2020-21 Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion

[Chloe L]

Na i keep it and keep reading it every few days in case I read it wrong 😂😭

 

[applicantmp]

This afternoon

thanks for responding! When did you complete AS if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Aspiring.lawyer.to.be]

There is still hope then! Haha. It's my last outstanding app.

same! my last one left to hear back

 

[Abbie4329]

Does anyone know how many W&C take from straight TC applications?

15-20% from direct TC

 

[jan28]

Na i keep it and keep reading it every few days in case I read it wrong 😂😭

I sometimes even wait to see if they email me again to say they made a mistake 😢

 

[manchunited]

When I booked my AC last week for Ashurst there were still some AC slots available for the coming weeks! I can't remember the dates off the top of my head but they defo ran into mid- March.

Oh,

Hey, can I ask where you heard this? Still waiting post-app so that's not promising news lol

I had an AC yesterday so they told me after the the interview

 

[bethbristol]

My fiancee is on at me for a pair of Daschunds when we're settled in London 👀

Are you really a trainee lawyer in London if you haven’t contemplated a daschund

 

[pe17797]

thanks for responding! When did you complete AS if you don't mind me asking?

12th December

 

[Sophie L]

Is anyone still waiting to hear from AG post-VI? I applied to the Manchester office

 

[Jessica Booker]

When firms say they have 10-12 TC places, does that mean they give out more offers? For example, Latham has 24 TC places (I think) but I also know many people that have rejected their Latham TC offer, and yet on chambers student it says there are 48 trainees, so they have to have given more than 24 offers no? I’m approaching a vac scheme with tight numbers and its stressing me out so need comfort haha

Yes, pretty much every firm will make more offers than they have vacancies knowing that some candidates will turn down the offer. It doesn't mean there will be more jobs though - it is just there is a dedicated person/team managing the offer process.

Firms will have a reasonable idea of their decline rate (tends to actually be pretty stable for most firms) and even if they don't, it might be the case that they have a "hold" pile of candidates who are offered at a later stage if need be.

Some firms will have lower trainee intakes than they state though. I used to recruit 100 trainees a year, but it was quite common for there to be less than 50 trainees per intake (used to bounce between 46-50 - although that was sometimes down to late reneges, LPC failures or people having to defer due to personal reasons), because missing one or two wasn't a huge issue. If there was demand, we tended to have a waiting list of people who could start earlier or we could always top up the recruitment the following recruitment cycle if needed.

 

[Asil Ahmad]

Can someone please explain to me this. I have been putting my Baker McKenzie training contract application question answers into the online form. Ine of the answers on Microsoft word is 295 words but on my online application form, it is 302 words. This has been stressing me out for the past half an hour. Did anyone else have this issue.

Edit - I checked the word count of that answer in another law firm application like copy and paste that answer in another application portal and it is 297 words so what could this mean.

 

[KT]

Has anybody heard back from Bakers summer VS post VI? My status changed to reviewed today...

When did you do your VI?

 

[Etudierlaw2022]

Hey, I really wish I had found this forum before now - I really want to be able to now bring hope to others who are feeling down. I finally have a TC offer accepted, but it’s my fourth year. In second year uni I thought I’d managed it, I had a summer vac scheme with a MC firm, I did well, I tried my best, my feedback was good but the interview went badly. It was a rejection. The next year I focused on uni, did about 7 applications, was rejected at app stage each time. The year after, I’d graduated, I got a job, I applied for more vac schemes, I did a winter vac scheme at a big international firm and my feedback was great but again, anxiety got the better of me and I was rejected at the end because of the interview. I tried applying for some direct TCs in the summer. rejected again. Then this year I applied for some vac schemes, some direct TCs, I made it past the app stage on all the applications, I had worked on commercial awareness, I entered the aspiring solicitors commercial awareness competition, I was doing a masters, I kept progressing through the competition, I managed to be chosen as a winner of the competition, a week after I had an AC with a MC firm, I passed the AC, I got the training contract. I accepted.

For three years I felt awful, I felt inadequate and not good enough and that I didn’t know how to change my luck, I felt like everyone I knew had already got TCs and I was the ‘last one’ from my uni cohort. I wish others could know that if you’re facing rejection you’re not alone, if you’ve cried and felt awful about yourself and felt like you’ll never get your TC offer, if you’ve been rejected by your ‘dream firm’ after spending hours on an application and attending events, I can entirely relate. I hope if you relate to any of those feelings currently your luck changes soon - mine did and I’m sure yours will too ❤️

Do you have any tips on how to overcome that final interview anxiety? I completely froze on my "why law" answer and it was the reason I failed to convert my vac scheme. I was so so gutted. In my heart I knew the answer but I sputtered something very random because I could feel myself freezing. How did you cope?? Thanks so much and this is amazing, so happy for you

 

[Jessica Booker]

Can someone please explain to me this. I have been putting my Baker McKenzie training contract application question answers into the online form. Ine of the answers on Microsoft word is 295 words but on my online application form, it is 302 words. This has been stressing me out for the past half an hour. Did anyone else have this issue.

Will be something like special characters or paragraph spacing.

 

[Asil Ahmad]

Will be something like special characters or paragraph spacing.

Thank you for this oh dam.

 

[djqb]

Can someone please explain to me this. I have been putting my Baker McKenzie training contract application question answers into the online form. Ine of the answers on Microsoft word is 295 words but on my online application form, it is 302 words. This has been stressing me out for the past half an hour. Did anyone else have this issue.

Edit - I checked the word count of that answer in another law firm application like copy and paste that answer in another application poirtal and it is 297 words so what could this mean.

Yeah I've noticed such word count issues in the text boxes quite a few times with cvMail. Whereas the text boxes on Apply 4 Law have always seemed much more accurate . . .

 

[Asil Ahmad]

Yeah I've noticed such word count issues in the text boxes quite a few times with cvMail. Whereas the text boxes on Apply 4 Law have always seemed much more accurate . . .

Thank you for your reply. What would your advice be shall I email grad and recruitment.

 

[Velikilawyer123]

Jones Day VS! Anyone who has an interview feel free to message me

Congrats!! How long did it take them to get back to you post-interview? And did they call / email?

 

[djqb]

Thank you for your reply. What would your advice be shall I email grad and recruitment.

Personally I've just sought to try and reduce my word count 1 word at a time to see if it will allow me to proceed to the next page without an error popping up. I know it sounds a bit impractical but this worked for me.

You can always try checking your word count before hand in an online word counting site as opposed to MS Word, as it may sometime yield a different result, and may be more in line with how cvMail works.

I'm not sure emailing GR will be of much use because I don't reckon they can do anything about it, as the application system is not run by them.

I hope this helps!

 

[Asil Ahmad]

Personally I've just sought to try and reduce my word count 1 word at a time to see if it will allow me to proceed to the next page without an error popping up. I know it sounds a bit impractical but this worked for me.

You can always try checking your word count before hand in an online word counting site as opposed to MS Word, as it may sometime yield a different result, and may be more in line with how cvMail works.

I'm not sure emailing GR will be of much use because I don't reckon they can do anything about it, as the application system is not run by them.

I hope this helps!

Thank you very much for this it is really helpful and appreciate it your advice.