UF Law Student Kelly Hallisey Decodes the OCI Process

Name: Kelly Hallisey (JD 18)

Hometown: New Port Richey, FL

Undergraduate Institution and Degree Program: University of Florida, B.S. in Nuclear Engineering Sciences

Law School Involvement: Senior Research Editor, Florida Law Review; Research Assistant to Professor Amy L. Stein; Florida Blue Key; Operations Chair and Internal Relations Coordinator, Student Recruitment Team; Previous President, Intellectual Property and Technology Law Association; Previous Teaching Assistant, Legal Writing and Appellate Advocacy.

 

 

Interviews. Is there anything that causes law students more anxiety (besides being unprepared for a cold call)? Luckily, I had resources from UF Law and the older students around me to help prepare me for the trials of the law firm interview process.

While there are many different avenues to getting a summer job, I was fortunate enough to acquire my 2L summer associate position through the UF Law On-Campus Interview (OCI) process. I think one of the biggest surprises to law students when it comes to the OCI process is the time line. While there are plenty (really the majority) of law students who don’t receive job offers until late in the fall or sometime in the spring, the first round of OCI interviews for 2Ls is the week before class starts in August.

But wait, isn’t it a little early to be interviewing for the next summer (which could lead to your real job in 2 years)? It feels that way, that’s the way of the “big law” firms. So really, there isn’t a time that’s “too soon” to start preparing your applications. While most 1Ls do not receive jobs this way, 1Ls also have OCIs starting in the spring of their first year to secure their summer employment.

Even before preparing for the daunting task of interviews, you have to secure the interview through the OCI “bidding” process through which students submit their resume, cover letter, writing sample, transcript, and first born child in the hopes of being selected for an interview. So how do you prepare these materials? Have your counselor in the Center of Career Development look over it. Have your mom look over it. Have your mentors look over it. Have your boyfriend look over it. Have your rabbi, whose son is an attorney, look over it. You get the picture. One typo is enough to remove your resume from the top of the stack to the garbage can.

Once you’ve been given one of the coveted interview spots, it’s time for the real preparation to begin. Once you receive an interview slot, you will be given the names of your interviewers. It is so important to put in the time reviewing the firm or company you will be interviewing with, as well as a little bit about the interviewers, so you can go into the interview being as confident and knowledgeable as possible. Make sure you have your story ready to tell them, as well as be able to talk about anything that is in the interview materials that you gave them. Your career counselor, as well as many professors, can help set up a mock interview to get you more comfortable with the process. But most of all, be yourself. These interviews are as much about them finding the right candidate as it is about you finding the right place to work.

Then, if the OCI interview goes well and the interviewers are satisfied that you don’t have three heads, you will be asked to come to the law firm for a callback interview, which is basically a longer day full of multiple OCI-like interviews with 6 to 10 attorneys, as well as a lunch with some more of the attorneys. Again, both parties are just trying to see if you and the firm are a good match.

Lastly, remember that while the OCI process is one of the most advertised forms of getting a job, only a very small percentage of people receive job offers this way. I didn’t receive a job offer through the OCI process my 1L, year but still ended up with a “big law” job. And I could not have been successful in my OCI endeavors if not for the help of my fellow UF Law students. If you have any questions or need any advice, please feel free to email or text me at nicolkelly13@ufl.edu or (727) 810-1020.