On-Campus Interviewing

Fall 2011 OCI Dates and Deadlines August 1 - Begin uploading documents into Symplicity and applying to target employers August 15 - OCI Student Acknowledgement Form due to CPD August 15 - Employer Reception, 5:00-7:00pm August 18, 5:00 p.m. - Bidding (application) deadline August 23 - September 30 - On-campus interviews

Each fall employers visit our campus to interview students for summer clerkships and/or permanent employment.  Employers range from large law firms and accounting firms, to public interest employers and governmental agencies.  Different employers look for different skills and characteristics in students. We encourage you to consider participating in this process.

The following links will take you through the process for 2011 OCI.  Please contact Dan Winterlin at 651-962-4995 or wint7650@stthomas.edu with any questions.

Information available on this site:

• Student Checklist

• Preparation

• Participating Employers

• Resume Collect

• OCI Advice: Tips from Students

• Perspective: Should I Do OCI?

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   Student Checklist

When	What	Notes
Now	Research potential target employers with whom you'd like to interview	The best way to learn about employers in the area is to talk to people directly!  Email CPD for a list of UST students and alumni who have worked or do work for some of these employers. Web site resources: Researching Potential Employers Researching Identified Employers
This summer	Start preparing application materials: Create or update your resume Create and carefully proofread cover letters for target employers Select writing samples Prepare references Generate an unofficial transcript Convert all files to PDF format	Web site resources: Resumes Cover letters Unofficial transcript Converting to PDF
This summer	Meet with Sue or Cathy to review your resume	Resume should include summer job.  Also, try to plan ahead and meet with CPD early to avoid scheduling challenges.  Click here to schedule an appointment.
8/1/11	Start Date: You may upload required documents in Symplicity and begin applying to target employers	"Bidding" (applying) period goes from 8/1/11 - 8/18/11
Early August	Schedule a mock interview	Once all interviewers have been confirmed, you will find this information available on Symplicity.  Detailed instructions will be available later this summer.
By 8/13/11	RSVP for Employer Reception in Symplicity	Employer Reception will be held Monday, August 15, 2011 from 5:00-7:00pm
By 8/15/11	Sign and return "OCI Student Acknowledgement Form" to CPD	OCI Student Acknowledgement Form (PDF)
8/15/11 from 5:00-7:00pm	Attend Employer Reception	RSVP in Symplicity required
8/9/11 - 8/20/11	Participate in a mock interview	Attorneys will be coming to UST for these mock interviews.  Review the Interviewing section of the CPD web site to prepare.
8/18/11 at 5:00 p.m.	Deadline for applying (bidding) for Fall 2011 OCI
Starting 8/19/11	Review invitation status and begin scheduling interviews	OCI and Symplicity - Student Instructions (PDF)
Starting 8/19/11	Prepare for your interview	Web site resources: Interviewing
2 days before your interview	Update any application materials within Symplicity
Day of interview	Bring hard copies of all relevant documents to your interview	Example of uniform documents (PDF)
Post-interview	Follow up with interviewer(s) and notify CPD of any callbacks, offers and acceptances
By 10/31/11	Complete CPD's OCI follow-up survey	This is a requirement for participating in OCI.  Visit OCI Student Survey on the web (coming soon).

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   Preparation

Research

Review the list of participating employers to determine the ones that interest you.  Click here for ideas on researching target employers.  Talk to students that have participated in OCI in the past, especially ones that are working for some of these employers, and connect with UST alumni at your targeted firms.  Email CPD for a list of contacts.

Networking

Participate in informational interviews to learn about different areas of law and different firms.  The jobs go to those who are most prepared. Here are a few tips:

• Talk to students, alums, attorneys, or recruiters at firms that interest you.  This will help you better understand whether an employer would be a good fit.  Just make sure to do some homework before talking to them so that you are making a good impression.
• Talking to attorneys in the field that interests you even if they are not at law firms interviewing will be helpful.  It will help you better understand how law firms operate and what different fields or practice areas are like.
• Contact CPD if you need help on where to start. 

Click here for more information on networking. 

