Bad Interview Moments Forum

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ookoshi

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by ookoshi » Mon Aug 07, 2017 4:26 pm

RaceJudicata wrote:Trying not to think about bar results...So bumping this because OCI is about to get into full swing...
Same here. I feel like they are trying to get one last bit of hazing in with this wait.
rustyburger2 wrote:Last year during a callback I was totally hitting it off with the interviewer. The interviewer asked me what my least favorite class was, and I answered "Civ Pro."

"Bad Professor?" she asked.

My guard being down, I decided to play it straight and make it sort of a joke. "Nah, the subject was just super dry - personal jurisdiction was a nightmare amirite?"

The subsequent look of confusion threw me off. Everybody knows Civ Pro sucks monkey balls, wasinotrite?...

Then it hit me. I had already told her that I was dead set on LITIGATION. Thinking fast, I rectified the situation as best as humanly possible:

"Actually I take that back, my least favorite class was property."

No offer.
I would've just owned it. Seems like you could've hurt yourself more by trying to change your answer.

But then again, in every interview I did where I was hoping for a lit offer I said Civ Pro was my favorite class when asked. And... none of my offers were for lit, so apparently that didn't help.

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Aug 15, 2017 10:36 pm

Bumping because 2019 is in full swing interviewing for next summer now...

One of my interests on my resume is long-distance running. A senior associate asked me about how involved I am in long-distance running, and after I mentioned that I try to fit it into my schedule, but honestly my schedule doesn't fully allow for marathon training or any continuous training plan, the associate scoffed, "well, don't expect that to change anytime soon."

It was refreshing honesty, honestly.

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Aug 15, 2017 11:47 pm

Had a screener at OCI with a firm that has a very liberal reputation and I have a very liberal background, apparent from resume.

They sent an extremely conservative partner, which is fine, I get along fine with conservatives.

The interview was literally 20 minutes of arguing about Citizens United.

I thought it was lighthearted and fully enjoyed the interview, but I got callbacks from literally every single one of that firm's peers and from significantly better firms and did not get a callback from them.

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UVA2B

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by UVA2B » Tue Aug 15, 2017 11:50 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Had a screener at OCI with a firm that has a very liberal reputation and I have a very liberal background, apparent from resume.

They sent an extremely conservative partner, which is fine, I get along fine with conservatives.

The interview was literally 20 minutes of arguing about Citizens United.

I thought it was lighthearted and fully enjoyed the interview, but I got callbacks from literally every single one of that firm's peers and from significantly better firms and did not get a callback from them.
Respectfully, #notbitter

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Aug 15, 2017 11:52 pm

UVA2B wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Had a screener at OCI with a firm that has a very liberal reputation and I have a very liberal background, apparent from resume.

They sent an extremely conservative partner, which is fine, I get along fine with conservatives.

The interview was literally 20 minutes of arguing about Citizens United.

I thought it was lighthearted and fully enjoyed the interview, but I got callbacks from literally every single one of that firm's peers and from significantly better firms and did not get a callback from them.
Respectfully, #notbitter
the thread is "Bad Interview Moments" ... if I had gotten a callback it would have been a great interview, so thought the information was relevant

but yes, a lil bitter

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UVA2B

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by UVA2B » Tue Aug 15, 2017 11:54 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
UVA2B wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Had a screener at OCI with a firm that has a very liberal reputation and I have a very liberal background, apparent from resume.

They sent an extremely conservative partner, which is fine, I get along fine with conservatives.

The interview was literally 20 minutes of arguing about Citizens United.

I thought it was lighthearted and fully enjoyed the interview, but I got callbacks from literally every single one of that firm's peers and from significantly better firms and did not get a callback from them.
Respectfully, #notbitter
the thread is "Bad Interview Moments" ... if I had gotten a callback it would have been a great interview, so thought the information was relevant

but yes, a lil bitter
Totally understand, and I don't fault you for being bitter, but you have a multitude of options at your disposal, so there are worse places to be.

