2020-21 Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion

[Deleted member 8227]

I haven't been in a similar position but judging from the amount of legal work experience you already have, I don't think taking a non-law related job will be detrimental to your applications. I think writing a good app is one of the biggest if not the biggest hurdle when securing a TC so my vote is for taking a job which is slightly more flexible and will give you the time to really throw yourself in the process. There are quite a few people on the forum who work full time while applying @Sebastian Clark @LegalLordLox Hopefully they have some insight on what you can expect with juggling a full time role and apps.

I have been working full time as a paralegal, I would 100% agree with Dheepa regarding finding something more flexible if you can, considering you will be able to highlight those transferable skills anyway when you make your apps.

From my personal experience of having to work full time I found that I lost sight of my goal of getting a TC because I would put my job first. This year I have made sure to do something application related every week even if I am having a busy week by splitting my day up. I work, then take a break to cook and eat and then sit down and do something relating to applications i.e research/attending a Legal Cheek event. I have a habit tracking app called Done, which helps me out with this too.

Thanks for the tag @Dheepa! @SB144 For context I'm currently working full time in Compliance, and I can honestly say the quality of my apps has gone up just by the amount of professional experience I can mention, as well as the commercial awareness I've gained just by being involved in business. That said, you are right - it is hard working full time and applying. I try and make sure I have time off but a lot of my evenings/weekends are spent getting applications off.

I imagine it would be the reverse with a part time retail job - while your experience might not be immediately related to law, you would have more time to spend on writing applications/attending open days etc.

I think it largely depends on a number of things and what you think you're comfortable with - I don't think there's a wrong or a right way, it just depends on your circumstances. For me I took the view my grades weren't exactly glowing, so I needed to make it up with unique professional experience - the more related that was to law/business, the better.

Feel free to dm me if you want to discuss in more detail!

Hello, I might be able to help with this somewhat. I'm currently in full-time employment in an office/professional job whilst also studying full-time and completing TC applications.

In my experience, being able to experience any professional environment first-hand increases your understanding of how businesses work and gives you a nice understanding of general office etiquette. I've found that this experience has helped me when filling out applications as I have a more natural commercial awareness at this point.

I have also had part-time retail jobs whilst applying in the past, and these can be valuable too. You can still learn valuable skills in these positions which you can transfer over to TC applications. Also, as you said...this will give you far more time to attend open days and gain legal work experience. However, from my understanding law firms aren't always looking for legal work experience in particular but the skills learnt from multiple environments.

In my opinion, being able to experience office work before entering a TC with a law firm is beneficial - there are lots of extremely relevant skills you can learn and, for me personally, it's made me feel much more confident about the transition. However, as you said, this isn't without its challenges. It is difficult and the reality is, I don't have an awful lot of free time anymore. It is hard and extremely stressful. I would advise you really think about how much time you're willing to sacrifice and ask yourself if you think you can do it, as opposed to opinions of other people. Be extremely honest with yourself.

If you do make that decision, make sure you plan your week thoroughly. Break things down into manageable chunks and try to negotiate hours that work for you with your employer. I'm sure whatever decision you make will be the right one, but try and weigh up all the pros and cons.

Hope that helped you out. Feel free to DM me at any point if you need any guidance - or just support! ☺️

Thank you all for the amazing advice! I'm going to think over my options and make a decision but this has helped me weigh the pros and cons a lot more.

 

[Jessica Booker]

I have been looking for roles like this but so far I haven't found any that are part-time/flexible

Secure the job and then negotiate, especially if it is only limited time you need off.

 

[LegalLordLox]

Thanks for the tag @Dheepa! @SB144 For context I'm currently working full time in Compliance, and I can honestly say the quality of my apps has gone up just by the amount of professional experience I can mention, as well as the commercial awareness I've gained just by being involved in business. That said, you are right - it is hard working full time and applying. I try and make sure I have time off but a lot of my evenings/weekends are spent getting applications off.

I imagine it would be the reverse with a part time retail job - while your experience might not be immediately related to law, you would have more time to spend on writing applications/attending open days etc.

I think it largely depends on a number of things and what you think you're comfortable with - I don't think there's a wrong or a right way, it just depends on your circumstances. For me I took the view my grades weren't exactly glowing, so I needed to make it up with unique professional experience - the more related that was to law/business, the better.

Feel free to dm me if you want to discuss in more detail!

@Dheepa thanks for tagging me!

@SB144 I think Sebastian has pretty much covered most aspects!

Working in any job that is not law related, will allow you to gain experience that you can add to your applications and boost your commercial awareness at the same time. This will also be a good talking point at interviews when being asked competency based questions (just remember to spin it round to how it’s relevant to the skills required to be a Trainee).

It is definitely difficult to balance, that being said depending on who you work for, as @Sebastian Clark said, you maybe able to balance your working hours. I work for Deloitte and the flexible working request option is amazing! I also receive 40 hours a year for external training.

It is very inportant that you thing about what works for you and how you will be able to manage your time efficiently! Don’t put too much stress on yourself. If you have any further questions, please feel free to DM me.

 

[Andrew M]

thanks a lot! Do you mind if I ask how you know? I haven't seen it on any websites so far....

It's on their grad rec page under "our training contracts, insight schemes and open days" and then "key dates".

 

[cryingoverTCs]

rejection from the AstraZeneca apprenticeship scheme (if anyone is wondering)

 

[John Travoni]

Has anyone heard back from Marriott Harrison yet?

