Open day Interactions.

[Varun S]

Hi Jaysen,

I have never been to an open day for any law firm. However, thanks to Selma, I was able to secure my place at an event being held by Norton Rose (on Artificial Intelligence and meet/greet with grad rec team and trainees)


I dont know how are such events, what do I do there because I won't know anyone there.

I am extremely shy, I have trouble introducing myself to new people, that's perhaps the reason why I avoided any events where I had to go alone. I also know that standing out in the corner of the room won't be making good use of this opportunity.

My question is what did you do at such events, (or rather what would you advise me to do on such events), I am petrified of such interactions.

 

[Jaysen]

Thank you @Selma95 for helping!

I used to dread networking. I didn't know what to say to lawyers or graduate recruitment. In fact, my first open day was also at Clifford Chance. I came very close to leaving because I felt so out of place.

I'm so glad I stayed.

I then went to another open day. And another. I pushed myself to go to as many law firm events as I could in my final year of university. If it was a good one, I would have something to write on my application or talk about during my interview. If it wasn't, then at least I was learning how to network. By the 15th law firm event, it felt natural.

I had a look at the open day you are referring to. It's a similar structure to most: You will watch a talk and then mingle with the speaker, grad recruitment and CC trainees.

If you need to introduce yourself, keep it simple. Shake their hand, try to maintain eye contact, and tell them your name. You can then tell them that you're a student at X university, or that you're working.

Prepare some questions for the trainees -- it should help you to feel nervous and it will give you something to talk about after you introduce yourself. Remember, the trainees are there to help you, not to assess you. Ask them about their seat, how they find CC, where they are looking to qualify next, opportunities for secondments, application tips etc. People like to talk about themselves.

What usually happens at these events is the students will surround the speakers/CC trainees to ask questions. Go with them. If you feel nervous, then you can just listen to the trainees talk. You won't need to ask any questions.

I used to find it helpful to have a drink in hand during networking, but I leave that to you.

Finally, don't be too hard on yourself. You've already taken a great step: securing a place on an open day. If you can introduce yourself to some people, then great. But if need to stand in a corner during the open day, then that's also fine. At least you went. There will be many more open days. And you will find each one a little less scary than the one before.

Any more questions, let me know!

PS: I am introverted. I can tell you that, although it may feel like it sometimes, you definitely don't need to be the loudest person to become a lawyer.

 

[Varun S]

Thank you for breaking down what I should do ! Reading this has made me less nervous !!

No words to say how thankful I am to you for all this.

 

[Jaysen]

My pleasure. Best of luck!

 

[MightyMoe]

I was sooo nervous before my first open day, just like you. But it was honestly fine! I managed to find a couple of people who were also pretty nervous so we tackled the networking together.

Everyone is in the same boat and wants to make a good impression. I think once you're there you'll see it's not too bad.

Assessment centres on the other hand...

 

[P. Dybala]

How do you network...

 

[Coralin96]

How do you network...

https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/threads/how-do-you-network.17/

 

[P. Dybala]

https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/threads/how-do-you-network.17/

OOO ! somebody has asked this exact question.
Thank you Coralin !!

 

[FreddyS]

We both had exactly the same question haha

 

[P. Dybala]

We both had exactly the same question haha

Haha yes ! The word networking is such an unambiguous term which is just thrown around. Good to see I am not the only one who wasnt sure what exactly is networking. Your post helped me somewhat.

Did you end up understanding the term better? any thoughts you can offer me here?

 

[Nky_lawstudent]

Sharing my open day and networking lunch experiences after attending a handful (mostly magic circle and US biglaw)
*however this is not in their london office, instead in another int. city

The rule - its not your fault that you don't find the person you are talking to informative
The trouble I had when I asked questions such as how you find the firm, training in the firm, what do they do, different practice areas or even questions such as legal tech, they tend to give really short answers or they give them with broad descriptions. It has been quite a frustrating experience for me when Im trying to find what is special about the firm, yet was given very broad answers. I started to amend my questions after finding to more open ended ones... hoping they will speak more. However, this sort of works (getting them to talk more, but still not much that is really relevant to making good cover letter) until I met with an A&O trainee, after talking to her and asking different things about the firm practice area, strategy and development, she actually said sth like 'why are you asking me such broad questions, don't you want to know more about the application process' she actually offered her linkedin contact...

So as a rule of thumb, I think do look into their website before going to their open day, don't have to ask really technical questions (bc the person you are talking to might not share similar interest/work in that deal), and be honest with what you want to know. I actually believe how useful/positive you find these networking sessions is more determined by how willing the person you are talking to wants to share, instead of really how well you structure your questions (of course, try to avoid stupid questions such as what do you do).

Last words, if you don't really have a particular question you have in mind, you can maybe join a group i.e. a trainee may be talking to 2-3 people, join them (just find a space next to them and the trainee/associate can notice you), since you are new to the group, they usually just go on with what they can are already talking about, you can just listen to that, instead of going through the trouble and starting a entirely new convo

 

[Vany]

Just came across this thread ! Thank you all for sharing the advice !

I just secured a place to attend the Reed Smith Graduate Open Day taking place this Tuesday 12th (also first Open Day ever...).

Hope I get the most out of my day. Although I already sent a vac scheme application there, I guess any useful information I could use it for the interview and AC.

Best of luck to you all !

 

[Salma]

Just came across this thread ! Thank you all for sharing the advice !

I just secured a place to attend the Reed Smith Graduate Open Day taking place this Tuesday 12th (also first Open Day ever...).

Hope I get the most out of my day. Although I already sent a vac scheme application there, I guess any useful information I could use it for the interview and AC.

Best of luck to you all !

Massive Congrats Vanessa! I hope you enjoy your open day at Reed Smith!

 

[Vany]

Massive Congrats Vanessa! I hope you enjoy your open day at Reed Smith!

Thank you Salma !