Hi everyone! I have been talking to a few people on private messages lately and I know some of you have felt let down by disappointing outcomes in this whole application process. I quite like comparing this to The Apprentice: a truly nerve-wracking process, involving intense competition and requiring so much effort for an uncertain outcome where it sometimes feels that the odds are against you. I felt like I had to share my short story here.
In March 2018, I was finally confident I wanted to become a solicitor and apply for training contracts: I thus started directly applying for training contracts at a number of law firms. And by "a number", I mean 35. Most of you have been here long enough to know my whole approach was a mistake and my applications were indeed so terrible at the time. In September, I got my head back in the game and started spending significantly more time per application, having many people give me advice, reading through this forum and I accepted that going to the pub one less time in the week was a fair sacrifice for my future (but do not feel obliged to do so; keeping a social life is a good way to remain sane!). And that did not work: I sent 8 applications and I received 7 more rejections. At that point, I kept applying because I'm the kind of person who refuses to give up and I would have submitted another hundred of applications before giving up but my hope was gone, in the cemetery of hopes, buried right next to Theresa May's hope for a Brexit deal.
However, you've probably done the maths by now: out of 8 applications, 7 rejections means one firm invited me to take a Watson Glaser test. It was a firm I held in very high regard: I had met them on campus a few times, I knew they were a perfect cultural fit, they offered work I could only dream of doing and they are leaders in many fields. In fact, I liked the firm so much that I had little hope when sending my application: why would they pick mine, the seven-time reject, out of 3900 applicants every year? I had somewhat accepted that my dream firm was not an option and that I would have to settle for less. Yet, here I was, taking a Watson Glaser test for that firm. I had already spent a lot of time practicing for these, so I took it rather quickly. 24 hours later, I was invited to an assessment centre to be held a week later: after so many rejections, I could not let that chance get away, so I locked myself in my room for a week and prepared as hard as I could, trying to focus on that one objective and not be distracted. There is also this one sentence I read on this forum that stuck with me from the moment I was invited to an AC: 'it only takes one.' I swear these four words have stuck with me ever since I read them. I had an amazing day there. And two days later, I got a phone call: you're being offered a place on our vacation scheme. 3 weeks later, I'm walking in, and, fast-forward another two of the most amazing weeks of my life (and probably the most painful wait too), I get a phone call: I'm being offered a training contract by the firm I had no dreams of even getting into for an open day. And at that point, all of a sudden, all these rejections have left my mind and I could not care less that other firms had rejected me (their loss!)
My point is that it is sometimes good to believe in faith: it takes a lot of courage, strength and a bit of luck to get there but I have no doubt that, eventually, you will. Believe in yourselves and remember: it may take more than one assessment centre, more than one Watson Glaser, more than one description of 'a time when you had to face a challenge' but in the end, it will have only taken one. It takes one firm to say yes. If you wanna discuss anything, I'm always happy to answer my private messages but, in the meantime, during this nerve-racking process, try to always keep these words in the back of your mind: it only takes one.