My journey to a TC :)

[lawful_neutral216]

Hi all,

My accountability thread is very delayed but better late than never I guess! I am delighted to have secured the TCLA scholarship and I think it’s a really helpful idea to post regular updates about my journey to hopefully secure vacations schemes/TCs. I graduated with a Scots law degree this summer from the University of Edinburgh, and I am now starting a full time business development job next week onwards.

After my graduation in July, I had been looking for paralegal roles as well and also interviewed for one, however I was unable to secure anything and decided that for the meantime it would be a good idea to take up the business role I was offered and develop my transferable skills! Last application cycle, I was unsuccessful at 2 ACs and some video interviews which had me absolutely gutted, so I am really hoping to improve my interviewing and application writing skills in general for this cycle.

My plan for this thread is to update it every three days and track my progress. For the next couple of days, I plan on doing the following:

- Complete 2 ongoing Forage internships
- Complete TCLA's 'Write Law Firm Applications that lead to interviews' course
- Start with TCLA's 'Develop your commercial awareness: how to think commercially' course
- Start drafting VS apps for two firms

I think my goals aren't specific enough for now but I'm hoping to make them more SMART as I keep on updating this thread!

 

[Jaysen]

Hi all,

My accountability thread is very delayed but better late than never I guess! I am delighted to have secured the TCLA scholarship and I think it’s a really helpful idea to post regular updates about my journey to hopefully secure vacations schemes/TCs. I graduated with a Scots law degree this summer from the University of Edinburgh, and I am now starting a full time business development job next week onwards.

After my graduation in July, I had been looking for paralegal roles as well and also interviewed for one, however I was unable to secure anything and decided that for the meantime it would be a good idea to take up the business role I was offered and develop my transferable skills! Last application cycle, I was unsuccessful at 2 ACs and some video interviews which had me absolutely gutted, so I am really hoping to improve my interviewing and application writing skills in general for this cycle.

My plan for this thread is to update it every three days and track my progress. For the next couple of days, I plan on doing the following:

- Complete 2 ongoing Forage internships
- Complete TCLA's 'Write Law Firm Applications that lead to interviews' course
- Start with TCLA's 'Develop your commercial awareness: how to think commercially' course
- Start drafting VS apps for two firms

I think my goals aren't specific enough for now but I'm hoping to make them more SMART as I keep on updating this thread!

Thanks for the update @lawful_neutral216. I appreciate it can be challenging to balance law firm applications while you are working full time. I would say there is a benefit to securing a non-paralegal role, particularly one that is related to business/finance. It can be interesting to discuss your role and draw upon the transferable skills to commercial law.

If you do have limited time to spend, right now, you might want to consider prioritising writing those applications first and coming back to the Forage internships/courses. Just my personal perspective on what may get you closer to your goals.

 

[AvniD]

Hi all,

My accountability thread is very delayed but better late than never I guess! I am delighted to have secured the TCLA scholarship and I think it’s a really helpful idea to post regular updates about my journey to hopefully secure vacations schemes/TCs. I graduated with a Scots law degree this summer from the University of Edinburgh, and I am now starting a full time business development job next week onwards.

After my graduation in July, I had been looking for paralegal roles as well and also interviewed for one, however I was unable to secure anything and decided that for the meantime it would be a good idea to take up the business role I was offered and develop my transferable skills! Last application cycle, I was unsuccessful at 2 ACs and some video interviews which had me absolutely gutted, so I am really hoping to improve my interviewing and application writing skills in general for this cycle.

My plan for this thread is to update it every three days and track my progress. For the next couple of days, I plan on doing the following:

- Complete 2 ongoing Forage internships
- Complete TCLA's 'Write Law Firm Applications that lead to interviews' course
- Start with TCLA's 'Develop your commercial awareness: how to think commercially' course
- Start drafting VS apps for two firms

I think my goals aren't specific enough for now but I'm hoping to make them more SMART as I keep on updating this thread!

Hi @lawful_neutral216! It's great to see how you've outlined your goals for this week- I really do hope you keep checking in with your progress and updating us on how you're going! How have you found the TCLA courses so far? I am also linking a couple of posts I've made on VIs and speaking skills that I hope will help with your interviews- let me know what you think about them!

 

[lawful_neutral216]

Back with an update on my progress! Thank you for the advice @Jaysen and @AvniD! I do get Jaysen's point regarding prioritising my time to draft applications first. I started my new job yesterday, so I will have to be as efficient as possible with my time. As for a quick update on my progress from last week:

- I completed the 'Write Law Firm Applications that lead to interviews' course and it was really helpful. I feel a bit more confident now drafting my answers for vac scheme applications!
- I completed one of my Forage internships, was unable to complete the other one.
- I have started to draft answers for Bakers and Travers Smith, and planning to hone out the answers and submit by the end of this week.

My goals for the remaining week are as follows:

- Finish off the two written applications I have started
- Start practicing for VIs using TCLA's question bank and other resources on here. I would really like to record myself and practice answering questions because last cycle I would not be as confident and as a result fumble a lot while answering the one sided questions. Hopefully I can do better this time around!
- Complete at least 50% of the 'Develop your commercial awareness: how to think commercially' course.

Hope everybody is having a lovely week! I'll be back with another update at the end of this week

 

[AvniD]

Back with an update on my progress! Thank you for the advice @Jaysen and @AvniD! I do get Jaysen's point regarding prioritising my time to draft applications first. I started my new job yesterday, so I will have to be as efficient as possible with my time. As for a quick update on my progress from last week:

- I completed the 'Write Law Firm Applications that lead to interviews' course and it was really helpful. I feel a bit more confident now drafting my answers for vac scheme applications!
- I completed one of my Forage internships, was unable to complete the other one.
- I have started to draft answers for Bakers and Travers Smith, and planning to hone out the answers and submit by the end of this week.

My goals for the remaining week are as follows:

- Finish off the two written applications I have started
- Start practicing for VIs using TCLA's question bank and other resources on here. I would really like to record myself and practice answering questions because last cycle I would not be as confident and as a result fumble a lot while answering the one sided questions. Hopefully I can do better this time around!
- Complete at least 50% of the 'Develop your commercial awareness: how to think commercially' course.

Hope everybody is having a lovely week! I'll be back with another update at the end of this week

Well done @lawful_neutral216 and congratulations on starting your new job! You may find that you need to tweak the way you make applications and schedule the work around it while working full time. I hope you allow yourself some wiggle room and treat yourself with kindness as you figure this out!

How are you feeling about your application answers so far? Do you think they're well researched, pointed? If you haven't already, I'd highly suggest getting another pair of eyes to look them over so that you can be sure that your answers are received the way you're intending them to.

I also hope my VI post helps you as plan your practice sessions! You've got this 💪