Applying for Summer Jobs at a Big Firm?

By Chris Yang (2L)

This year, I decided to interview in three markets: Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto. I interviewed with 19 firms. In my undergrad, I did about 30 On-Campus Interviews (OCIs). You can find out a lot on firm websites about the process, but some of what you can’t find on those sites will be touched on here. Please remember that I’m just a 2L. Take what I say with a grain of salt.

The Process
The interview process is different for every city and firm. In general, you will have two rounds: round one being an OCI and a dinner. The second round is an in-firm interview and another dinner or reception. OCI’s are usually very informal. They will ask you about your resume, backpacking in Europe, and how awesome it is that you both played hockey. They have already ranked you based on your marks/resume and are just seeing now if they like you as a person. But, be prepared to always answer two questions: Why do you want to work for them? Why you want to work in city X? They will also tell you about their firm. Have some genuine questions prepared. In many ways, your questions are the most important part of the interview. You are interviewing the firms as much as they are interviewing you.

Scheduling Dinners
Find out whether the firm did a dinner last year. It will probably fall on the same day of the week. As a rule of thumb, if you turn down dinner with them (and don’t make a genuine effort to make-up for it with something else) you probably won’t get an offer. For example, I know of one Dean’s-list student who interviewed with six firms, all of which hosted dinners. He went to dinner with four, and received offers only from those four.

Advice
Be yourself. A huge part of the interview is whether they like you. Nobody likes the tool that pretends to be something he’s not. Citing SCC cases during dinner when everyone else is talking about clubbing? You’re a douchebag. Don’t dilute yourself. I suggest only doing 4 second in-firm interviews (in Vancouver and Toronto). If you know where you want to work, don’t apply to every single firm. Firms generally like that you have narrowed down your choice. Let them know that. Don’t read too much into not getting dinner offers. It’s an indication, but some students get jobs without getting the dinners.

Don’t hijack dinner conversations. At the same time, if you don’t converse, you will get lost in the mix. Don’t know whether you want to be a barrister or solicitor yet? M&A or Securities? Nobody cares. If interviewers drop the f-bomb, you can loosen up a bit. Sell yourself. Be assertive and aggressive, but not cocky.

Multiple offers?
All the big firms are great firms with great work. Find the one that “fits” you. You will probably think this cliché is not helpful. Hopefully you will discover earlier than me that it is damn good advice.