Resumes

Before starting, please review the resume section of our web site for tips on how to write a legal resume.

You are encouraged to meet with Sue or Cathy to review your resume this summer.  Their availability will lessen later in August, so we encourage you to schedule an appointment early. 

Schedule an appointment now by emailing lawcareers@stthomas.edu, calling 651-962-4860, or just stopping by the student services suite in MSL 124.

Other Application Requirements

Be sure to check the list of participating employers to see the application requirements for each organization and firm.  Some will require just a resume while others will ask for cover letter, references, unofficial transcript, writing sample, etc.

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   Participating Employers

The following are some of the of employers that have come to St. Thomas for OCI in the past:

Dorsey & Whitney Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly Hennepin County Attorney's Office Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Halleland, Lewis, Nilan & Johnson, PA US Army JAG Foley & Mansfield

Ramsey County Attorney's Office Felhaber, Larson, Fenlon & Vogt Leonard, Street, and Deinard Merchant & Gould US Navy JAG Maslon, Edelman, Borman & Brand Fredrikson & Byron

Blackwell Burke MN 3rd Judicial District Faegre & Benson US Air Force JAG Briggs & Morgan Gray Plant Mooty Patterson, Thuente, Skaar & Christensen Bowman & Brooke Krass Monroe

Please remember that you can view the updated list of participating employers any time after June 1 in Symplicity.  Go to the OCI module, and make sure Fall 2011 OCI is selected as your session.  This will show you the list of participating employers and their interview dates.  If you click on Review you’ll see their required documents under Bid/Application Details (if the type of document is listed, then it is required).

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   Resume Collect

You will notice that there are a couple of employers on the OCI schedule that do not have an interview date listed; this means that they will be participating Resume Collect through OCI.  The employer collects applications through the OCI process but does not come to campus.  Instead, employers will follow up with qualified applicants on their own.  You will apply the same way you would to any other firm upload your documents, click on apply, etc.  However you will notice that your status (not selected, pre-select, etc.) does not change.  The employer will contact you directly if they would like to interview you.  Email  lawcareers@stthomas.edu with any questions.

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   OCI Advice: Tips from Students

After past OCI seasons, CPD surveyed the students who went through OCI, asking them what advice they would give to students going through OCI in the future.  The following is some of their advice (plus a little commentary from CPD in italics).

Resumes & Cover Letters

• Make darn sure that you don't have any typos
• Start Early; Arrange informational interviews during the summer leading into OCI. It would help in understanding the firm environment and also demonstrate interest.
• Prepare in the spring before OCI.
• Make sure you get Law Review/Clinic/Moot Court on the Resume (assuming you participate)
• Start Early
• Write unique cover letters to each firm.
• Meeting with CPD helped most.  I would prepare earlier - over the summer if I know I was participating in OCI for the next fall.
• Edit, re-edit and re-edit resume.
• Begin far in advance
• Get started very early.  Hmmm. We're sensing a theme . . .
• Start early- have resume and a "template" cover letter done before starting in the fall
• Start earlier
• Start earlier - go through a few drafts; have a few versions.
• Write cover letters earlier, What helped the most were the reminders to get it done early
• Get started working on it during the summer (as soon as possible)
• 1. Spell Check Capitalization 2. I would have done deeper research on the specific films
• Start early, spend time on cover letters and read over your resume at least 5 times.
• I would definitely recommend reading Kimm Walton's book.  I did not read it before doing OCI prep and I wish that I had. My cover letters were so much better after following her advice. I would also recommend starting to work on cover letters early, I think that I waited too long and I ended up being rushed the last day.
• Use CPD to revise your resume & cover letter.
• Make the resume easy to read. Many of the questions you will be asked come directly from the interviewer scanning the resume. You may be able to direct their questions if the resume is written carefully
• The resume packet helped a lot (This is now a web site!  Click here for the Resume site)
• Get it done early! Have enough time to get it reviewed a couple of times.
• It was very helpful requiring the resume review and going through that process several times to know that your resume was as strong as it could be.  Cover letters were difficult to write in that it was hard to know how to tailor them to fit a firm.
• Starting early really helped me with this!
• Start Early
• Have a 3rd party look at your cover letters.
• Really spend time individualizing cover letters.
• CPD is available all summer to assist you as you prepare for OCI, fellowship applications, clerkship applications, and more.

