Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!

[Lastseasonwonder]

Hi @Jessica Booker,

I hope this message finds you well.

I have a query about one of HSF's application questions: 'What skills, qualities and attributes would you bring to the role?'

Of course I would have to state the skill then back it up from my experience. However, would I then need to justify the skill - basically would I need to say why the skill is important to the trainee role (at HSF)?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hello @Jessica Booker!

Hope you are well.

I just wanted ask whether you would include Forage virtual work experience programmes in the answer to this question: "Please use the space below to provide details of any careers events you have attended e.g. insight days, workshops, presentations, virtual events etc. This is a great way to demonstrate your interest and commitment to law; these do not need to be Weil specific."

Thank you very much!

Yes, I would include those in this section.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker,

I hope this message finds you well.

I have a query about one of HSF's application questions: 'What skills, qualities and attributes would you bring to the role?'

Of course I would have to state the skill then back it up from my experience. However, would I then need to justify the skill - basically would I need to say why the skill is important to the trainee role (at HSF)?

Yes, you’ll need to reference the relevance or importance to the role of a trainee. If you can link it back to HSF too, then great but I think that is less necessary to make explicitly clear. You may want to look at HSF’s values or the aspects they look for in a candidate and try to link these to your own skills/attributes/qualities (and put it in your own words rather than theirs).

 

[Lastseasonwonder]

Yes, you’ll need to reference the relevance or importance to the role of a trainee. If you can link it back to HSF too, then great but I think that is less necessary to make explicitly clear. You may want to look at HSF’s values or the aspects they look for in a candidate and try to link these to your own skills/attributes/qualities (and put it in your own words rather than theirs).

Thanks a lot for clarifying - makes much more sense now!

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Hello @Jessica Booker hope you are doing well. Could you please tell me if we should capitalise "airlines industry", "non-banking financial corporation" and "pensions and gratuity" in a work experience entry. My apologies but I could not find it in the guide that you had linked in one of your answers that day.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hello @Jessica Booker hope you are doing well. Could you please tell me if we should capitalise "airlines industry", "non-banking financial corporation" and "pensions and gratuity" in a work experience entry. My apologies but I could not find it in the guide that you had linked in one of your answers that day.

Thanks in advance.

No need to capitalise it unless it is in a job title heading or you are using it as a proper noun (eg an event title).

 

[Casual]

Hello @Jessica Booker.

Pinsent Masons application states the following:

If you are applying for a position based outside the UK, it is mandatory that you upload your CV and cover letter here. If you are applying for a UK-based position, you may wish to attach your CV if you feel it contains information about you which is not currently included in your responses and is relevant to the role.

Am I correct in thinking there is no need for a cover letter if I am applying for a UK-based position? Also would you suggest attaching CV in this case?

Thank you.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hello @Jessica Booker.

Pinsent Masons application states the following:


Am I correct in thinking there is no need for a cover letter if I am applying for a UK-based position? Also would you suggest attaching CV in this case?

Thank you.

There is no requirement to include a CV or cover letter for a U.K. role. As it states, the only reason to upload a CV or cover letter is if you feel it is going to provide additional necessary information to support your application that you haven’t been able to provide elsewhere in the online application. The vast majority of people will not apply with a CV or cover letter though.

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Hello @Jessica Booker hope you are doing well. For the Linklaters Direct TC route, we can only put 3 work ex entries and one of them has to be a legal work ex entry. For the other two work ex entries, should I go with one legal and one non-legal or should I go with two non-legal entries since I meet the threshold of one legal work ex entry? Do more legal internships make an application stronger when they only ask for three of them?

Thanks

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hello @Jessica Booker hope you are doing well. For the Linklaters Direct TC route, we can only put 3 work ex entries and one of them has to be a legal work ex entry. For the other two work ex entries, should I go with one legal and one non-legal or should I go with two non-legal entries since I meet the threshold of one legal work ex entry? Do more legal internships make an application stronger when they only ask for three of them?

Thanks

You should go with your three best - it doesn’t really matter whether they are law or not. Think about how long you did them for, the complexity of them and which ones really developed your skill set the most and choose your best three examples based on these criteria.

 

[IceFloe]

Hi @Jessica Booker! When following up on the outcome of an AC at a US firm, is it more appropriate to email or call grad rec? Or should I just be patient and wait for them to get in touch?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker! When following up on the outcome of an AC at a US firm, is it more appropriate to email or call grad rec? Or should I just be patient and wait for them to get in touch?

