Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!

[Jessica Booker]

Any advice in displaying your disability as something good? Some firms seem to be 'diverse' but it is a sugar coating. Any advice appreciated, whether its wording or how to choose/approach firms

Displaying your disability is something that is a completely personal choice. Many people don’t want to and therefore don’t have to.

It’s quite tricky to give advice on how to word things as disability is such a broad spectrum and such a personal thing. Typically I find those who want to display it do so in a positive manner anyway - they focus on what it has given them rather than what difficulties/obstacles it may have presented along the way. And that can be my only advice more generally - frame it positively rather than negatively.

I feel most firms are not “sugar coating” their diversity - some are actually pretty brutal/upfront about why their diversity is what it is and why they are trying to improve it.

Again it’s difficult to say how you would find firms who are disability “friendly” as that will depend on what is important to you and what metrics you think are better indicators of success. You could look out for organisations that are on the disability confident list. You could look at firms that have Internal disability networks, you could look at firms who partner with other organisations like aspiring Solicitors, EmployAbility, MyPlus Consulting, Scope, Blind in Business etc. You could just find people who work in businesses who are open to discussing their disabilities and get their thoughts views.

Feel free to PM if you want to discuss further about how you would personally frame your disability in an application.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Do you have any advice on what competencies you should prepare examples for? I have seen lists of around a 100! Is it best to look on their website and application to predict what they will ask you?

Look at the individual firm’s website and in particular their advice on how to apply and also the company values. That will typically give you a very strong indicator of what competencies your will be assessed against.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica, I hope I find you well. I was educated outside of the UK and in my home country, the grading system is based on numerals, where 6 is the highest, and 2 is the lowest grade. I just realised that I have been putting down my grades as "6" in my apps but in my actual certificate it is written as "6.00". Do you think that this will be an issue? It is basically the same mark.

no - not an issue at all

 

[Jessica Booker]

"Tell us about responsibilities you have taken on outside of work and/or study."

Just to clarify, would I be able to talk about a society position within university under this question or do I have to provide an example completely separate to work and study?

yes - extra curriculars are fine to mention here

 

[Daniel Boden]

"Tell us about responsibilities you have taken on outside of work and/or study."

Just to clarify, would I be able to talk about a society position within university under this question or do I have to provide an example completely separate to work and study?

Absolutely can talk about a society position! Mention all the great (award-winning!) work you did for Diversity within the Notts LawSoc committee

 

[OB]

Absolutely can talk about a society position! Mention all the great (award-winning!) work you did for Diversity within the Notts LawSoc committee

That’s my answer sorted then

 

[Lastseasonwonder]

Hello,

Do you have any advice for completing the A&O situational judgement test?

I heard that it is best to get a grasp of what A&O looks for in a lawyer/key competencies and try to answer the questions based on these. Is this a good approach? If so, it doesn't seem that A&O have a fixed list of competencies like Linklaters for example - the agile mindset framework - so what do they look for in a lawyer?

 

[JW]

Hi Jessica,

If a firm asks if you know anybody from the firm, is it necessary or beneficial to include people that you have perhaps had brief conversations with on LinkedIn such as for asking for advice? I am not sure whether this would be relevant to mention.

Thanks!

 

[Ashlea]

Hi Jessica, I apologise in advance as this will be quite lengthy and confusing to explain!

I started my degree in 2016 and completed my first year of university, but due to severe depression I took a leave of absence from January 2018 and have only returned to start my second year this September. Rather than return to my former university, I transferred my credits to Open University as I started to work full time as a Litigation Executive. Though I did gain roughly 2 years of experience during my time away from studying once I had become more stable, I am concerned that this gap is quite significant and firms may see this as a downfall. I am wondering if this can be explained in the mitigating circumstances or whether I should use this as a positive factor to explain that I overcame personal problems, then whilst receiving treatment I started to gain experience and now I am working full time whilst studying etc.

In addition to this, though I gained a 2.1 in my studies at first year this was predominately luck I was absent continuously due to my previous issues explained. I am concerned that an academic reference would be difficult to obtain as I was absent a signifiant amount of time, and don't feel that my personal tutor really knew me at all. That being said, I have completed assignments thus far with OU and gained 85%, however I won't receive a full module grade until the end of the academic year. As it is a distance learning course my careers advisor said that my tutor may struggle to provide a reference this early on if required, as I have not been studying long enough for them to comment on this.

I guess what I'm asking is - should I proceed and try to explain all of this or am I clutching at straws? I feel as though my initial problems have complicated my chances but at the same time I do not want to give up.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica, I hope you are doing well! I have a disability which I am not too sure what reasonable adjustment, if any, can be made (I did have special arrangements in place for my uni exams). I'd like to ask if, under this situation, whether I disclose my disability or not will simply be a matter of personal preference? Thank you

disclosing your disability is still a personal preference no matter what it is. However, if you want a reasonable adjustment to the recruitment process then you obviously have to declare it.

Firms can apply a whole range of reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process, in a similar way to what universities do. It depends what your adjustment is though. Extra time, adapted reading material etc are all very feasible. Things like having a scribe won’t be though (because you won’t be able to have that in the work place). Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss this further.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hello,

Do you have any advice for completing the A&O situational judgement test?

