thing was very bizarre. I'm not going to go on and on about OCI because it's probably not a great idea, and actually, the firm I was interviewing for is a regional one and I would probably be very happy to work there at least as far as location and the type of work they do...but in the interview it felt like I wasn't up to snuff as far as what they were looking for which made me feel inadequate and also made me wonder why they interviewed me. I assumed that the firm interviews I got were based on past work history and factors OTHER than grades, but then I felt like it came back to grades, which is I guess pretty much what I expected. How very strange this process is. Oh well, no more interviews until the end of next week and school starts Monday so I guess I have the rest of the week to do my peer mentoring gig and buy books, do reading, etc. On a sidenote, one of my friends from school had this to say to me this morning..."They're letting YOU be a peer mentor?" God, no respect.