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Aug 16, 2017 12:07 am

I interviewed once as a lateral at a mid sized fim in a different market from my big law firm. During my first interview with the office managing partner he indicated that associate A wasn't available and I'd be interviewing with associate B instead. I said small world associate B once worked at my current law firm. Partner told me no he didn't and I did not challenge him on it. I then met with Associate B and he definitely worked at my current law firm the first week I was there but was fired (he was only there for like a month or so). Associate B spent the entire interview convincing me why this firm would be a bad fit, etc. it was incredibly uncomfortable as I could tell that he did not want it known he had ever worked for my current firm.

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Aug 16, 2017 12:28 am

I had so many...

(1) Interviewing with a partner, I take a sip of water and it goes down the wrong pipe, so I need to cough so bad but try to hold it so my face gets so red. He asks, "Are you ok?" And I burst out coughing and for some reason the coughing just wouldn't stop, it's like the water settled in the lungs or something. After about 30 seconds (that felt like 5 minutes) of me coughing with a red face, now even redder cause I just assumed I'm not getting the offer, he says, "Don't worry. You're ok." in a voice that tells me he clearly can tell on my face I think I blew the interview.

(2) Interviewing for a litigation position on campus. The guy interviewing me asks a few background questions then asks what I'm looking for. When I say litigation, he stops the interview. Literally say, "we can stop the interview now. There's no point in going. We're looking for corporate lawyers, no need for litigators." I was still in interview mode so I try to say "well I could try corporate. As just a 2L my interests aren't set in stone." He goes, "No, really. I said the interview is over, no need to keep going. We're not looking for maybe corporate, just for people who know for sure they wanna do it." Then he tells me he's open to criticizing my interview skills and giving me tips for other interviews, and he DOES that for the next 3 or so minutes, says, "I liked your background, bring that out. And be more assertive, take control of the interview." I then realized how fucked up the situation was and just said, "you know what, thank you but I think I'll go." I got up and left. The whole thing lasted less than 10 minutes.

(3) I was interviewing with a NYC firm on campus. I never been to NYC. I pretended to know about a few spots in NYC and the partner asks me what boroughs they're in. I had no idea what a borough was. So I said they're "near Brooklyn." He goes, "near Brooklyn? What borough is it in?" So I repeat, "oh you know, near Brooklyn." I tried just transitioning into something else but he kept on it. "No. Tell me what borough it's in." I said, "near Brooklyn." I was getting embarrassed now and he said, "Near Brooklyn? you mean in Brooklyn?" And after realizing Brooklyn is probably a borough I said "yea in Brooklyn." He basically walked me out the interview at the end and made it clear by his "thanks for coming" tone I wasn't getting a call back.

(4) Interviewing with a stuck up partner (a Harvard grad as usual). He asks me about my prior experience and then begins to belittle me by asking, "why would anyone wanna do that work really." Then he name drops a few people and asks me if I know them, and then gives me a disappointed look when I say I don't. He finally gets to a point where he asks me about a specific prior work I did and then (I'm pretty sure) on purpose pretends not to understand what I'm talking about. I try to explain it a few times and he says, "Yea I'm a bit confused... so what about this again?" At that moment I knew this jerk is gonna make sure I'm dinged anyway so I might as well enjoy the moment. So I start talking to him like he's a baby, "So, you know, in this country there's a judicial system. It has three levels of federal courts, the district court, the appellate circuit court, and the supreme court." lol He didn't like that.

(5) Interviewing with a junior associate. He comes in on his off day in jeans and a tight t-shirt, a pound of gel in his hair, and the hardest bro attitude you could imagine. He says how he's working from home that day but had to come in to interview me. He then spends the whole time talking about how he's working on a powerpoint for a partner and that's his biggest project and that he won't even get to present it, another lawyer will... I had the hardest time pretending to be impressed and interested. He then spent the rest of the interview bringing up his good law school grades and awards cause I guess he felt inadequate about just working on a powerpoint. The whole thing was awkward.

Despite all this, and similar screw ups, I had 8 call backs and 5 offers.

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grand inquisitor

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by grand inquisitor » Wed Aug 16, 2017 8:22 am

we need to up our bad interview game, tls.

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Aug 16, 2017 9:27 am

Did entire first interview of the day (during OCI) with my fly open. Got a callback.