 

[TT98]

Has anyone got a Fieldfisher AC this week, if so, how are you guys preparing for it??

I am a bit confused because I have seen some posts on here saying that their AC for the FF Diversity access scheme has recently been cancelled as places on the scheme are now full. My AC is on Wednesday, I have not received anything to say it's been cancelled

 

[Deleted member 8227]

Secure the job and then negotiate, especially if it is only limited time you need off.

Thank you, I will consider doing this!

 

[Deleted member 8227]

@Dheepa thanks for tagging me!

@SB144 I think Sebastian has pretty much covered most aspects!

Working in any job that is not law related, will allow you to gain experience that you can add to your applications and boost your commercial awareness at the same time. This will also be a good talking point at interviews when being asked competency based questions (just remember to spin it round to how it’s relevant to the skills required to be a Trainee).

It is definitely difficult to balance, that being said depending on who you work for, as @Sebastian Clark said, you maybe able to balance your working hours. I work for Deloitte and the flexible working request option is amazing! I also receive 40 hours a year for external training.

It is very inportant that you thing about what works for you and how you will be able to manage your time efficiently! Don’t put too much stress on yourself. If you have any further questions, please feel free to DM me.

Thank you for the advice, its great to see there are flexible working options out there

 

[cmaj]

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone had any advice about what the best route to take might be. I graduated from law last year and I am planning to make as many applications as possible in this coming cycle but I need work. Should I go for part-time work unrelated to law (e.g. retail) so I have more time for applications and schemes whilst earning money or go for a full-time job in the commercial world whilst still applying for vac schemes?

If I worked retail, I would still try and get experience related to law (e.g. I have a virtual in-house legal internship in the summer and have been attending open days) and I have previously done legal work experience and insight schemes.

I'm worried about not having enough time to write good applications/attend interviews and schemes if I start working full-time but I'm also concerned my application would be weaker if I'm not doing a role that benefits my career. Does anyone who has maybe been in a similar position have any advice?

If I'm honest, my full-time job provided me with the experience to secure three vac schemes this year. I don't think I would've had as much success if I'd gone for a less commercial role. It was very tough with writing applications every evening after work, but it was worth it and also meant that I didn't stress about money or worry about 'wasting a year' if I didn't get anywhere this year

 

[frksch]

What did they say? Did you get invited to AC?

It was an invite to the written exercise which is the step after WG

 

[Deleted member 8227]

If I'm honest, my full-time job provided me with the experience to secure three vac schemes this year. I don't think I would've had as much success if I'd gone for a less commercial role. It was very tough with writing applications every evening after work, but it was worth it and also meant that I didn't stress about money or worry about 'wasting a year' if I didn't get anywhere this year

Congratulations on your three vac schemes! How have you found taking time off for interviews and vac schemes? I'm mainly concerned I wouldn't have time to actually complete the schemes if I worked full time.

 

[Kubed]

Just to add what others have been saying - I'm a career changer and currently work in a commercial but completely unrelated to law job (it's not even based in anything remotely City-related). There are so many transferable skills I could talk about, both in applications and interview. It was intense between September and February - writing applications, attending events and taking annual leave to attend interviews/open days but worth it as I have two vac schemes coming up. It's definitely possible, you just have to ensure you organise your time well. It also forced me to really focus on making high-quality applications (I made 10) rather than churning out loads of rushed applications because I simply didn't have the time to spend time on firms that I wasn't particularly interested in.

 

[jan28]

PFO post Dechert AC! I had a feeling I'd hear back today so I went for a run early in the morning and meditated to calm myself down and prepare for whatever may come and it has really helped. So if anyone's been feeling anxious/stressed out lately, I highly recommend Have a good week all.

 

[Deleted member 8227]

Just to add what others have been saying - I'm a career changer and currently work in a commercial but completely unrelated to law job (it's not even based in anything remotely City-related). There are so many transferable skills I could talk about, both in applications and interview. It was intense between September and February - writing applications, attending events and taking annual leave to attend interviews/open days but worth it as I have two vac schemes coming up. It's definitely possible, you just have to ensure you organise your time well. It also forced me to really focus on making high-quality applications (I made 10) rather than churning out loads of rushed applications because I simply didn't have the time to spend time on firms that I wasn't particularly interested in.

Congratulations on your vac schemes! Have you found your employer is receptive to you taking leave for interviews or schemes?

 

[FM302989]

Congratulations on your vac schemes! Have you found your employer is receptive to you taking leave for interviews or schemes?

From my experience, if you take time off/paid leave that's your own business. The employer shouldn't really be asking what you're doing if you take a half day/day off

 

[Jessica Booker]

Congratulations on your vac schemes! Have you found your employer is receptive to you taking leave for interviews or schemes?

The only time a company will potentially need to know what you need time off for is if you are undertaking other employment and your current terms and conditions of employment mean you have to disclose other employment.

This is much more likely to be an issue in regulated industries (finance, accountancy etc) and also public sector roles, where additional employment often has to be conflict checked/approved.

 

[Han.louise]

Has anyone heard back from Foot Anstey?

 

[Kubed]

Congratulations on your vac schemes! Have you found your employer is receptive to you taking leave for interviews or schemes?

Thanks! Taking leave has not been an issue for me but as Jessica suggested above, this depends on the industry you work in and the T&Cs of your employment.

 

[sm2020]

Does anyone recommend purchasing the WG practice tests from sites like Job Test Prep? Feel like I've completed all the practices online and still struggling!