I secured a training contract!

taneshS

Star Member
Future Trainee
Feb 26, 2018
25
34
I just wanted to say thank you for all the guides/helpful advice/application reviews from the team and everyone on this site. I found out yesterday that I was offered a training contract following an assessment centre and I'm so so over the moon!! I have been applying for training contracts for five years!

This website in general has by far been the most helpful resource in helping me to prepare and I'm not sure if I would have been able to do it this year if it weren't for finding this place!
 

taneshS

Star Member
Future Trainee
Feb 26, 2018
25
34
That is so great to hear !!! Just one thing ...You have been applying for ..5 YEARS???????????? If you dont me asking ...why did it take you 5 years??

Sadly yes so you can imagine why I'm so relieved right now!

At the application stage, nitiallyi I thought it was because my grades weren't great and I' m sure that was definitely a reason. But I came to realise it was much more about how I was writing my applications. If you could see the differences in my applications from even last year you wouldn't believe it was from the same person!

I also kept falling down at the interview stage. The feedback I got varied but it was mostly about a mixture of nerves and falling down on my commercial awareness. It took me a loong time to build that up!
 
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Jai C.

Esteemed Member
May 15, 2018
76
65
This is such a great story !! It gives me so much hope and inspiration to not give up.

5 years must have taught you a lot - Any pieces of advice on how did you perfect your interview process, your application process and commercial awareness? I

I think we will all benefit from your insights on how you achieved this (if its not too much trouble)
 
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Jaysen

Founder, TCLA
Staff member
TCLA Moderator
Gold Member
Premium Member
M&A Bootcamp
  • Feb 17, 2018
    4,723
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    I just wanted to say thank you for all the guides/helpful advice/application reviews from the team and everyone on this site. I found out yesterday that I was offered a training contract following an assessment centre and I'm so so over the moon!! I have been applying for training contracts for five years!

    This website in general has by far been the most helpful resource in helping me to prepare and I'm not sure if I would have been able to do it this year if it weren't for finding this place!

    I'm delighted to hear that Tanesh. I've no doubt the determination you've shown over the last few years will take you very far.

    Please stay in touch!
     
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    taneshS

    Star Member
    Future Trainee
    Feb 26, 2018
    25
    34
    This is such a great story !! It gives me so much hope and inspiration to not give up.

    5 years must have taught you a lot - Any pieces of advice on how did you perfect your interview process, your application process and commercial awareness? I

    I think we will all benefit from your insights on how you achieved this (if its not too much trouble)

    Of course!

    Interview - I don't think I've perfected the process but I did get better and less nervous at interviews. After an interview, I used to write down all the questions I was asked whilst it was still fresh in my mind and after a while I had a big list of questions. I wrote down practice answers for all of them and would rehearse my answers during the day. THis was really helpful when it came to the interview as a lot of the questions I had already rehearsed (but I tried to make it sound natural in the interview).

    Commercial Awareness - this one took a long time and it's only something I think I've got better at recently. I used to get caught out because I only had a very superficial knowledge of business topics.and when they asked a few follow up questions about a business issue that I had mentioned, they could easily see I was waffling and didn't really know it well at all. To improve this, I tried to read through business news and google everything I didn't understand - so things like bonds, how acquisitions work, security etc. I then worked my way up from a very basic level until I started to understand.

    Application: I think I was doing a lot of things wrong here. I would say first it's better to answer a question with less examples and more detail than the other way around - I had a habit of listing a lot of experiences in some of the extra-curricular questions and it wasn't very structured, just pick a few so you have the space to expand on what you did and what you achieved. Second when tailoring your application, don't forget to focus on why a law firm interests you. I used to be good at describing a law firm in detail, but I always forgot to tailor it back to myself.

    I hope that helps!
     

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