Virtual Open Houses. Worth it?

[Dussy]

Hello everyone

I was hoping those who just went through the 2L recruit can speak to how useful they found the virtual open houses. There are a number of them coming up, and I was wondering whether they are worth attending. I have also noticed that some firms schedule theirs during working hours, which is rather inconvenient.

Thanks

 

[Forever Curious]

They are tiring and usually not fun to attend. BUT, they are worth it because you get a sense of the firm (very important) + can include that you attended in the cover letter. 

[pinball]

12 minutes ago, Forever Curious said:

They are tiring and usually not fun to attend. BUT, they are worth it because you get a sense of the firm (very important) + can include that you attended in the cover letter. 

Exactly. Just don't go in with the expectation that you can schmooze your way into a job at one of these events - could end very poorly...

[OzLaw16]

If you genuinely want to learn more about the firm, then you can go, but if you'd be going solely/primarily to put it on your cover letter or to be able to say you went, then I honestly wouldn't bother. My sense is that writing "I went to your tour" or "I spoke to one of your students" makes little-to-no difference in your OCI chances. As long as you can show genuine interest in the firm in your cover letter in other ways, you'll be fine.

Anecdotally, I don't think I went to a single firm tour and I got a strong number of OCIs. I can think of one person who went to a certain firm's tour and then got waitlisted for an OCI despite having below-average grades, but this person was also able to show their interest in that firm in many other ways, so I doubt writing about going to the firm tour was what made the difference.