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Aergia

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Aergia » Wed Aug 16, 2017 9:47 am

Anonymous User wrote:I had so many...

(1) Interviewing with a partner, I take a sip of water and it goes down the wrong pipe, so I need to cough so bad but try to hold it so my face gets so red. He asks, "Are you ok?" And I burst out coughing and for some reason the coughing just wouldn't stop, it's like the water settled in the lungs or something. After about 30 seconds (that felt like 5 minutes) of me coughing with a red face, now even redder cause I just assumed I'm not getting the offer, he says, "Don't worry. You're ok." in a voice that tells me he clearly can tell on my face I think I blew the interview.

(2) Interviewing for a litigation position on campus. The guy interviewing me asks a few background questions then asks what I'm looking for. When I say litigation, he stops the interview. Literally say, "we can stop the interview now. There's no point in going. We're looking for corporate lawyers, no need for litigators." I was still in interview mode so I try to say "well I could try corporate. As just a 2L my interests aren't set in stone." He goes, "No, really. I said the interview is over, no need to keep going. We're not looking for maybe corporate, just for people who know for sure they wanna do it." Then he tells me he's open to criticizing my interview skills and giving me tips for other interviews, and he DOES that for the next 3 or so minutes, says, "I liked your background, bring that out. And be more assertive, take control of the interview." I then realized how fucked up the situation was and just said, "you know what, thank you but I think I'll go." I got up and left. The whole thing lasted less than 10 minutes.

(3) I was interviewing with a NYC firm on campus. I never been to NYC. I pretended to know about a few spots in NYC and the partner asks me what boroughs they're in. I had no idea what a borough was. So I said they're "near Brooklyn." He goes, "near Brooklyn? What borough is it in?" So I repeat, "oh you know, near Brooklyn." I tried just transitioning into something else but he kept on it. "No. Tell me what borough it's in." I said, "near Brooklyn." I was getting embarrassed now and he said, "Near Brooklyn? you mean in Brooklyn?" And after realizing Brooklyn is probably a borough I said "yea in Brooklyn." He basically walked me out the interview at the end and made it clear by his "thanks for coming" tone I wasn't getting a call back.

(4) Interviewing with a stuck up partner (a Harvard grad as usual). He asks me about my prior experience and then begins to belittle me by asking, "why would anyone wanna do that work really." Then he name drops a few people and asks me if I know them, and then gives me a disappointed look when I say I don't. He finally gets to a point where he asks me about a specific prior work I did and then (I'm pretty sure) on purpose pretends not to understand what I'm talking about. I try to explain it a few times and he says, "Yea I'm a bit confused... so what about this again?" At that moment I knew this jerk is gonna make sure I'm dinged anyway so I might as well enjoy the moment. So I start talking to him like he's a baby, "So, you know, in this country there's a judicial system. It has three levels of federal courts, the district court, the appellate circuit court, and the supreme court." lol He didn't like that.

(5) Interviewing with a junior associate. He comes in on his off day in jeans and a tight t-shirt, a pound of gel in his hair, and the hardest bro attitude you could imagine. He says how he's working from home that day but had to come in to interview me. He then spends the whole time talking about how he's working on a powerpoint for a partner and that's his biggest project and that he won't even get to present it, another lawyer will... I had the hardest time pretending to be impressed and interested. He then spent the rest of the interview bringing up his good law school grades and awards cause I guess he felt inadequate about just working on a powerpoint. The whole thing was awkward.

Despite all this, and similar screw ups, I had 8 call backs and 5 offers.
These are amazing.

