1. Remember that you will schedule your own interviews on a “first come, first serve” basis. If you applied, it is very important to check Symplicity at exactly 8:00 am Saturday morning (not 8:05 am) to see if you got any interviews. Failing to be prompt might lead to some scheduling headaches. There are seven employers coming to campus February 16, and five coming on February 17. Most students who plan ahead, logon at exactly 8:00 am, and are aware of their class schedule and the employer schedule, get the schedule that they want.
2. Before Saturday morning, know your class schedule and the dates/times the employers are coming. You can click here for a link to see the employers’ current schedule: insert link. Do NOT, however enter your class schedule into your calendar in Symplicity – this will cause problems in scheduling interviews. Try not to miss class, but missing a few minutes of class may be unavoidable. If you must miss class, communicate with your professor about the reason for your absence. Please behave like a professional as best you can. We have emailed the professors the dates for Spring OCI.
3. Symplicity shows the available appointment times. If a time isn’t showing, it’s probably because it’s not available. If you have a real conflict and cannot schedule an interview, talk to Anneliese or Jaclyn to see what other arrangements can be made. Anneliese should be in the office on Saturday morning for awhile.
4. Although it seems needless to say, if you are selected for an interview, you must take the on-campus interview unless you have already accepted another job. If that happens, let PDO know about your job offer. We will see if the employer would like to fill the spot with another applicant. You don’t have to take callback interviews, but please discuss any concerns you have about an employer with PDO before you decline an interview.
5. Prepare for your interview by researching the employer and reading the biographies of the interviewers. We will continue to update Symplicity with the names of the interviewers as the employers give them to us. You may also want to talk to students in other classes who have clerked with the same employer. For those of you who have attended panels or events where you were able to meet attorneys from an OCI employer, you have a head start.
6. Please don’t be too discouraged if you didn’t get any interviews, or didn’t get very many. It is really a numbers game—and there were over 400 applications submitted. Applying was very likely a useful thing to do, since it gave you practice for Fall OCI, where you will be applying to dozens more employers. It also allows you to tell employers (in the future) that you truly were interested in them—as evidenced by the fact that you applied to them! Give Anneliese a call if you have concerns.