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Nov. 9th, 2007
Lawyers promising emails.
Nov. 9th, 2007 01:46 pmIs there something I don't "get" about what happens when a lawyer promises you an email? Am I supposed to follow-up? Do they think I'll just forget about it? Three times this interviewing season, I've been promised emails with certain additional information. And three times, I just never heard back. I mean, these were emails the other person volunteered to send -- does that just make it a non-binding promise (no consideration) that they know they can blow off, or what?
Here are the fact patterns:
1. At an OCI interview, I am pretty interested in the firm. However, I am worried because they seem to have a policy of wanting their summers to split. But they still insist that you be with them for the first half, and most firms are less willing to take you for the second half. So you could get stuck being kicked out by this firm and having nowhere to go for the second half of the summer. The interviewer thought there were people in her office that had spent the entire summer there; she said she'd check and email me that day to confirm. I've never heard back from that firm since, not even to say I didn't get a callback. As far as I know, she only had two other interviews that day, so I find it hard to believe that I got lost in the shuffle.
2. At a firm reception for people with offers, I ended up talking about how I was deciding between that firm and another one. The person happened to have clerked for a judge who worked at the other firm, which led to her not interviewing with them out of worries of awkwardness. However, one of their externs at the time did interview with both firms, went to the other one, and ended up not liking it there. (I think people were kind of uncomfortable with her sharing this story after knowing that I was also considering specifically that firm -- think Rotation violation -- but I don't think there was anything wrong with it.) She offered to put me in touch with the former extern, who is still at the same firm, but thinks it's a bad cultural fit it seems. More than a week later, no email.
3. I spoke with a woman to ask about a certain firm's Tokyo office. She offered to send me some pictures of the office, to make things feel more concrete, since they'd just moved and had a lot of pictures taken. A few days later, still no email. (I'll give her a little more time. And also the benefit of the doubt that maybe my email server ate it for being oversized.)
So what's the deal? I mean, I can be flaky about promises to send emails, too, and I understand that lawyers are busy people with a lot on their minds, but I also thought they'd be more reliable. And care a little more about recruitment, I guess.
ETA: The lawyer in 2 got back to me (a little over two weeks later) saying she was having trouble getting in touch with the guy she knew. Suspiciously, this coincided with about two other lawyers from the firm emailing me to make sure I didn't have any more questions (which is the polite version of "God damn it, woman, give us a decision already!"). Not saying I don't believe her or that I am blaming her for anything; it just seemed kind of weird.
ETA2: The lawyer in 3 got back to me, too, eventually. So it's just the lawyer in 1 that sucks. I almost want to complain to the career center about them. There's got to be something in the interviewing guidelines that say firms owe students some kind of a response after they interview.
ETA3: The guy the lawyer in 2 knew called me and said that he'd had trouble figuring out his voicemail because he just started. So 2 checks out in full. I almost want to disclose the name of 1 at this point, they just suck so bad. D:
Here are the fact patterns:
1. At an OCI interview, I am pretty interested in the firm. However, I am worried because they seem to have a policy of wanting their summers to split. But they still insist that you be with them for the first half, and most firms are less willing to take you for the second half. So you could get stuck being kicked out by this firm and having nowhere to go for the second half of the summer. The interviewer thought there were people in her office that had spent the entire summer there; she said she'd check and email me that day to confirm. I've never heard back from that firm since, not even to say I didn't get a callback. As far as I know, she only had two other interviews that day, so I find it hard to believe that I got lost in the shuffle.
2. At a firm reception for people with offers, I ended up talking about how I was deciding between that firm and another one. The person happened to have clerked for a judge who worked at the other firm, which led to her not interviewing with them out of worries of awkwardness. However, one of their externs at the time did interview with both firms, went to the other one, and ended up not liking it there. (I think people were kind of uncomfortable with her sharing this story after knowing that I was also considering specifically that firm -- think Rotation violation -- but I don't think there was anything wrong with it.) She offered to put me in touch with the former extern, who is still at the same firm, but thinks it's a bad cultural fit it seems. More than a week later, no email.
3. I spoke with a woman to ask about a certain firm's Tokyo office. She offered to send me some pictures of the office, to make things feel more concrete, since they'd just moved and had a lot of pictures taken. A few days later, still no email. (I'll give her a little more time. And also the benefit of the doubt that maybe my email server ate it for being oversized.)
So what's the deal? I mean, I can be flaky about promises to send emails, too, and I understand that lawyers are busy people with a lot on their minds, but I also thought they'd be more reliable. And care a little more about recruitment, I guess.
ETA: The lawyer in 2 got back to me (a little over two weeks later) saying she was having trouble getting in touch with the guy she knew. Suspiciously, this coincided with about two other lawyers from the firm emailing me to make sure I didn't have any more questions (which is the polite version of "God damn it, woman, give us a decision already!"). Not saying I don't believe her or that I am blaming her for anything; it just seemed kind of weird.
ETA2: The lawyer in 3 got back to me, too, eventually. So it's just the lawyer in 1 that sucks. I almost want to complain to the career center about them. There's got to be something in the interviewing guidelines that say firms owe students some kind of a response after they interview.
ETA3: The guy the lawyer in 2 knew called me and said that he'd had trouble figuring out his voicemail because he just started. So 2 checks out in full. I almost want to disclose the name of 1 at this point, they just suck so bad. D: