Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Thank you so much Jaysen!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Agree with Jaysen. I also suspect some people think they have a convincing answer for why commercial law when they don’t! To me a why commercial law answer has to always go one or two steps beyond the initial statement. By this I mean something like the following:

l want to work in commercial law because it is challenging....

So what? Many other careers are challenging and some people won’t find corporate law challenging. Why would it be challenging for you and why do you want a challenging job? Why do you want this challenging job over the others that would also be challenging to you.

For me a commercial law motivational question has to cover:

- why do you want to do the day job
- what day to day responsibilities are you going to enjoy
- why are you willing to commit to the career longer term

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Thank you Jessica. Will keep these points in mind!

 

[IntrepidL]

Guys, can you help me out with a little something here? I feel I am motivated enough for a career in commercial law at a city firm, but whenever I try to frame an answer to questions like "Why law" etc.. , I am not able to make it sound very convincing.
Do all the future trainees on the forum had their answers ready at once without any hassle? Because I have been literally trying to articulate these model answers since so many months of introspection now.

In my answers for 'Why law', I normally answer it in two parts: i) when my interest in law first started and ii) what I did to gain more experience and insight into the legal profession.

I think sometimes emphasising the second part and showing the actionable steps you took to gain more exposure to the legal industry can be quite convincing in showing your motivation for the profession.

 

[Jaysen]

Agree with Jaysen. I also suspect some people think they have a convincing answer for why commercial law when they don’t! To me a why commercial law answer has to always go one or two steps beyond the initial statement. By this I mean something like the following:

l want to work in commercial law because it is challenging....

So what? Many other careers are challenging and some people won’t find corporate law challenging. Why would it be challenging for you and why do you want a challenging job? Why do you want this challenging job over the others that would also be challenging to you.

For me a commercial law motivational question has to cover:

- why do you want to do the day job
- what day to day responsibilities are you going to enjoy
- why are you willing to commit to the career longer term

Agreed - I think many candidates decide they want to pursue a career in commercial law first, and then realise they don't have a convincing explanation for why. They then try to find 'impressive' reasons for wanting to become a commercial lawyer, or adapt someone else's answer and try to apply it to themselves. It's really obvious when you read an application and someone has thought deeply about why they want to become a commercial lawyer. It's unique, based on the candidate's journey and feels authentic.

Even if you already think you have a good answer, I think it's a worthwhile exercise for everyone to take some time out to think deeply about why this is the career you want. As Jess said, keep asking yourself 'so what?' until you push past the surface-level answers.

 

[Camilla]

In my answers for 'Why law', I normally answer it in two parts: i) when my interest in law first started and ii) what I did to gain more experience and insight into the legal profession.

I think sometimes emphasising the second part and showing the actionable steps you took to gain more exposure to the legal industry can be quite convincing in showing your motivation for the profession.

This is the approach I take too.

I also question whether the paragraph would still make sense if I crossed out "commercial law" and replaced it with any other job role like banking/consultancy etc. If it still makes sense, it's probably not specific enough to commercial law.

 

[Alice G]

Love all the advice given in this thread and I hugely agree with it.

I’m always very vocal about the fact my ‘why commercial law’ response took weeks of framing and drafting.

I think the advice from @Jessica Booker about focusing on the day to day job and work is very important.

I tried to make my response a little bit narrative too- I essentially frame much of my response through the framework of my past experience and really try to show them the story of how I got to the conclusion of commercial law. This tends to make the answer really unique and genuine as it’s verifiable and supported by my CV and experiences

 

[LegalNim]

As a teacher, I'm not allowed to take time off at all during term-time. Is this something I should explain as to why I've not attended events with a firm? Does anyone know of opportunities that happen on weekends - everything I've seen has been on weekdays (presumably because grad rec and lawyers like to have their own lives and not just facilitate me haha)?

 

[Jessica Booker]

As a teacher, I'm not allowed to take time off at all during term-time. Is this something I should explain as to why I've not attended events with a firm? Does anyone know of opportunities that happen on weekends - everything I've seen has been on weekdays (presumably because grad rec and lawyers like to have their own lives and not just facilitate me haha)?

some virtual seminars/presentations are happening in the evenings.

Events (even virtually) are highly unlikely to happen at weekends as finding people to man them is exceptionally tricky. CityLawLive moved from a weekend to a Friday for this reason.

 

[Simon Evans]

@Jessica Booker

Jess, what is the etiquette on emailing your interviewers post interview?

Is this something everyone does?

Many thanks.

