Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!

[Alice G]

Hi again Jessica, and thanks again for taking the time to answer our questions!

On this forum, I previously asked whether it was a good idea to accept a vac scheme I had secured before I know about the outcome of an application with a preferred firm. I was told to accept the offer and renege if necessary, but I'd appreciate your take on this. Furthermore, do you think it would be all right for me to just call the HR person at the firm whose response I'm awaiting and ask them what the outcome was?

Thanks!

I had a friend who was in a similar boat to this last cycle and they were able to just speak with the second firm and asked for different vacation scheme dates to the ones they had expressed an interest in on the form and they were accommodating (i.e. asked to do summer rather than spring). If there are no alternatives and the dates truly clash entirely, it may be sadly you do need to renege but as @Jessica Booker has said, this does happen but it will just mean you are making what will ultimately be quite a final choice on your choice between the two at that stage.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thank you! How common is something like this and would it put me at a major disadvantage? Are they fairly used to this happening or will it be severely frowned upon?

Disadvantage with whom?

Yes it happens a lot with firms. There are 50-70 firms running summer programmes in London alone each year and they will clash.

Recruitment teams are used to people reneging.

But if you renege that shows to the firm you are reneging on that they are not your preference and that you would clearly choose another firm over them. So that makes them question why they should consider you again for a future scheme, when you turned them down.

 

[B1806]

I had a friend who was in a similar boat to this last cycle and they were able to just speak with the second firm and asked for different vacation scheme dates to the ones they had expressed an interest in on the form and they were accommodating (i.e. asked to do summer rather than spring). If there are no alternatives and the dates truly clash entirely, it may be sadly you do need to renege but as @Jessica Booker has said, this does happen but it will just mean you are making what will ultimately be quite a final choice on your choice between the two at that stage.

Thank you! I suppose that's a bridge I'll cross when I get to it.

Disadvantage with whom?

Yes it happens a lot with firms. There are 50-70 firms running summer programmes in London alone each year and they will clash.

Recruitment teams are used to people reneging.

But if you renege that shows to the firm you are reneging on that they are not your preference and that you would clearly choose another firm over them. So that makes them question why they should consider you again for a future scheme, when you turned them down.

I meant a disadvantage with the firm I would be reneging on. But at this point, I've accepted the offer anyways. Thank you so much again!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thank you! I suppose that's a bridge I'll cross when I get to it.


I meant a disadvantage with the firm I would be reneging on. But at this point, I've accepted the offer anyways. Thank you so much again!

Yes - you will be at a disadvantage. Remember you are the one turning them down!

 

[Victoria R]

Hi Jessica - sorry if this is a bit of a silly question, but what exactly is meant by 'blind recruitment'? I have an AC coming up for a firm with a blind recruitment process, does this mean the interviewing partner and graduate recruiter won't have access to my application?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica - sorry if this is a bit of a silly question, but what exactly is meant by 'blind recruitment'? I have an AC coming up for a firm with a blind recruitment process, does this mean the interviewing partner and graduate recruiter won't have access to my application?

Typically yes, this means the person assessing you should have no knowledge about you or your application.

However, it’s worthwhile clarifying with the firm or with other people going through the process. Sometimes just certain information is “blind” such as your school, and university - it’s not all blind, but is enough for the employer to claim it to be. The assessor could have information like your motivational answer a to why you have applied to the firm, but may not have access to the “factual” stuff like where you have studied, what you have studied and the grades you obtained.

 

[Victoria R]

Typically yes, this means the person assessing you should have no knowledge about you or your application.

However, it’s worthwhile clarifying with the firm or with other people going through the process. Sometimes just certain information is “blind” such as your school, and university - it’s not all blind, but is enough for the employer to claim it to be. The assessor could have information like your motivational answer a to why you have applied to the firm, but may not have access to the “factual” stuff like where you have studied, what you have studied and the grades you obtained.

Thanks so much, makes complete sense!

 

[Anna W]

Hi Jessica! Sorry this might be a dumb question but I have a question regarding how to input grades. For the past two years, my university has given us grades that have been rounded to one decimal place. Most applications won't let me input grades that aren't whole numbers so I've been rounding up/ down my grades. I just re-read one of my applications and they really stressed that our grades should be inputted exactly as they are on our transcript and now I'm concerned my inputted grades won't line up with my transcript grades.

 

[Penelope]

Hi Jessica, is it common for recruitment agencies to get involved with graduate recruitment? I have spoken with an agency a few times about different paralegal roles and they have just contacted me encouraging me to apply for a vacation scheme. I have to apply directly to the firm but they have given guidance and said they will highlight my name to the firm directly. Is this common/legitimate?

 

[Veep9]

Hi @Jessica Booker, you may have seen all the confusion about Reed Smith. Some of us sent in answers to their research questions over December. Yesterday some people received an email saying “we’re reviewing applications and will be in touch re AC soon” and others got “please send in your research answers by end of this week”.

