- Sep 9, 2024
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The level to which a trainee buddy can and will help you will depend on a number of variables. Quite a few of them are out of your control, such as:
- VS policies: in some firms HR will make it a point to emphasize that trainee buddies are meant to be proactive and do all they can to help you out; while in others while this will still be the "role" the trainee has to play, they will have a lot more leeway as to how they go about it.
- Firm culture: in some firms, the general culture is one where people see it as very natural to be proactive in engaging with and helping colleagues; while in others the culture may be more reserved, individualistic, or internally competitive.
- The trainee's workload: the level to which the trainee can afford to engage with you will greatly depend on their own workload. If they are at absolute capacity (say, they're in the last few days before signing of a major PE deal they have been staffed on) this will unfortunately influence their ability to help you out a lot. Most firms will generally do their best not to staff trainee buddies on important matters with impending deadlines during a VS, but it does unfortunately happen sometimes. However, if you are lucky and your trainee buddy is currently enjoying a quieter period, they may actually not have that much to do and be more willing than most to go above and beyond for you.
- Assessment type: the level to which your relationship with your trainee buddy will influence your chances will depend a lot on what conversion comes down to in any given firm. If the firm really emphasizes social integration and thus places a lot on weigh on feedback from your department, it will matter a lot. However, if it mostly comes down to formal assessments, there will not be that much that they can do.
- The trainee's feedback: to get good feedback from a trainee buddy you want to have a good relationship with them. To set up the right dynamic, you should show yourself as enthusiastic and proactive but also be very flexible and responsive to the cues you get from them. If you see they are very busy, or seem to not enjoy talking much about work, or want to take a more 'self-aware' view of the job (ie not always signing praises to commercial law or the firm), you should be willing to change your attitude to fit that. In terms of what questions to ask them initially, I advise a mix of questions about their journey and personal life, their work and experience in the firm, and advice for you. You should then let the flow of the conversation and of your relationship naturally develop.
- Help with social integration: this is perhaps the core area where your trainee buddy can be of most help to you. You should ask your trainee who he advises you to meet, how to approach them, what topics to focus on, and sometimes even for an introduction.
- Shaping your VS strategy: if the firm is not completely transparent with how much they weigh the different assessment criteria during the scheme, you may be able to obtain a bit more insight from the trainee buddy - perhaps they have noticed patterns as to what types of candidates end up converting etc. They should thus be able to give you valuable advice as to what you should be investing most of your time doing.
- Help with finding/completing work: while your first point of contact work-wise should generally be your supervisor, if they are away, very busy, or just not very helpful, you can definitely approach your trainee buddy to see if they can help you find some work to get involved in or complete some current task you are struggling with.