I heard that it is best to get a grasp of what A&O looks for in a lawyer/key competencies and try to answer the questions based on these. Is this a good approach? If so, it doesn't seem that A&O have a fixed list of competencies like Linklaters for example - the agile mindset framework - so what do they look for in a lawyer?

A&O values are here: https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/about_us

The SJT will have been designed with those values in mind.

I always advise trying to focus on what is the most efficient way of dealing something while ensuring the best quality outcome. Generally those two principles will give you a good approach to working out what is the right answer.

Also look at the language of the question carefully. How a trainee will respond when they are new to a department would be very different to if they had been in the team for six months.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica,

If a firm asks if you know anybody from the firm, is it necessary or beneficial to include people that you have perhaps had brief conversations with on LinkedIn such as for asking for advice? I am not sure whether this would be relevant to mention.

Thanks!

Yes - fine to list those people. If you can just make it clear how you know them.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica, I apologise in advance as this will be quite lengthy and confusing to explain!

I started my degree in 2016 and completed my first year of university, but due to severe depression I took a leave of absence from January 2018 and have only returned to start my second year this September. Rather than return to my former university, I transferred my credits to Open University as I started to work full time as a Litigation Executive. Though I did gain roughly 2 years of experience during my time away from studying once I had become more stable, I am concerned that this gap is quite significant and firms may see this as a downfall. I am wondering if this can be explained in the mitigating circumstances or whether I should use this as a positive factor to explain that I overcame personal problems, then whilst receiving treatment I started to gain experience and now I am working full time whilst studying etc.

In addition to this, though I gained a 2.1 in my studies at first year this was predominately luck I was absent continuously due to my previous issues explained. I am concerned that an academic reference would be difficult to obtain as I was absent a signifiant amount of time, and don't feel that my personal tutor really knew me at all. That being said, I have completed assignments thus far with OU and gained 85%, however I won't receive a full module grade until the end of the academic year. As it is a distance learning course my careers advisor said that my tutor may struggle to provide a reference this early on if required, as I have not been studying long enough for them to comment on this.

I guess what I'm asking is - should I proceed and try to explain all of this or am I clutching at straws? I feel as though my initial problems have complicated my chances but at the same time I do not want to give up.

You are going to have to explain the time off and the change of course at some point.

It is up to you how you explain the circumstances though and if you want to claim mitigating circumstances (they are mitigating circumstances, so you have every right to).

If you were working full time as a legal executive, then you wouldn’t have to declare the circumstances, as it’s not like you had any time out not doing anything. You could just claim you decided to work full time.

In your situation, the universities would just verify your grades achieved by providing a formal document confirming the grades achieved.

Given the nature of this discussion, feel free to PM me if you want to discuss further.

 

[M1999]

Hi Jessica, I got through to the interview stage for a vac scheme but I just realised there is a typo on this. I’m nervous they’re going to reject me post-interview for this. Is this common or am I in the clear if my application was successful?

 

[Daniel Boden]

Hi Jessica, I got through to the interview stage for a vac scheme but I just realised there is a typo on this. I’m nervous they’re going to reject me post-interview for this. Is this common or am I in the clear if my application was successful?

You're in the clear don't worry. If they were going to reject you for that typo they would have done so already!

 

[Lastseasonwonder]

A&O values are here: https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/about_us

The SJT will have been designed with those values in mind.

I always advise trying to focus on what is the most efficient way of dealing something while ensuring the best quality outcome. Generally those two principles will give you a good approach to working out what is the right answer.

Also look at the language of the question carefully. How a trainee will respond when they are new to a department would be very different to if they had been in the team for six months.

Thanks your for your advice. Is there a practice test that I can have a look at to get an idea of the type of questions.

Also, I just submitted my app for Skadden and was told in the confirmation email that they will be in touch with me AFTER the app deadline - however they review apps on a rolling basis, so I don't understand how that is the case.

 

[castrooo]

Hi @Jessica Booker
I hope you are well! I have two work experience - one is my full-time role as a paralegal that started in February 2020, and the other one is a part-time role as a legal content writer that started in June 2020. Both experiences are ongoing. I am now a bit confused which experience must be inserted first in the 'work experience section' of the application form. I have, in the past, kept my full-time position as my first position in the work experience section due to its full-time nature. However, strictly speaking, should I insert my legal content writer role at the top given that I started it after my full-time role? Thank you

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica, I got through to the interview stage for a vac scheme but I just realised there is a typo on this. I’m nervous they’re going to reject me post-interview for this. Is this common or am I in the clear if my application was successful?

99% of the trainees at Freshfields had some form of error on their application when I was there.

 

[Jessica Booker]

You're in the clear don't worry. If they were going to reject you for that typo they would have done so already!

well they may not have spotted it to be fair, but its unlikely someone would be rejected purely because of a typo by that point anyway.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thanks your for your advice. Is there a practice test that I can have a look at to get an idea of the type of questions.

Also, I just submitted my app for Skadden and was told in the confirmation email that they will be in touch with me AFTER the app deadline - however they review apps on a rolling basis, so I don't understand how that is the case.

There is a sample question for A&O here:

Maybe Skadden have decided to change their approach this year? It may also be the case that they have a "hold" pile meaning they review your app on a rolling basis but that if you are in the hold pile you may not be contacted until all applications have been reviewed.