Hogan Lovells application

[Sophie Bell]

Can anyone provide some insight on the following HL application questions:
1. We are a global firm that works together with mutual respect and collegiality. Describe a time when you have enjoyed collaborating with people from different cultures and backgrounds or with different personalities. What made the experience so enjoyable?

2. We set our standards high, and we trust our people to hold themselves accountable for meeting other people’s expectations. Describe a time when you had to drop everything and really “raise your game” in order to keep a promise you had made to someone else. How did you manage both this and your other commitments?

3. Sustaining a successful and profitable practice requires both commercial awareness and innovative thinking. Tell us about something that you have done that shows you have a strong innovative or entrepreneurial spirit.

More specifically what are they looking for?? Q1 is straight forward enough but a little less sure on 2 and 3.

 

[Hazal]

Personally, I would approach them all with the STAR method. (see here)

Each one sounds like a very specific competency question so they're not too different from "tell us about a time you worked in a team", for example. Instead, they outline the exact strength/s they're looking for. So for q2, they want to see where you went above and beyond and gave exceptional effort. Q3 specifically wants innovative thinking or entrepreneurialism. Something like a time when you came up with a different kind of solution to a problem or where you did something that required a lot of proactive work (where entrepreneurial comes in), such as leading a society. Your job is to choose the best example you have, even if it's in your personal life and has no relevance to work or academics, and really sell how you used those strengths. STAR should help you with that.

Let me know if you need me to clarify anything I've just said

 

[Sophie Bell]

My problem with Q2 is that it is very bitty for example it's asking to demonstrate:
- high standards
- meeting expectations
- 'dropping everything'
- “raise your game”
- keeping a promise?
- time management

I have examples that would work but wouldn't necessarily tick every box

 

[Jaysen]

My problem with Q2 is that it is very bitty for example it's asking to demonstrate:
- high standards
- meeting expectations
- 'dropping everything'
- “raise your game”
- keeping a promise?
- time management

I have examples that would work but wouldn't necessarily tick every box

While important, the first sentence is just an explanation about why the competencies matter for the firm, so focus instead on demonstrating the competencies in the actual question i.e. focus on a time when you a) had to drop everything and b) went above and beyond to meet a promise. You do also need to show c) how you had to balance it with your other commitments, but I wouldn't say it's necessary to choosing your example.