Hope everyone is hanging in there as we pass the midpoint for OCIP. We know it’s an exhausting process on a lot of levels, but we hope you can muster some enthusiasm and energy for the employers who are coming during the second week. They are just as interested in Berkeley Law students as those who were lucky enough to have been assigned the first interview days. Among them may be the one that best matches your skills and interests, but you will never know if you choose not to attend the interview.
Here are some things to keep in mind at this stage:
1. If you do not have a good sense of how you are doing at this point, it may make sense to hedge your bets and sign yourself into some additional open slots for next week. There are some great employers (especially those in Palo Alto, LA, and Orange County) that have openings on their schedules at this point. They are making a special trip to come see Berkeley Law students – why not take full advantage?
2. Be mindful of the cancellation policy – you need to cancel by 5pm no less than 3 days before an interview (e.g., 5pm Tuesday is the deadline for cancelling your next Friday interviews), otherwise you have to attend. This means that you should be looking at your interview schedule now for the second week of OCIP, doing your research, and cancelling any in which you are definitely not interested.
Generally, you all have been very conscientious about this and we really appreciate your professionalism (and the consideration you’ve demonstrated for your fellow classmates). However, as OCIP continues, fatigue may heighten the temptation to be a “no-show” or to try to cancel at the very last minute with a non-emergency-based excuse. We hope you understand that we will not be in a position to accommodate these kinds of last minute changes.
Cancelling or not showing up doesn’t just have an impact on you and your schedule. Cancellations affect the employers and current and future Berkeley law students. Employers need time to adjust their travel or work plans to accommodate interview schedule changes. We also need to allow some reasonable amount of time for students to sign in to the slot opened up by cancellations. Finally, an employer faced with several last minute cancellations and no one to fill the schedule gaps may decide not to come to OCIP in the future or may conclude (however unfairly) that Berkeley Law students in general are not reliable.
The enforcement mechanism for this policy (which we need in order to prevent abuse of the system) is that you risk having your remaining interviews cancelled if you don’t follow it (i.e., if you do not show up for an interview and do not have a good emergency-based reason for failing to attend).
If you are truly ill or an emergency arises on the day of your interview and you cannot attend, please contact the Career Development Office at 642-4567 not the Hotel Durant. This should be done only in emergencies or if you are a 3L who has accepted an offer (in which case you will be canceling all your remaining interviews).