Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!

[Jessica Booker]

Hello @Jessica Booker hope you are doing well. Quick question please, when the interviewees ask someone what they feel the role of a trainee is, how good an idea is reciting tasks from
https://ukgraduates.shearman.com/2017/06/29/what-do-trainee-solicitors-do-top-50-tasks/
the above link?

Thank you.

No - you never recite anything in an interview.

It needs to be your analysis and your words. The key part of this question is "what YOU feel the role of a trainee is".

If you recite things, it will just sound like you are reciting things. No one wants that.

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

No - you never recite anything in an interview.

It needs to be your analysis and your words. The key part of this question is "what YOU feel the role of a trainee is".

If you recite things, it will just sound like you are reciting things. No one wants that.

Thank you for this. I guess the same piece of advice will apply to the question " What do you think you will do on the vacation scheme"? I mean, it won't be advisable to say everything that you've ever read on the tasks on the scheme? Correct?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thank you for this. I guess the same piece of advice will apply to the question " What do you think you will do on the vacation scheme"? I mean, it won't be advisable to say everything that you've ever read on the tasks on the scheme? Correct?

It will apply to any question.

Law firms don't want a parrot. They want your analysis/your opinion - you wouldn't do every task every vacation scheme student has ever done. Thats going to vary from practice areas, from type of firms, to how capable you are - literally thousands of different variables.

That's why it needs your analysis not your ability to recite what someone else once wrote on the topic.

 

[Keren]

@Jessica Booker

I was wondering if you could give me some guidance as to how I should approach "please provides examples that demonstrate you are a talented person who produces consistent high quality work"//what you would expect a candidate to include in their answer?

I have refrained from posting on here until now... I've been stuck on this for a while and it is holding back my application!

High quality work is entirely subjective and it is throwing me off...

I'm also unsure as to whether the STAR approach would be relevant here and whether simple examples like achieving distinctions in all my LPC modules or helping piano students achieve distinctions in their exams are worth talking about/relevant.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jessica Booker]

@Jessica Booker

I was wondering if you could give me some guidance as to how I should approach "please provides examples that demonstrate you are a talented person who produces consistent high quality work"//what you would expect a candidate to include in their answer?

I have refrained from posting on here until now... I've been stuck on this for a while and it is holding back my application!

High quality work is entirely subjective and it is throwing me off...

I'm also unsure as to whether the STAR approach would be relevant here and whether simple examples like achieving distinctions in all my LPC modules or helping piano students achieve distinctions in their exams are worth talking about/relevant.

Thanks in advance!

I think the key here is “examples” rather than “an example”

It’s not a trick question though, and pretty much anything in an application is subjective....

Just focus on any examples that you think meet the criteria - that applies to your talents/strengths but also demonstrates your ability to deliver high quality work consistency.

It can come from any examples. The two you have listed sound like they fit the answer perfectly. I am sure you might even have more

Given you have to list multiple examples, you can use STAR , but you don’t really need to go heavy on the A part (which you would normally do with a one example answer).

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

No - you never recite anything in an interview.

It needs to be your analysis and your words. The key part of this question is "what YOU feel the role of a trainee is".

If you recite things, it will just sound like you are reciting things. No one wants that.

Totally understand this point but feel like if I am too generic with such questions, I will miss out on the opportunity to showcase that I have researched each and every thing in great depth. How can we strike a balance here? If I were to tackle the question "What would be the role of a trainee" - how can I impress without reciting the actual task list?
Please help @Jessica Booker

 

[Jessica Booker]

Totally understand this point but feel like if I am too generic with such questions, I will miss out on the opportunity to showcase that I have researched each and every thing in great depth. How can we strike a balance here? If I were to tackle the question "What would be the role of a trainee" - how can I impress without reciting the actual task list?
Please help @Jessica Booker

you’ll be generic if you recite articles.

As I said earlier, it’s about you putting your analysis on it.

I doubt many firms would even ask this question to be honest though

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

you’ll be generic if you recite articles.

As I said earlier, it’s about you putting your analysis on it.

I doubt many firms would even ask this question to be honest though

Thank you so much. Got it.

 

[Keren]

I think the key here is “examples” rather than “an example”

It’s not a trick question though, and pretty much anything in an application is subjective....

Just focus on any examples that you think meet the criteria - that applies to your talents/strengths but also demonstrates your ability to deliver high quality work consistency.

It can come from any examples. The two you have listed sound like they fit the answer perfectly. I am sure you might even have more

Given you have to list multiple examples, you can use STAR , but you don’t really need to go heavy on the A part (which you would normally do with a one example answer).

