After 6-7 years of work in the visual effects industry, I have decided to make the leap into a career in law. I want something a lot more mentally rewarding and impactful and law takes the cake for me.
I am on an upward learning curve with all the applications and tests but have yet to be successful to get through to any interviews/video interviews, etc. I'm not sure where I am going wrong at this point, whether my answers are too generic, even with mentioning specific deals and catering my answers to align with a firm's ethos and values or whether I've just applied too late within a cycle or just sheer dumb luck.
Anyone (especially from a similar background) able to chat or offer some advice?
Hi
@apap033 the primary reason why I think people do not get past the applications stage is that they do not write a high enough number of high quality applications.
To tackle the first bit, as you probably know, commercial law applications are incredibly competitive; for MC and US firms having anything between a 1:100 to 1:200 applicant per TC spot ratio. At the same time, while there are objective factors to assess the quality of an application and the strength of a candidate's profile, recruiters often have to make difficult choices between strong candidates withs strong applications. This inevitably introduces an element of subjective evaluative judgement. Putting the two together, you get a system where the vast majority of candidates (including many strong candidates) are rejected and which also makes the fine margins of progression be partially dependent on luck (whether the subjective preference of the recruiter vis a vis weigh of different factors favors or disfavors you). Thus, to maximize your chances, you want to submit as many applications as possible. Of course, the exact number you can do will depend on other commitments, practice area/sector interests, pace of writing and research etc.; but most successful applicants I know make between 20-40 applications per cycle.
Secondly, you need to write objectively high-quality applications. Ideally, you can read over some past successful applications to understand what model writing looks like; and what would be even better is to get some experienced people to review yours. There are many factors relevant for what makes an application strong, but I have quoted bellow a post with a non-exhaustive list of questions you can ask yourself to test that:
In terms of generally applicable questions, a few I would list are:
- Am I answering every question in such a complete, persuasive and clear manner that I would find no issues with it, even if I reviewed it with a purpose of finding as many inadequacies as possible?
- Is my style of writing formal enough that it could be published in a Reuters or Financial Times article?
- Is my structure and writing clear enough that a normal person would get every point I am making on a quick read/skim?
- Is my use of language so concise that there is no possibility of expressing my ideas with a better word per added value ratio? Am I sure there aren't any phrases and words that I could cut while keeping the essential information there?
- Am I linking my main motivations with examples of experiences?
- Am I being very specific when describing the nature of my motivations and the activities in my experiences?
- Am I using a STAR structure when describing my main experiences?
- Am I demonstrating the relevance of my experiences and skills by making plausible connections to the role and responsibilities of a trainee at the firm I am applying at?
Finally, try to improve your commercial awareness and to attend as many law firm events as possible. Last year, I used to dedicate between 10-15 hours per week on that. Make as much use as possible of the advantages of online resources (for commercial awareness - podcasts; for firms - online events) and leverage moments in the day you cannot use for other productive activities (ie you can listen to a podcast while commuting). As time passes this will improve your understanding of commercial law and law firms and will be significantly increase your chances of getting a TC.
