By Ann W. Parks

Bill Durkin (L'10) after completing Early Interview Week.

Margaret Markman (L'10) during Early Interview Week.

Kate Dilks (G'09, L'09) and Sarah Nealen (L'09) at SPICE's 'No Suits Required' social event, held during Early Interview Week.

Surviving 22 job interviews in a single week? Not a problem. Brainstorming ways to stand out as a job candidate — among hundreds of other would-be job candidates? They’ve got it covered. Trying to keep the lawyer suit dry as they make their way to the Washington Court Hotel in the rain? They’ve done it all.

They are the Georgetown Law 2Ls, who recently made it through another significant hurdle of their law school careers — Early Interview Week. During the last week in August, over 800 students met with nearly 600 interviewers and participated in over 11,000 interviews, according to Gihan Fernando, assistant dean of career services.

“Early Interview Week is a challenging process, and our students do extremely well in managing multiple interviews while exploring the range of options available to them,” Fernando says.

Approximately 70 percent of students get offers for summer associate positions at the kind of firms that interview at Early Interview Week — most from interviewing at EIW, some from writing directly to those firms, he says.

Steve Giballa (L’10), who is interested in working for a Washington, D.C., firm, says he’s grateful for the opportunity. Students from other law schools, he notes, often have a harder time since their on-campus interviews are pre-screened, with employers choosing to interview the same few candidates. Georgetown’s process is open to all upperclass students, who rank their employer preferences before Early Interview Week begins. Interviews are granted based on a lottery that takes those preferences into account.

“I think the biggest complaint I hear is, ‘Oh no, I have too many interviews,” Giballa says.

Paula Howell (L’10), a transfer student who is interested in litigation, had been to 22 interviews by Thursday afternoon, with 10 on Wednesday alone. “It’s really helpful to go to the interviews and see if you fit with that firm; there are plusses and minuses to any type of firm,” she says. “It’s very difficult to distinguish [the firms] before you go into the interview.”

And while 10 interviews on a single day might not sound like fun, there are advantages there as well. “When you have only three in a day, it gets a little bit boring in between interviews,” Howell says.

Not all students decide to go the law firm route, of course. During Early Interview Week, the Students for Public Interest Community Enhancement — whose mission is to enhance opportunities for students to participate in pro bono and public interest projects — hosted a “No Suits Required” gathering for students interested in public interest and government careers, who might not have been participating in Early Interview Week.

“We’re under our own stress,” laughs Sarah Nealen (L’09), who was in the process of applying for an honors program with the federal government when she attended the August 26 SPICE gathering. Katie Dilks (G’09, L’09), who is interested in education policy, noted that public interest-minded students usually go through their job application and hiring process later in the year.

Others are exploring all options. Leslie Mills (L’10), Danielle Y. Brown (L’10) and Shakisha O’Connor (L’10) — who showed up at the “No Suits Required” event wearing their interview suits — say that the EIW process provides good experience in presenting themselves to employers, period.

“It’s a learning experience, and you have to learn quickly,” said Mills of the interview process. “To get everything you want to say in 20 minutes, that’s a skill.”

Steak tacos and the Yankees

Bill Durkin (L’10) notes that no two of his 20 interviews were the same — which keeps the process interesting.

“I talked about my summer experience — I worked for the Massachusetts attorney general’s office — I talked about my dream job, my worst job, I talked about the Red Sox, [and] talked about the Yankees,” Durkin says. And since one of his interests is cooking, he also found himself discussing the last recipe he cooked, in response to an interviewer’s question. (The answer? Steak tacos from a magazine recipe.)

Food is a popular subject of discussion among the interviewees as well, since there’s often not a lot of time to eat during Early Interview Week. “[It’s] a lot of eating on the run, cookies, and sharing tips on who [among the law firms] has the better hospitality suite,” says Durkin.

What makes a good hospitality suite? “Sandwiches, and friendly people,” he says. 

Margaret Markman (L’10), who spent the summer working for a law firm in Paris (in addition to serving as a research assistant for Professor Daniel Tarullo), talked to interviewers about that experience as well as her undergraduate thesis, which involved archival research in France. “The national archives were in a building from the 1500s in one of my favorite neighborhoods, so it was definitely an enjoyable experience,” she says. “That’s always nice to talk about.”

The staff of the Office of Career Services was very willing to help and answer questions during the week, Markman says. She also appreciated the fact that the process took place the week before classes, instead of during the school year; some of the alumni with whom she interviewed did not have this luxury when they were students.

“It’s intense, but it’s done,” she says. “It’s very smart to do it that way.”