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Danger Zone » Wed Aug 16, 2017 9:59 am

Eh not really and the sentence at the end made me throw up in my mouth
Last edited by Danger Zone on Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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grand inquisitor

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by grand inquisitor » Wed Aug 16, 2017 10:07 am

chances aergia = anon poster approaching 100%

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QuentonCassidy

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by QuentonCassidy » Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:43 am

I was interviewing at a V86 firm (the only firm outside the V45 I interviewed with, figured I would throw them a bone) and it was going very poorly. I accidentally said that torts was my favorite class because that was the truth, but I was interviewing for a corporate spot and realized that I obviously should have said contracts was my favorite. I think my interviewer could tell that I was flustered because my eye contact got more intense as I gave myself a mental lashing for such a rookie screw-up. This made my palms start sweating a bit and I realized that I needed to do something about that before the handshake at the end of the interview. I tried to dry it off by surreptitiously waving it around behind my chair under a pretense of stretching, but it was still slightly damp. Luckily, I had a stroke of ingenuity and purposely coughed right into the palm of my hand right before the handshake so that when the partner felt my palm was damp he would think it was just my saliva from the cough rather than that I was sweating like some nervous weirdo.

I really thought that I had managed to salvage that interview but I didn't get a callback, which is completely ridiculous because they had the lowest vault ranking of all the firms I interviewed with. It's ok though because I got 37 callbacks and 6 offers, so I'm doing pretty well for myself.

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by mjb447 » Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:50 am

QuentonCassidy wrote:I was interviewing at a V86 firm (the only firm outside the V45 I interviewed with, figured I would throw them a bone) and it was going very poorly. I accidentally said that torts was my favorite class because that was the truth, but I was interviewing for a corporate spot and realized that I obviously should have said contracts was my favorite. I think my interviewer could tell that I was flustered because my eye contact got more intense as I gave myself a mental lashing for such a rookie screw-up. This made my palms start sweating a bit and I realized that I needed to do something about that before the handshake at the end of the interview. I tried to dry it off by surreptitiously waving it around behind my chair under a pretense of stretching, but it was still slightly damp. Luckily, I had a stroke of ingenuity and purposely coughed right into the palm of my hand right before the handshake so that when the partner felt my palm was damp he would think it was just my saliva from the cough rather than that I was sweating like some nervous weirdo.

I really thought that I had managed to salvage that interview but I didn't get a callback, which is completely ridiculous because they had the lowest vault ranking of all the firms I interviewed with. It's ok though because I got 37 callbacks and 6 offers, so I'm doing pretty well for myself.
:lol:

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by lilboat » Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:53 am

mjb447 wrote:
QuentonCassidy wrote:I was interviewing at a V86 firm (the only firm outside the V45 I interviewed with, figured I would throw them a bone) and it was going very poorly. I accidentally said that torts was my favorite class because that was the truth, but I was interviewing for a corporate spot and realized that I obviously should have said contracts was my favorite. I think my interviewer could tell that I was flustered because my eye contact got more intense as I gave myself a mental lashing for such a rookie screw-up. This made my palms start sweating a bit and I realized that I needed to do something about that before the handshake at the end of the interview. I tried to dry it off by surreptitiously waving it around behind my chair under a pretense of stretching, but it was still slightly damp. Luckily, I had a stroke of ingenuity and purposely coughed right into the palm of my hand right before the handshake so that when the partner felt my palm was damp he would think it was just my saliva from the cough rather than that I was sweating like some nervous weirdo.

I really thought that I had managed to salvage that interview but I didn't get a callback, which is completely ridiculous because they had the lowest vault ranking of all the firms I interviewed with. It's ok though because I got 37 callbacks and 6 offers, so I'm doing pretty well for myself.
:lol:
would read again

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by ggocat » Wed Aug 16, 2017 3:14 pm

QuentonCassidy wrote:I was interviewing at a V86 firm ...
Thank you for reviving the thread.
grand inquisitor wrote:we need to up our bad interview game, tls.
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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Aug 16, 2017 3:56 pm

Danger Zone wrote:Eh not really and the sentence at the end made me throw up in my mouth
This is the anon who posted the above bad interview moments. Sorry about the last sentence. I actually didn't realize how it came across initially. I came into the thread thinking it was about showing we had bad interview moments but still turned out alright and that it's not the end of the world. When I wrote that sentence, I was thinking it'll show how despite having so many bad interview moments, things ended up fine and at the end of the day a few bad interview moments are no big deal.

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Aug 16, 2017 6:14 pm

Prob going to out myself.

I was a mid/senior level ASUA who went on a bunch of associate interviews not too long ago.