 

[Jessica Booker]

@Jessica Booker

Jess, what is the etiquette on emailing your interviewers post interview?

Is this something everyone does?

Many thanks.

Not everyone does it (thankfully). You can do it, but I generally only recommend to do so if you have been given the email address of your interviewer. People often email grad Rec with a thank you as they generally have had correspondence from them anyway.

If you do, my advice is keep it very short and simple. Too many people send waffling long emails which are unnecessary. I’d generally avoid also going into any detail about what you thought went well/didn’t either - it very rarely comes across well.

 

[Simon Evans]

Not everyone does it (thankfully). You can do it, but I generally only recommend to do so if you have been given the email address of your interviewer. People often email grad Rec with a thank you as they generally have had correspondence from them anyway.

If you do, my advice is keep it very short and simple. Too many people send waffling long emails which are unnecessary. I’d generally avoid also going into any detail about what you thought went well/didn’t either - it very rarely comes across well.

Thank you.

 

[jam1999]

For this question "Please give a brief summary of any prizes, scholarships, positions of responsibility and any other noteworthy achievements gained at School, University, Law School or in employment." would you answer chronologically or in reverse chronology?

 

[Jessica Booker]

For this question "Please give a brief summary of any prizes, scholarships, positions of responsibility and any other noteworthy achievements gained at School, University, Law School or in employment." would you answer chronologically or in reverse chronology?

doesn’t have to be either - you could list in whatever you thought was most impressive or most relevant. Reverse chronological could work too though

 

[LegalNim]

some virtual seminars/presentations are happening in the evenings.

Events (even virtually) are highly unlikely to happen at weekends as finding people to man them is exceptionally tricky. CityLawLive moved from a weekend to a Friday for this reason.

Thanks - I've already attended a few over the last couple of weeks and have more coming up. Just a shame for me because the open days seems to be full day.

 

[Raluca-Madalina Mardarescu]

Hello,Jessica.I am really stuck with this question.I do not know from where to begin,I braimstored some ideas but it does not seem to work that much."What does exceptional client service look like from a future facing lawyer?" Any advice how to tackle this question?Thank you so much.

 

[LegalNim]

Hi @Jessica Booker, I was wondering whether graduate recruitment see our contextual data or just get some kind of contextual code or number to identify people. I'm not really sure how contextual recruitment actually works other than that it takes into consideration people's background.

 

[TChopeful2021]

Hi Jessica. What does the 'non-rolling' method mean exactly? Will the applications still be viewed as they come in but no offers will be given, or will the firms only view all the applications once the deadline closes?

Additionally, are there any benefits to applying early for firms that operate on a 'non-rolling' basis? I remember seeing a graph which shows the majority of the applications are received very close to the deadline and I wonder if graduate recruitment will be able to dedicate more time to the early applications. Thank you.

 

[Alice G]

Hi Jessica. What does the 'non-rolling' method mean exactly? Will the applications still be viewed as they come in but no offers will be given, or will the firms only view all the applications once the deadline closes?

Additionally, are there any benefits to applying early for firms that operate on a 'non-rolling' basis? I remember seeing a graph which shows the majority of the applications are received very close to the deadline and I wonder if graduate recruitment will be able to dedicate more time to the early applications. Thank you.

Hi there,

I am not sure if this is actually different between firms as I’ve known of firms which say they’re non rolling but do say they’ll look at apps as they come in but won’t make final decisions/make offers, whereas some may have a more strict non-rolling approach where apps are reviewed entirely after the deadline.

In terms of your question about applying early, where there is a non-rolling application I’ve tended to apply quite late, I think I can probably safely say always in the last week. I’ve never personally felt disadvantaged by doing that and have tended to progress to the next stage despite the later submission

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker, I was wondering whether graduate recruitment see our contextual data or just get some kind of contextual code or number to identify people. I'm not really sure how contextual recruitment actually works other than that it takes into consideration people's background.

Every candidate receives a score based on the algorithm, some candidates will also get flagged as having particular disadvantage(s) based on some of the specific questions you are asked to complete too. A candidate can have multiple flags, one flag or none. The flags don’t really identify what they are for, it is just to show specific high levels of disadvantage. Ultimately the higher the score and/or the higher the number of flags, the higher the level of disadvantage the individual is deemed to have experienced.

The recruiter won’t be able to see the specifics of your data entered unless they have a super user access, but even then that isn’t really there to see against individual candidates, that is for reporting reasons.

The recruiter will be able to see your score and the number of flags alongside high level information on your application (typically your name, when you applied, vacancy you have applied to).