Rejection
Live blogging a moment here, so these feelings will probably cease to be relevant in about an hour.
Butterflyfish, (yes, they know my name at CSO)
I'm sorry to inform you that you have not been selected for an interview with White Corporate & Male LLP.
Take Care,
Mr. Sensitive, Career Services Office
My school doesn't do a lottery system or early interviews or anything that I've learned about talking to students higher in the USNWR ranking foodchain. For OCI, we submit resumes (and whatever else the firm wants) through a website and we wait to see if we're pre-selected for on-campus screening interviews. Then there are callbacks, etc.
I've gotten two acceptances so far. This is my first rejection.
Its a weird moment for me -- I've sent out resumes before for jobs -- probably hundreds over the years, when applying for teaching jobs as I moved around the country. But when I cast my net wide and got nary a nibble, there was no sting to it. Maybe I told myself they weren't rejecting me, they just didn't have any jobs available, or maybe they wanted someone with more experience. Something, anyway, that didn't make the process feel so personal.
Here, it feels a little like a mafia slaying -- get up close and stab in the heart; read the resume, and reject you personally. Its you I don't want, not merely someone like you with a similar qualification set. You -- your grades, your experience, your writing. It is all substandard in our eyes and you may be able to make a living as a lawyer, but we think you should maybe go elsewhere. Be gone!
While I am sure my resume was dropped into the shredder hundreds of times before now, I never really knew or felt it.
This stings.
Perspective. . . and I do have some:
Will I get rejected dozens of times in the process of looking for a job in the next few year? Of course.
Am I going to cry about it? Eh, to be brutally honest, maybe. Depends on the situtation. Certainly not over this one -- a firm for which I knew going in I didn't have the "numbers" and didn't have any particular burning desire to work for.
Will I eventually find some work that makes me happy? I am optimistic.
6 little fish:
1) You got TWO acceptances!! Yay!
2) Much nicer letter in contrast than the one Namby-Pamby got!
3) White Corporate & Male probably gets thousands of applications from brilliant people like you. They have to separate somehow and many times it is very, very random. My boss just came back from OCI at a Big School and he was looking at such things as how the students explained ties to our area (boyfriends, family, etc.) It's a wild process and there are a bazillion law students out there competing for a very few slots.
Yay, TWO OCI slots!! Go you!
Keep in mind that your resume went out before you made law review. I'll bet their response would be different, if they were considering you now.
I've been told teaching experience may be viewed as a negative by certain firms. I've been getting a lot more rejections than I thought I would based on numbers alone. Plus, some pretty pointed interview questions, like "how could you transfer to a job where your goal is to make money for other people?"
Anyway, I'm sure your work experience this summer will help.
Good luck
I think the OCI process does a number on everyone's emotions and confidence- sometimes it boosts you, sometimes it tears you down. Good luck and remember you're SO much more than the numbers and bullet points on your resume!
I had a terrible experience with OCI/Career Services last year, and I refuse to participate this year. I sat through numerous interviews with employers who had absolutely no intention of hiring me before they even met me. I hope you have better luck with your interviews and won't be the waste of time/energy that our OCI's are.
I found the process to be an emotional roller coaster. I got almost every OCI interview that was available, and then, seriously, almost zero callbacks. Okay. I got 2. TWO! Other people were 2 for 1, and I was 2 for .... I won't even say. I tried so hard to figure out why. Was it the kids? Was it my age? Was it my weight? Was it because I wore pants? What the hell was going on?
Ended up that one of the two callbacks was all I needed for a very fine start to a legal career. Good thing, since the other resulted in a single line rejection letter.
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