2020-21 Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion

[Adrian_Healey]

Friends, a question.

One of my applications is asking me to discuss "something many people don't know about me." I'm sort of unclear how to approach this. At first, I thought maybe I should talk about my struggles growing up as a RAGING HOMOSEXUAL in a largely conservative family. But I worry that might actually be too "personal." This leads me to ask: how personal can we get here? The whole "tell us something people don't about you" seems like it gives us space to do so. I'm just worried it'll seem unprofessional. @Jessica Booker do you know if this is something recruitment teams find off-putting?

As a homosexual myself, whilst I don’t see why it would be a problem to any firm, I think it would be quite difficult to talk about that without sounding angry and negative

 

[ZaraB]

Feeling quite dejected from all the silence, just give me my PFOs already I felt like I submitted a really strong application for Penningtons but I still haven't heard back and I've seen a few AC's and I think that one will sting the most!

 

[cryingoverTCs]

Hopefully this thread helps!

Video interviews - tips and tricks

Hi all, As promised, here are my top tips and tricks for video interviews. Please feel free to add any more below! If I think of any more myself I shall be sure to add them into this thread as well. - Schedule the interview in your diary as you would a face-to-face one and be ready 15 mins...

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

Thank you, Jaysen!!

 

[John Travoni]

sitting here crying bc I got a VI for BCLP - I keep looking at the email to double check that I didn't just dream it up out of sheer willpower
does ANYONE have any tips bc this is my first ever VI and BCLP are probably my favourite ever firm and I don't want to screw it up
also, just wanna say thanks to everyone on here - I 100% used tips and advice from here in my app so thank you all ♥️

for those wondering - I applied on 28/01 so like 3 days before the deadline

I had the VI. DM me and I’ll gladly help you

 

[Legal Chick]

sitting here crying bc I got a VI for BCLP - I keep looking at the email to double check that I didn't just dream it up out of sheer willpower
does ANYONE have any tips bc this is my first ever VI and BCLP are probably my favourite ever firm and I don't want to screw it up
also, just wanna say thanks to everyone on here - I 100% used tips and advice from here in my app so thank you all ♥️

for those wondering - I applied on 28/01 so like 3 days before the deadline

Congratulations 🥳

 

[cryingoverTCs]

Congratulations 🥳

Thank you 🥰

 

[Han.louise]

Is 'what motivates you for a career in law?' a why law question or is it asking for something different? Can I use my work experience to explain my motivations?

 

[SamTam99]

Guys I really need to rant about the Arctic Shores game based assessment!!!

I took the test for the PwC vac scheme in December (and was progressed to VI) and took it again today for Taylor Vinters second stage, and I have received two COMPLETELY different sets of personality/aptitude/cognition/thinking style traits despite the game being exactly the same and marked against the same norm group.

Honestly some of the results I got on my reports were polar opposites to my December PwC result and I’m struggling to understand how firms think this can be in the least bit accurate when someone’s results can differ so much in the space of less than two months. There’s no possible way my personality and cognitive ability has changed THIS much in such a short space of time.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with Arctic Shores? Really don’t know what to make of it all 😔

 

[Matt_96]

Is 'what motivates you for a career in law?' a why law question or is it asking for something different? Can I use my work experience to explain my motivations?

I would interpret that as a why law question tbh

 

[S87]

As a homosexual myself, whilst I don’t see why it would be a problem to any firm, I think it would be quite difficult to talk about that without sounding angry and negative

AS a lesbian who grew up in a Highly catholic family and country I know the struggle (My family is nothing but fantastic and they are currently helping with wedding plans after Covid), I agree with the above statement.

So, I would approach this question differently. Many people do not know my work to launch my legal startup, that I have been studying across different countries just to be a solicitor in London so show your resilience, that I collect rare music albums which is so damn expensive and time consuming, that I have recently fell in love with Marvel and I currently studying how to get some rare Marvel comics..random but peculiar things which show a different side of me!

 

[Maculay]

I heard back in about 3 hours? But I know someone earlier in the chat said that they emailed Weil and they said they'd ave AC outcomes by the end of this week?

What a week!! I crashed my car but then also got a Hogan Lovells summer vac offer and a HSF summer vac offer this week, double whammy! Also HSF are one of the fastest firms for AC results I've come across, 30 minutes after the AC got a call and 1 hour later had the offer letter, wow! If you're prepping for HL or HSF and have questions, dm me, I'll try my best to help!

