Here are some things to keep in mind when you think about the employers with which you would like to obtain interviews:
1) Like it or not, many of the employers who receive the résumés of students who have bid to interview with them will make their pre-selections based almost entirely on GPA and class standing. Therefore, if your class standing is in the top 10% of the class, you are likely to be pre-selected by every firm you bid on. If you are one of these fortunate persons, please bid judiciously. If you don't seriously intend to schedule yourself for, and actually attend, 25 interviews during Phase One, then don't bid for interviews with 25 different employers.
2) Because a large number of our students want either to stay in the upper Midwest or to go to New York or California, employers with sizable offices in Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis, New York, D.C. and Los Angeles tend to be the ones bid on by most students. To maximize your chances of getting interviews with high-quality firms, consider bidding on some of the excellent firms from other cities (e.g., Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Lansing, Indianapolis, etc.) who are coming here this fall.
3) Do not bid to interview with patent law firms unless you have an undergraduate or graduate degree in science or engineering. If you are an English or history major who bids to interview with a patent law firm, you are wasting one of your bids. The following firms will NOT consider any students for employment unless they are eligible to take the patent bar exam (which generally speaking requires that you have at least an undergraduate degree in a hard science or engineering):
- Boyle Frederickson, Milwaukee: Technical background required (ME, EE or Physics preferred).
- Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Indianapolis & Salt Lake City: For its patent practice, which comprises the majority of its hiring, the firm requires a technical undergraduate degree in engineering, chemistry, physics, computer science or biotechnology. For its trademark practice, the firm is seeking students with liberal arts or business degrees who have a strong interest in specializing in this area of law.
- Fitch Even, Chicago & San Diego: Technical graduate or undergraduate degree required.
- Kenyon & Kenyon, New York & DC: (Technical background required (EE, CE, ME, Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math, Pharmacology, etc.)
- Kinney & Lange, Minneapolis: The firm requires all interested candidates to have a technical background.
- Merchant & Gould, Minneapolis, Denver, Seattle, Atlanta & DC: The firm requires candidates to have a technical background which qualifies them to sit for the USPTO exam. Advanced degree preferred (scientific or technical).
- Shumaker & Sieffert, Twin Cities: Prefers students in top third of class; students must have an engineering or science degree, preferably in electrical, mechanical, chemical or biomedical engineering, or physics, with eligibility to sit for the patent bar.
- Townsend and Townsend and Crew, San Francisco, Denver, DC, Seattle & Palo Alto, Walnut Creek & San Diego, CA: Technical background necessary for the firm's patent prosecution practice.
4) What if you don't meet the employer's stated hiring criteria? Some employers list the criteria for their "dream" candidates, knowing that they may deviate from those criteria; but others stick strictly to the criteria they provide us. If you are anywhere close to the cutoff (i.e., in the top 1/3 and they want top 1/4), go ahead and enter a bid, especially if you have other credentials that that employer will find impressive. If, however, the employer requires top 20% and you are in the fourth quartile, it is unlikely that you will be selected for an interview.
We do not screen résumés. If you enter a bid and have uploaded your résumé, your resume will be forwarded to the employer.