Interviews

• Don't get too comfortable.  I think looking overly relaxed implies a lack of real interest in the firm.  And don't drag your answers out too long -- limited interview time.
• Relax, take an "if they don't hire me so be it" attitude, don't seem desperate
• Mock interviews helped a lot, as well as going over the possible question sheet from CPD, know resume inside and out.
• The mock interview was helpful. If I had to do OCI differently, I would have focused more on being myself during the interview rather than worrying about saying the right answer. Especially during the call-back interview.
• Mock interviews.
• Relax & practice
• Going through frequently asked questions and answering them & reviewing everything on my resume.
• Practice interviews helped most.  Practice more interviews.
• The mock interview questions and also the guest speaker at orientation.
• Know the interviewer's bio and have questions prepared.
• Familiarity with firm; advance research.
• Meet all the firms make good connections and rapport  and attend the OCI reception, stand out/ uniqueness counts most, ask them good questions
• Mock interview helped but I think I needed to do more thinking about answers to key questions. Lots of prep
• Practice interview; developing answers.
• Interviews are fun- all you do is talk so don't stress over them.
• The mock interview was helpful
• I would have done deeper research on the specific films
• Being as relaxed as possible was helpful. Try to put yourself in the interviewer’s shoes, and think about how tough it must be to have roughly the same conversation over and over again all day.
• I did a mock interview. It was invaluable.
• What helped me the most was preparing for the interviews by researching the firms. This would have helped me to anticipate what kinds of potential questions they would ask me.
• The mock interview was nice. I would relax a little more if I could do it over.
• Practice interview was most helpful. Come up with more unique questions for the interviewer.
• Think about the skills you've learned and be able to express them. Know quality facts about the firm. Be able to show that you want to work for their firm for a specific reason. i.e. commitment to community service, etc.
• I always researched the firm before and had a list of questions prepared, but I probably would have done mock interviews before.  And, I probably would have developed a longer list of questions with more varied focus areas.
• Definitely do a mock interview.  Very helpful and a great networking tool.
• Mock interviews were very helpful.  I would have practiced more.
• I came up with a list of common questions that I knew most interviewers liked to ask and I had prepared answers to those questions.  This helped me in not only knowing what I was going to say but also to be more relaxed and confident.
• I did a lot of research on the firms-I don't know that I would do anything differently-I just don't think it was a good fit.
• Enjoyed chatting with the folks. Would have been ideal to have the same people from the employer reception.
• Make sure you get plenty of sleep.
• I was really nervous before my first interview and that definitely impacted how I did.
• The mock interview had a calming effect.
• Research the law firm as well as the interviewer if possible.
• The less nervous and more real and comfortable you are the better the interview.
• Since I understood the type of background the interviewer was looking for since I used to be in that type of environment, I felt more comfortable since I knew the things that the interviewer would want to hear from me. Also, I really just spoke from my heart as to my interest in the area of law I was seeking.
• Regarding the interview process, it helped me the most to focus on the three things that I wanted the interviewers to know about me when the interview was complete. That was a suggestion that CPD had brought up prior, and it really helped in terms of staying focused during the interview, a key part of preventing the nerves from taking over. In terms of what I would have done differently, I think that I would have spent more time beforehand thinking about specific questions concerning each firm. I had thought of some general questions, but would have liked to have taken the chance to ask more focused questions.
• Be confident and yourself
• Remember, you can do a 30 or 45 minute mock interview with CPD at anytime during the summer.
• Mock Interviews with outside attorneys will be available during August/September. We will send more information this summer.
• You can find sample interview questions on the Interviewing section of our website, by stopping by MSL 124, or by emailing lawcareers@stthomas.edu. 

