Update:
As you may have seen in other parts of the forum, I was offered a Direct TC interview with
Slaughter and May, which they moved up by 5 months to allow me to make a decision between them and NRF. I was initally uncertain about taking them up on this offer, but with help from the forum, I decided to go for it. Without further ado, here is my experience:
Initial impressions
Slaughter and May is a little further away from a station than NRF, but after looking at a map I had my route planned out and got there fairly easily and in plenty of time. I had read about highlighting and writing on tasks given throughout the day, so I had brought a bag with me containing a few pens, highlighters, and a notebook. When I got there, however, they asked to take everything from me and store it away. It turns out, they provide a highlighter, pen, and notepad. At least I was prepared! The receptionist was lovely and showed me to a comfortable seating area on the first floor.
Writing Task
The interview started with a writing task. I was brought to the room by one of the Trainee Recruitment team and they showed me the task. I don't know if this is because I already have a TC lined up, but I really enjoyed this task. It wasn't very complicated, but it was time pressured. Luckily I had read about this, so I planned my time as well as I could. It was quite similar to the case study exercise I had during my AC for NRF's WVS. Essentially, there were a few documents outlining potential business plans for a company, and using the information provided, you had to decide which option was the best. I'm sure I could have written a more polished answer, but there really wasn't any time to proof read.
Article
After my time was up for the written exercise, I was taking back to the seating area and given an article to read. It was an opinion piece from The Independent on whether politics belonged on social media. It was actually a really interesting article and didn't have a lot to do with business or law firms. This could be because I was doing a non-law interview, or it could have been for no particular reason at all. It said on the instructions that I should have about 15 minutes to read through, but in reality it was more like 25 minutes.
Interview
My interview was with two partners, one from Financing and one from Corporate and M&A, who had both trained at the firm. I thought it was pretty impressive that they had stayed there for so long! To me that is a really good sign that there is a positive culture within the firm. I really enjoyed this part of the process. Although I was asked a lot of questions about my CV and Cover Letter, it felt quite conversational. I also had an ethics question which we discussed in a lot of detail before we realised we were getting a bit carried away and running out of time! Before anyone has a panic, the ethics question only came up because of my answer to another question where I stated that this ethical and legal dilemma that I had come across during university, had sparked my interest in a legal career. NRF had also picked up on this point and quizzed me on it during that interview, so I felt pretty prepared for that line of questioning.
In the latter stages of the interview, we moved onto discussing the article. It was useful that I had made some notes for this stage as a lot of time had passed from when I initially read the article. Once I had summarised the article and highlighted a few key points, I was asked my opinion on it. From this point, the interview reflected my experience at NRF with the partners helping to guide me to a different points of view. I didn't change my opinion, but I did have to adapt it based on the information given to me by the partners. Again, I really enjoyed this process. I enjoyed being pushed and challenged and I loved talking to the partners. The interview overran by about 10 minutes, which I'm hoping is a good sign.
Trainee Chat
This part wasn't assessed, but it was one of the most important parts of the day for me. I wish it could have been a bit longer so I could have seen a bit more of the firm, but I was still able to get the information I wanted. The trainee was so lovely and really open to answering my questions as openly as possible. An ex-partner at
Slaughter and May had told me that I should choose the firm where I could work with the people into the early hours of the morning. As my exposure to the people of the firm has not been as extensive as my exposure to those at NRF, I wanted to really utilise this experience to gather information about the type of person who works at the firm.
HR Chat
This was by far my least favourite part of the day. I had read in other experiences that this was the most relaxed part of the day and the questions asked were fairly simple. I agree with the latter part of this. Perhaps it was because I already have a TC offer, but I did not find it relaxing at all! After the mental stimulation of the rest of the day, I found it really boring. Usually I don't have to work too hard at looking excited because usually I'm pretty thrilled to be at that stage of a recruitment process. This time I had to try exceptionally hard to seem at all interested and I found it really draining. I'm not sure this counts in my favour, but hopefully I feigned excitement well enough. It was a one sided conversation, kind of like the telephone interview with NRF, but with an actual person sitting in front of me. They would ask a question, then I would have to wait as they finished typing up my answer. I can understand how it may be relaxing if the rest of your day was stressful, but I loved the rest of the day!
Overall, I'm glad I went to the interview. Regardless of the outcome, I will never have to wonder "what if?" again. I feel like I will be able to make an informed decision about where to sign if I am lucky enough to secure the TC at
Slaughter and May as well. If not, I have an offer at an absolute dream of a firm already! I cannot believe how fortunate I am to be in this position.
Thanks for following my journey!