Rejected by Judge Mid-Interview? Forum

[Anonymous User]

How common is it to be rejected by a judge before the interview concludes? I recently interviewed for a district judge in a popular district for this year, to be my second clerkship. The judge had already chosen a clerk for the position last summer, but they dropped out, so the judge was hurrying to interview candidates quickly.

I interviewed remotely within a couple days of the invite, with just the judge present. I thought the interview went well, but I for some reason was extraordinarily nervous and started a lot of my answers with "Yeah, so we __". For example if the judge asked how I've dealt with a certain motion, I'd lead off with that. Sounded a bit too casual in my opinion. Aside from that, though, everything went well.

But at the end of the interview, the judge started to say something like, "I'm going to be honest," and then an outside noise prevented me from hearing what they were saying. I thought the judge said, "we aren't going to move forward with you," but they immediately stated, "We're trying to fill the position quickly, so it'll be a couple of weeks before we decide."

I sent a thank-you letter. But it's been about four weeks and I haven't heard anything. Is it common to be rejected mid-interview? I know I may have just been rejected because better candidates were available, but I don't want to try to follow up and make it clear I didn't hear what the judge said.

[Anonymous User]

I've certainly felt like I was rejected mid-interview, but the Judge never explicitly said it. Sounds like they were just up front about it. The fact that they said you will hear quickly and have not heard from four weeks probably means you're rejected though. Nothing you can do about it now though.

[Anonymous User]

But at the end of the interview, the judge started to say something like, "I'm going to be honest," and then an outside noise prevented me from hearing what they were saying. I thought the judge said, "we aren't going to move forward with you," but they immediately stated, "We're trying to fill the position quickly, so it'll be a couple of weeks before we decide."

I think it's extremely unlikely that the judge said, definitively, "we aren't going to move forward with you" and then immediately said "it'll be a couple of weeks before we decide" - there's no need to tell you the latter if they meant the former. If they meant to reject you, they would have rejected you and not gone into any of the rest of it. They'd also probably have said something more definitive like "but thank you for your time, it's been very pleasant to meet with you and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors." Rejecting someone mid-interview is weird enough that I think they'd need to be very decisive about it.

That said, it's always possible they said "we aren't likely to be going to move forward with you" or "we aren't going to more forward with you right away," or something equally unencouraging.

I also think "a couple of weeks" is sort of a generic placeholder for "not right away," so not hearing for 4 weeks isn't a definitive sign that you're out, though it's not a great sign.

I'm a little confused by the juxtaposition of "we're trying to fill the position quickly, *so* it'll be a couple of weeks before we decide" - in my experience, filling a position quickly is the next couple of days, not the next couple of weeks. So I sort of wonder if the statement was actually, "I'm going to be honest, we aren't going to be able to move forward right away [like the judge is going on vacation or they have a trial set or something], even though we're trying to fill the position quickly, so it'll be a couple of weeks before we decide." Of course, if this judge normally takes months for the process, then a couple of weeks is a sign of filling it quickly, who knows.

But honestly none this matters that much. I just wouldn't try to follow up unless you have an impending deadline for something else. They're not going to forget they interviewed you, either they haven't made a decision yet or they haven't got around to sending rejections yet - following up won't change either of those things. And if you do have an impending deadline, I think the conversation was ambiguous enough that it's totally fair to ask for an update without looking like an idiot. Again, I really think the end of the interview would have gone differently if the judge had intended to definitively reject you.

[Anonymous User]

Why don't you just be honest? Say something to the effect of, "apologies Judge, but my internet cut during our final moments and I wasn't able to recall what you mentioned about next steps or moving forward." If the judge can't handle that, you don't want to work for him/her anyways.

[Anonymous User]

Why don't you just be honest? Say something to the effect of, "apologies Judge, but my internet cut during our final moments and I wasn't able to recall what you mentioned about next steps or moving forward." If the judge can't handle that, you don't want to work for him/her anyways.

This would’ve been fine if they’d asked on the spot but saying that a month later is ridiculously awkward. Agree with prior post saying nothing to do at this point but wait, unfortunately, unless you have a real deadline.

[Anonymous User]

Why don't you just be honest? Say something to the effect of, "apologies Judge, but my internet cut during our final moments and I wasn't able to recall what you mentioned about next steps or moving forward." If the judge can't handle that, you don't want to work for him/her anyways.

This would’ve been fine if they’d asked on the spot but saying that a month later is ridiculously awkward. Agree with prior post saying nothing to do at this point but wait, unfortunately, unless you have a real deadline.

Agreed, absolutely do not reach out now to clarify something that was said. Honestly, at this point if I was OP, I would assume I didn't get the offer and operate as such. Don't worry OP, though, I ended up striking out three times before I ended up getting a solid federal Circuit clerkship.