Interviewed w/ one partner who would not stop trying to put me down from the start. Put me down on my non-t14 law school ("do they even have a law school? I've never heard of it . . . it's accredited, right?"), tried to tell me that federal prosecutors aren't actually that good at litigation because we do too much volume (all breadth, no depth), went on to tell me that my district was the least respected (it's not) and then told me that my generation (I was born in mid to late 80s) is/was very immature. At first, I went along with it, mainly because I was confused and thought maybe he was just being funny. But eventually, the guy said something about my prior firm and I just had it.

I 180'd and started answering his snark with more snark -- I asked if he went to law school because he failed in finance (guy did 6 years in i-banking before law school). He said he made the change because he wanted to play a more substantive role. I ignored the answer and asked, "so was it hard to start a new career, knowing that you already failed at one?" Partner maintained that he didnt "fail" at finance and then told me that he once defended [famous billionaire we've all heard of] in 90s, to which I responded, "if you're still talking about it, you must not have done anything else since then, huh?"

Guy ends the interview without giving me a card, saying good bye or anything :lol:

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Danger Zone » Wed Aug 16, 2017 6:34 pm

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. Props, that guy sounds like a boomer piece of shit.
Last edited by Danger Zone on Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Pokemon

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Pokemon » Wed Aug 16, 2017 6:57 pm

That is amazing.

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by lowlands » Thu Aug 17, 2017 12:06 am

ookoshi wrote:
RaceJudicata wrote:Trying not to think about bar results...So bumping this because OCI is about to get into full swing...
Same here. I feel like they are trying to get one last bit of hazing in with this wait.
rustyburger2 wrote:Last year during a callback I was totally hitting it off with the interviewer. The interviewer asked me what my least favorite class was, and I answered "Civ Pro."

"Bad Professor?" she asked.

My guard being down, I decided to play it straight and make it sort of a joke. "Nah, the subject was just super dry - personal jurisdiction was a nightmare amirite?"

The subsequent look of confusion threw me off. Everybody knows Civ Pro sucks monkey balls, wasinotrite?...

Then it hit me. I had already told her that I was dead set on LITIGATION. Thinking fast, I rectified the situation as best as humanly possible:

"Actually I take that back, my least favorite class was property."

No offer.
I would've just owned it. Seems like you could've hurt yourself more by trying to change your answer.

But then again, in every interview I did where I was hoping for a lit offer I said Civ Pro was my favorite class when asked. And... none of my offers were for lit, so apparently that didn't help.
I hate this question. Does not liking civ pro really accurately predict not liking lit, or being a bad litigator? Seems pretty dumb to me.

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Aug 18, 2017 1:23 pm

At a DC firm last week, last CB interview was with a partner.

He was extremely erratic the entire time, long pauses in the middle of sentences, rapid volume shifts from muttering to nearly shouting, shifting constantly, staring out his window as he was talking or thinking. (Also clearly the first time he had read my resume but that happens.)

Afterwards as he was walking me out I looked at his eyes and literally could not see his irises his pupils were so dilated.

So there's that.

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by First Offense » Fri Aug 18, 2017 1:32 pm

Anonymous User wrote:My approach has been more to treat the fav/least fav class thing as more of a conversational aid than anything. Law school classes and actual practice are worlds apart and interviewers know this (or at least the ones I've met have known this - quite a few remarked on this upfront). Now moot court is obviously an exception and can be useful to mention in responding to the corporate vs. litigation question.
I agree with this, and would say asking about law school classes is more of a way for the interviewer to share a common experience than anything. I think it is a crappy question most of the time, but it's more small talk than anything. No one is going to roast you for saying Civ Pro.

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Re: Bad Interview Moments

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Aug 18, 2017 1:53 pm

Me: *walks onto elevator at BigLaw firm*

Man in elevator: "You here for an interview with (Firm X)?"

Me, enthusiastically: "Yep!"

Man in elevator, smiling: "Why should we hire you?"

Me: *laughs nervously, unsure if serious*

Man in elevator, no longer smiling: "I'm serious. Why should we hire you?"

Me: *mumbles a borderline unintelligible response*

Didn't know I was actually going to have to give an elevator pitch this recruiting season.

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

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