It depends how long you have been waiting and how that aligns to when they said they would get back to you (if they told you this at the AC).

How long have you been waiting since your AC?

 

[IceFloe]

It depends how long you have been waiting and how that aligns to when they said they would get back to you (if they told you this at the AC).

How long have you been waiting since your AC?

They didn't specify when or how they'd be in touch. I had my AC last Friday, so it's only been a couple working days. One future trainee I spoke to said they had waited around a week and a half to hear back, so it would probably be wise to just sit tight, I guess?

 

[Jessica Booker]

They didn't specify when or how they'd be in touch. I had my AC last Friday, so it's only been a couple working days. One future trainee I spoke to said they had waited around a week and a half to hear back, so it would probably be wise to just sit tight, I guess?

Yes - I’d sit tight for another week if it was me. Maybe follow up on Wednesday next week if you haven’t heard back by then. A phone call will be fine, and then if you don’t get through to someone try email instead.

 

[aspiring_solicitor]

what books should I read as a person who knows very little about financial markets in order to increase my commercial awareness and apply to US firms who usually have private equity as a major practice area.

 

[Jessica Booker]

what books should I read as a person who knows very little about financial markets in order to increase my commercial awareness and apply to US firms who usually have private equity as a major practice area.

I am probably the least commercially aware person I know, so I won’t be best placed to answer this. I am tagging in @Jaysen @George Maxwell , @James Carrabino , @Dheepa and @AvniD who might have some recommendations for you!

I know everyone talks about the Chris Stoakes books but I am not sure which ones are the most relevant/up to date for PE information specifically.

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

what books should I read as a person who knows very little about financial markets in order to increase my commercial awareness and apply to US firms who usually have private equity as a major practice area.

Stoakes has two books. One is on the financial markets and is called "All You Need to Know About the City". The other is on commercial awareness and is called "All You Need to Know About Commercial Awareness". Both are really informative.

For Private Equity, you can either go for https://www.coursera.org/learn/private-equity or the TCLA course on PE taught by Arun. I have done both and I can definitely say that the TCLA course is worth it plus it goes over the role of lawyers in a PE transaction whereas the Coursera course will go over PE dealmaking without specifically going over the role of lawyers.

Neither of Stoakes' books explains PE.

 

[aspiring_solicitor]

Stoakes has two books. One is on the financial markets and is called "All You Need to Know About the City". The other is on commercial awareness and is called "All You Need to Know About Commercial Awareness". Both are really informative.

For Private Equity, you can either go for https://www.coursera.org/learn/private-equity or the TCLA course on PE taught by Arun. I have done both and I can definitely say that the TCLA course is worth it plus it goes over the role of lawyers in a PE transaction whereas the Coursera course will go over PE dealmaking without specifically going over the role of lawyers.

Neither of Stoakes' books explains PE.

Thank you so much, I will order these two books and do you recommend something else regarding financial markets or how should I make myself more commercially aware and clear my basics too?

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Thank you so much, I will order these two books and do you recommend something else regarding financial markets or how should I make myself more commercially aware and clear my basics too?

I've also read Jake Schogger's book and it was great too but if you already have the TCLA Premium courses you can skip it. I've tried looking for the best resources to build my CA and so far I've tried a number of websites and podcasts. It depends on how much time you have during the day to be honest. Even if you have a lot of time, I just feel that spending an hour daily on CA is probably not a good idea which is why I did subscribe to a number of resources but stopped going through them midway. If you want to be up to date yet want to do it quickly, you can read Little Law (daily newsletter) + Morning Brew (a newsletter again) + TCLA newsletter (every wednesday) and I think that'd be enough. Doing all these things shouldn't take you more than 15-20 minutes daily. By the way I'm not a future trainee, that isn't my TCLA badge but my username so you might want to take my advice with a pinch of salt.

 

[Dheepa]

what books should I read as a person who knows very little about financial markets in order to increase my commercial awareness and apply to US firms who usually have private equity as a major practice area.

Hello! I agree with everything @futuretraineesolicitor has said about the TCLA course on PE (this thing saved me before my own interview with a PE focused US firm) and the Jake Schogger book. Christopher Stoakes Commercial Awareness and All You Need to Know about the City books also provide some good breakdowns of financial terms and how quite a few financial products work. If PE is your focus, read the annual report Bain Capital comes out with every year (not page to page of course) but it'll give you a great insight into trends