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2020-21 Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion
- Thread starter Jaysen
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5 exact days from the time you received the email on Tuesday. For example, if you received the email at 10:30 am, you'd need to send them off by 10:30am on Sunday
I was in exactly in the same situation - you're certainly not alone
Thank you for being so open. Your tenacity is inspiring.I applied for about 13 firms last cycle whilst doing the GDL. I received 3 ACs invites (I was on the reserve list for one vacation scheme, accepted another and I narrowly missed out on a TC). I finished the GDL and found that the job market for graduates had dried up. I kept applying for jobs and found there were hundreds of people applying for one position. Law firms sent emails saying that they had postponed their recruitment. I had a spreadsheet filled with rejections. I can't really articulate how difficult it was, everything felt like it was falling apart.
I tried to turn that negative time into a positive, and picked myself up. I volunteered for two pro bono clinics, completed short courses to improve my skills and reached out to people a bit more (on here and to diversity organisations). I really thought about what law firms I wanted to apply to and for this cycle I have sent off 27 vacation scheme applications.
It was incredibly tough to be positive enough to do vacation scheme applications, as well as normal job applications, and deal with the rejection after rejection. But things can change pretty quickly. In the past three weeks alone I had my first interview for an actual job - I start in the role next week. On the law front so far I have completed two AC's and a case study assessment.
Sorry for the long post but I am just writing this as I know that there will be other graduates in a similar situation who read this thread. I was too embarrassed and anxious to say anything. You are not alone, and things really do get better. If anyone wants to have a chat don't hesitate to message me.
Last year I received an interview invite with them around mid-February. But I wouldn't be surprised if things were a bit delayed this year. Hopefully you'll hear back soon!
yeah, I'm not sure if it was just a generic rejection email they send and it was actually my application that was bad/they filled their places but they did specifically say that I had 'not performed sufficiently well in the online assessments' so I'm a little confused 🤷♀️
First proper interview invite this cycle! For Stephenson Harwood VS (applied just before the deadline and completed WG week later). Any tips would be greatly appreciated
Love that for you!!! A test of resilience! See, for our university it really was a defined policy that non-law students could not join and the people in the society fully supported that policy. That's why we had the non-law society. It sucked. I don't think they were suggesting that alumni would withhold funding, but more that if the law society needed to raise funds, it could reach out to alumni rather than raising money through new membership fees.
This was really encouraging to read and you're obviously extremely resilient! Hope that the ACs went wellI was in exactly in the same situation - you're certainly not alone
I applied for about 13 firms last cycle whilst doing the GDL. I received 3 ACs invites (I was on the reserve list for one vacation scheme, accepted another and I narrowly missed out on a TC). I finished the GDL and found that the job market for graduates had dried up. I kept applying for jobs and found there were hundreds of people applying for one position. Law firms sent emails saying that they had postponed their recruitment. I had a spreadsheet filled with rejections. I can't really articulate how difficult it was, everything felt like it was falling apart.
I tried to turn that negative time into a positive, and picked myself up. I volunteered for two pro bono clinics, completed short courses to improve my skills and reached out to people a bit more (on here and to diversity organisations). I really thought about what law firms I wanted to apply to and for this cycle I have sent off 27 vacation scheme applications.
It was incredibly tough to be positive enough to do vacation scheme applications, as well as normal job applications, and deal with the rejection after rejection. But things can change pretty quickly. In the past three weeks alone I had my first interview for an actual job - I start in the role next week. On the law front so far I have completed two AC's and a case study assessment.
Sorry for the long post but I am just writing this as I know that there will be other graduates in a similar situation who read this thread. I was too embarrassed and anxious to say anything. You are not alone, and things really do get better. If anyone wants to have a chat don't hesitate to message me.
They mentioned at the AC you have to pass the online test and then the cover letter is reviewed. About 50% pass the online test and then 60-70% pass the cover letter.
Glad to see I'm not the only one who's submitted a monstrous amount of apps! I'm well on the way to my 29th, although I'm taking a break to do the Reed Smith research questions right now.I was in exactly in the same situation - you're certainly not alone
I applied for about 13 firms last cycle whilst doing the GDL. I received 3 ACs invites (I was on the reserve list for one vacation scheme, accepted another and I narrowly missed out on a TC). I finished the GDL and found that the job market for graduates had dried up. I kept applying for jobs and found there were hundreds of people applying for one position. Law firms sent emails saying that they had postponed their recruitment. I had a spreadsheet filled with rejections. I can't really articulate how difficult it was, everything felt like it was falling apart.
I tried to turn that negative time into a positive, and picked myself up. I volunteered for two pro bono clinics, completed short courses to improve my skills and reached out to people a bit more (on here and to diversity organisations). I really thought about what law firms I wanted to apply to and for this cycle I have sent off 27 vacation scheme applications.
It was incredibly tough to be positive enough to do vacation scheme applications, as well as normal job applications, and deal with the rejection after rejection. But things can change pretty quickly. In the past three weeks alone I had my first interview for an actual job - I start in the role next week. On the law front so far I have completed two AC's and a case study assessment.
Sorry for the long post but I am just writing this as I know that there will be other graduates in a similar situation who read this thread. I was too embarrassed and anxious to say anything. You are not alone, and things really do get better. If anyone wants to have a chat don't hesitate to message me.
I'm not usually one for mantras but the way I've dealt with rejection is by remembering that failure is is a mindset--not something that just happens to you. Instead of getting too angsty, I like to see every rejection as a learning opportunity, or at the very least a chance to move onto the next thing. If I'm not successful at interview, I use the feedback to measure where my current strengths and weaknesses are and what I need to work on for the next one. Unfortunately, I had to do that a lot last cycle!
Something else I've noticed that some people do on these forums is get too attached to individual firms. Don't get attached! If you get rejected it will just feel so much worse, and the odds of rejection are high. The graduate recruiters aren't going to notice your passion when they have 3000+ applications to read. This also applies to getting rejected after vacation schemes too. Try to stay as neutral as possible.
Definitely great to see people like you here who've been keeping up the fight! I'm not at 29 applications, but I'm currently standing tall at 23 applications while juggling my final year LLB and my businesses and daytrading gigs ... it's been a journey but I'm honestly coming out of it a better, stronger person with even more motivation to jump into this career! As ex-military I used to see my two years of service as a cut into my peak years, but now I see it as a strength that I've been leveraging in interviews, alongside my extensive hitchhiking sojourns across Europe and Asia - and I've found that when explained clearly and with zest, recruiters are really interested in how you can be a great client-facing fella over my average grades.
Keep hustling my friends! But don't forget to grab a pret every once in a while and lie on a bench somewhere and look up at the blue sky.
Happy Wednesday all, let's try be productive and stay away from refreshing our emails 24/7 🥴🥴🥴
Guys can i have your opinion on a matter?
I am currently answering a commercial awareness question and I would like to mention Brexit.
The recently signed deal is a major blow to the financial services plus does not protect many sectors (retail banking, insurance and so on). I am reluctant to talk about Brexit, but I believe it is more relevant than ever (with covid) as the implications are wild!
What do you think?
I am currently answering a commercial awareness question and I would like to mention Brexit.
The recently signed deal is a major blow to the financial services plus does not protect many sectors (retail banking, insurance and so on). I am reluctant to talk about Brexit, but I believe it is more relevant than ever (with covid) as the implications are wild!
What do you think?
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