It is a little worrying that, even if I were to resend my answers now, they would be looked at later than others. I tried ring Grad Recruitment and her voicemail greeting gave me her mobile number. Do you think it would be okay to call? I don’t know whether that’s overstepping and I’m also worried about overreacting (this may just be a tech glitch, although you’d think with the number of people frantically resending their answers overnight, they would have sent a calming/clarifying email around today).

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica! Sorry this might be a dumb question but I have a question regarding how to input grades. For the past two years, my university has given us grades that have been rounded to one decimal place. Most applications won't let me input grades that aren't whole numbers so I've been rounding up/ down my grades. I just re-read one of my applications and they really stressed that our grades should be inputted exactly as they are on our transcript and now I'm concerned my inputted grades won't line up with my transcript grades.

Rounding up or down is fine and common - - I wouldn’t worry about this.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica, is it common for recruitment agencies to get involved with graduate recruitment? I have spoken with an agency a few times about different paralegal roles and they have just contacted me encouraging me to apply for a vacation scheme. I have to apply directly to the firm but they have given guidance and said they will highlight my name to the firm directly. Is this common/legitimate?

It will be legitimate but, no it’s not really that common.

If the firm is new(er) to the market or has more immediate TC opportunities (eg 2021/2022 intakes) that the vacation scheme would feed into, then they may use an agency to promote it as an agency is more likely to have people who ha e completed the LPC on their books.

The recruitment agency may also just be really quiet at the moment given how rubbish the job market it at the moment, and might be trying to throw in some free/additional services to the firm. Promoting a vac scheme would be an easy way to do this.

 

[Penelope]

It will be legitimate but, no it’s not really that common.

If the firm is new(er) to the market or has more immediate TC opportunities (eg 2021/2022 intakes) that the vacation scheme would feed into, then they may use an agency to promote it as an agency is more likely to have people who ha e completed the LPC on their books.

The recruitment agency may also just be really quiet at the moment given how rubbish the job market it at the moment, and might be trying to throw in some free/additional services to the firm. Promoting a vac scheme would be an easy way to do this.

Thanks Jessica! The firm isn't particularly new to the market and the VS is for 2023 intake. I also haven't done the LPC yet

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thanks Jessica! The firm isn't particularly new to the market and the VS is for 2023 intake. I also haven't done the LPC yet

Probably just throwing in some free services to the law firm then. Really wouldn’t worry about it if it is a recognised recruitment agency.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica, I hope you are well! If I use the 'supplementary information' function on apply4law to add new information to applications that I submitted quite a while ago (approx 1 month), is it likely that graduate recruitment teams will still check to view the latest updates (considering how busy they already are)? Thank you

Don’t know how likely it is, but might as well as it surely? No harm in doing so.

 

[Law1099]

Hi Jessica,

I recently completed a VI but I had a technical difficulty, they reset my VI but they didn’t actually reset it so I can answer the questions. So my faulty VI was the one that was submitted even though the questions weren’t answered. I emailed yesterday & left a message on voicemail today to alert them that they have not set the VI properly- but there hasn’t been any response yet and I’m getting worried they won’t see it and will mark my incomplete video interview & reject me on the basis of that. I don’t want to bombard them with any more emails, is there anything more I can do to bring attention to the issue? I sent the email to the person who signed the email and the firm’s general grad Rec email address, but no reply from either as of yet.

 

[pbyrne]

Hi Jessica, I was wondering if it's alright not to include employment information when it says 'optional' and all my employment history is in my CV which is a mandatory part of the application? That section is also in green whereas the parts that are mandatory that I haven't completed are in red, so I'm assuming it's ok but just wanted to check. Thanks!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica,

I recently completed a VI but I had a technical difficulty, they reset my VI but they didn’t actually reset it so I can answer the questions. So my faulty VI was the one that was submitted even though the questions weren’t answered. I emailed yesterday & left a message on voicemail today to alert them that they have not set the VI properly- but there hasn’t been any response yet and I’m getting worried they won’t see it and will mark my incomplete video interview & reject me on the basis of that. I don’t want to bombard them with any more emails, is there anything more I can do to bring attention to the issue? I sent the email to the person who signed the email and the firm’s general grad Rec email address, but no reply from either as of yet.

Call them around lunchtime if you haven’t heard back.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica, I was wondering if it's alright not to include employment information when it says 'optional' and all my employment history is in my CV which is a mandatory part of the application? That section is also in green whereas the parts that are mandatory that I haven't completed are in red, so I'm assuming it's ok but just wanted to check. Thanks!

It’s only optional as people may not have employment to include. Personally I would include it, even if you are also submitting a CV.

 

[pbyrne]

It’s only optional as people may not have employment to include. Personally I would include it, even if you are also submitting a CV.

Ok I'll do that. Thanks!