Thanks @Jessica Booker, you have put my mind at ease!

A few final questions, I hope you don't mind...

- Would it be wrong if I listed three examples separately (using the STAR approach for each?);

- Under "Action", should I explain the process I followed to make sure I produced high quality work (e.g. managed my time/made a check list/checked complex documents before submitting them etc etc or is that not particularly relevant?); and

- Should I explain what made my work high in quality (e.g. I helped my piano students achieve distinctions in their exams as every lesson contained content that was challenging and engaging (etc)// I produced six complex documents in the space of two months that were high in quality as they were precise, clear, grammatically correct (etc)?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thanks @Jessica Booker, you have put my mind at ease!

A few final questions, I hope you don't mind...

- Would it be wrong if I listed three examples separately (using the STAR approach for each?);

- Under "Action", should I explain the process I followed to make sure I produced high quality work (e.g. managed my time/made a check list/checked complex documents before submitting them etc etc or is that not particularly relevant?); and

- Should I explain what made my work high in quality (e.g. I helped my piano students achieve distinctions in their exams as every lesson contained content that was challenging and engaging (etc)// I produced six complex documents in the space of two months that were high in quality as they were precise, clear, grammatically correct (etc)?

1) no - that’s fine

2) if you have the word count to, yes

3) you should make clear how the outcomes were of high quality (the result)

 

[Keren]

1) no - that’s fine

2) if you have the word count to, yes

3) you should make clear how the outcomes were of high quality (the result)

Thank you!!!

 

[Jen E C]

you’ll be generic if you recite articles.

As I said earlier, it’s about you putting your analysis on it.

I doubt many firms would even ask this question to be honest though

I attended 3 interviews this year and was asked it in two of them interestingly.

 

[Jessica Booker]

I attended 3 interviews this year and was asked it in two of them interestingly.

it’s a god awful question to ask, especially at that stage of the process.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thank you very much for your reply! May I just confirm that this also applies to situations where there is no application portal and that all correspondence between the Grad Rec team and I is made through emails? Thanks a lot again

Yes - unfortunately so.

 

[33c]

I have just been invited to a firm's virtual Open Day next Wednesday which runs from 11-4. However, I have a virtual academic commitment between 2-3 which cannot be changed. @Jessica Booker I was wondering if it would be inappropriate for me to ask the grad rec team if I can leave the open day between 2-3 considering it is online? I would understand if they said no and would give my place away to someone who could attend for the entire day but I really want to hear more about the firm!

 

[Jessica Booker]

I have just been invited to a firm's virtual Open Day next Wednesday which runs from 11-4. However, I have a virtual academic commitment between 2-3 which cannot be changed. @Jessica Booker I was wondering if it would be inappropriate for me to ask the grad rec team if I can leave the open day between 2-3 considering it is online? I would understand if they said no and would give my place away to someone who could attend for the entire day but I really want to hear more about the firm!

I don’t think they would give your place away. There is absolutely no harm is telling them and see what they say. If they are really trying to get you to prioritise them over your academics, then more fool them.

 

[33c]

I don’t think they would give your place away. There is absolutely no harm is telling them and see what they say. If they are really trying to get you to prioritise them over your academics, then more fool them.

I don’t think they would give your place away. There is absolutely no harm is telling them and see what they say. If they are really trying to get you to prioritise them over your academics, then more fool them.

Thanks Jessica!

 

[A friendly human]

and another question... (sorry!!)

do firms that have cover letters that do not have a specified word count still expect you to keep them short enough to fit on one page of A4? so would anything above 600-650 words be discounted? or are you free to go over to say 700 or 800 words if you have lots of reasons on why the firm

thank you in advance!!

 

[Jessica Booker]

and another question... (sorry!!)

do firms that have cover letters that do not have a specified word count still expect you to keep them short enough to fit on one page of A4? so would anything above 600-650 words be discounted? or are you free to go over to say 700 or 800 words if you have lots of reasons on why the firm

thank you in advance!!

Try and keep it to a page, rather than a word count. It can be just over a page, but should definitely not be more than a page an a half.

 

[Tushar]

Hi @Jessica Booker! Since our college was cut short due to the lockdown, and some placements got missing, I started working for a research division of Indian ministry of corporate affairs. Presently, it's a hiring freeze for Freshers in India, as far as decent law firms are concerned.

Do you think me taking up this research associate position with the ministry would disadvantage me when applying later for a TC? I'm asking because there's no client work as such, just research and drafting, as opposed to a firm, where it is predominantly client focused

Thanks in advance!