I found that the firms that want you will let you know ASAP. However, by default they will give a long return date when you ask. I suspect this is to allow them some time for their first picks to consider while keeping everyone waiting. However, this is not always the case as I had one firm advise that I would find out after everyone was interviewed and was successful after a couple week wait. Though, they were much more clear in saying no one would find out until a certain time.

 

[Jason S]

.

Guys I really need to rant about the Arctic Shores game based assessment!!!

I took the test for the PwC vac scheme in December (and was progressed to VI) and took it again today for Taylor Vinters second stage, and I have received two COMPLETELY different sets of personality/aptitude/cognition/thinking style traits despite the game being exactly the same and marked against the same norm group.

Honestly some of the results I got on my reports were polar opposites to my December PwC result and I’m struggling to understand how firms think this can be in the least bit accurate when someone’s results can differ so much in the space of less than two months. There’s no possible way my personality and cognitive ability has changed THIS much in such a short space of time.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with Arctic Shores? Really don’t know what to make of it all 😔

Exact same thing happened to me. Took the test years apart and I had forgotten everything about it so it wasn’t like I changed my approach.

Literally the stupidest way of filtering out candidates. Felt like sending my PwC report to
Gowling after they rejected me to ask if my other personality report is good enough haha

 

[corplaw123]

Seeing a lot of people have been invited to AC or rejected by Covington but I'm yet to hear at all. Anyone esle in the same position?

 

[Sophie L]

Addleshaw Goddard VI! I applied for the Manchester office
My first video interview this cycle. If anyone has previously completed the VI, any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Guys I really need to rant about the Arctic Shores game based assessment!!!

I took the test for the PwC vac scheme in December (and was progressed to VI) and took it again today for Taylor Vinters second stage, and I have received two COMPLETELY different sets of personality/aptitude/cognition/thinking style traits despite the game being exactly the same and marked against the same norm group.

Honestly some of the results I got on my reports were polar opposites to my December PwC result and I’m struggling to understand how firms think this can be in the least bit accurate when someone’s results can differ so much in the space of less than two months. There’s no possible way my personality and cognitive ability has changed THIS much in such a short space of time.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with Arctic Shores? Really don’t know what to make of it all 😔

Are you sure it’s the same norm group?

 

[SamTam99]

.

Exact same thing happened to me. Took the test years apart and I had forgotten everything about it so it wasn’t like I changed my approach.

Literally the stupidest way of filtering out candidates. Felt like sending my PwC report to
Gowling after they rejected me to ask if my other personality report is good enough haha

I’m glad it’s not just me, I feel so dejected after it. I really don’t agree with filtering out applicants like this and don’t think it’s fair at all to hardworking candidates. From what I’ve noticed, the results differ every time you take the assessment which, to me, doesn’t bode well for creating a holistic or accurate assessment of someone .

I would honestly rather to a WG because at least then you can somewhat prepare for it and the results are clear and easy to interpret.

 

[E.A]

Anyone else still waiting to hear back from NRF after the 2 weeks wait they emailed us about?! Some people have WG invites, other PFOs. I haven't heard anything and they are not responding to my email either....?! do they ghost? 😯

 

[SamTam99]

Are you sure it’s the same norm group?

Yes pretty sure, the information provided by Arctic Shore said that they use the data from their assessments to compare against a large group who have taken the assessment, in any capacity, in the past with no indication that this varies from firm to firm.

The app used for the assessment is shared by all providers who use Arctic Shores for their assessment (PwC, Taylor Wessing, Taylor Vinters to name a few) with the only way of identifying a candidate being an individual username and password given to you by Arctic Shores themselves. This is obviously different to the WG which is usually set and sent from the firm itself and so can be set against a differing norm group.

Owing to the fact that the game is identical, I don’t really see how/why they would use a different norm group per firm and definitely didn’t get the impression that they did from the information they gave. In any case, I don’t even understand why a different norm group would even have any impact on my personality traits- surely they’re the same whoever I’m compared against?

Feeling a bit confused

 

[Phoenix for all]

I am working on an application that asks "What motivates you? Please support this with an example of where you demonstrated your drive and motivation". As it says "support this with AN example" in the question, I think it is effectively asking what motivates me the most. Or would it be ok to talk about multiple things that motivate me so long as I can illustrate them all in one example?
Keen to get some opinions on this as I am not sure if I can reading too much into the question lol

 

[LegalNim]

I know this is the vac scheme thread and maybe I haven't paid close enough attention, but have people heard anything from direct TC apps to Freshfields? Like a Watson Glaser or AC

I applied on January 7th/8th (can't remember), was invited to a WG on January 21st, completed it January 23rd, deadline was January 24th. Haven't heard an update since.