Surprises

We asked students whether they were surprised by any questions.  Most said no, some said yes.  Here are some of their responses:

• Going over that possible question sheet helped tremendously.
• "You're going to get a stack of offers from firms, How will you decide which to accept a position from?"
• Caught off guard by the fact they ran down my resume point by point rather than making conversation.  I did not expect the interview to go like that.
• Be sure to prepare any younger single students to answer "indirect" questions about stability and/or staying in the area.  They seemed to be concerned that I didn't have anything tying me to the twin cities - that I was a "flight risk".
• No pretty straight forward, just reviewed resume. Toughest interviews were they did not ask you many questions.
• No, but my answers were not polished and could use help in "directing" the interview
• Crafting answers to a particular employer is somewhat difficult.
• I was never surprised by a question.  Every interviewer was more interested in getting to know me than attempting to confuse/challenge me during the interview.  If one is comfortable talking about the items on your resume, the interviews will be fine.
• One Why do you want to go into private practice?
• Most of my questions were straight forward. I did not feel caught off-guard. I was a surprised that two firms did not have lunch during their callbacks. While I really did not care about not having lunch, it would have been nice to have the ability to meet and speak with attorneys in a slightly more informal setting.
• No, the questions I was asked were straightforward and were related to either my resume or to what type of law I was interested    in and why I was interested in their firm
• I’m a big fan of the school, so it can be hard to answer. I think the interviewers responded positively to constructive ideas (not complaints). I said I wanted to get more practical experience – but that more externship opportunities are opening up. One note here, as much as we might like our school, I think it helps to be humble when interviewing with attorneys who went to other schools. Some are genuinely worried about how a 4th school in the cities will impact their alma mater
• Not that I recall - all of the questions asked were within the realm of those questions one would expect.
• I was caught off-guard when one interviewer asked "WOW! When can you start?"  I wasn't sure how to respond to that or how much weight to put on it.  (I didn't put much weight on it at all given the setting, but it was hard to not want to.)
• A situational question regarding Miranda rights (which I had not yet studied)
• Surprised by lack of questions with one firm. 

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   Should I Do OCI?

Still trying to decide if participating in OCI is worth your time?  Maybe this will help put it into perspective:

Most firms that participate in OCI generally receive hundreds of resumes each year during OCI.  The larger, national firms receive several thousand.  These firms need some way to quickly distinguish among the candidates to narrow down whom they can interview. The criteria they typically use are grades and law review or interscholastic moot court.  As you can see from our summary of firms, many are looking for the top 25 - 30% and some look at the top half.  

Firms occasionally look at factors other than grades if a student brings something exceptional to the table.  There is no definition of exceptional but it usually would be something unusual that a firm wants and that few others students can offer.  This might be significant work experience in an area firm specializes in, clients the student can bring to the firm, or something similar.  This list is just the beginning of things that might interest a firm.  If you think you can offer a firm something that most students cannot, then apply to that firm and outline those exceptional qualities in your cover letter.

Keep in mind that not all employers weigh grades as heavily as most of the larger firms do.  Some employers, typically public employers, will look at a wider range of skills and experience in addition to grades.  For example, the hiring attorney at Ramsey County explained to us that he considers grades as one of several factors.   He also looks for community service or government experience.  Similarly, the JAG typically wants good grades BUT also looks at public service and other factors, which can make up for a lower GPA.  Not that many public employers, however, can afford to take the time to interview on campus. 
 
So, should you participate? You need to decide.   It will be difficult to get interviews if you are in the bottom half of the class.  However, even if you don’t get interviews preparing for OCI can be a valuable process, it gets you focused on thinking about what kind of law you want to practice, gets your resume in order, and helps your interviewing skills through preparation.  That part of the experience may make it worthwhile.
 
Please keep in mind that OCI is only one of many ways for students to get jobs.  Because it is concentrated and occurs on campus, it receives significant visibility but the majority of our students and students at other schools get their jobs in other ways. The CPD spends far more time, energy, and resources on non-OCI job searching than on OCI.  It is just not that visible.

Some students are participating in OCI because they think they have to get a job; that is not true.  The only thing you need to do if you don’t get a job through OCI is to start planning the other ways you can build your career and to execute on that plan.  

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