Hi Harvey, hopefully I'm not too late and will be able to offer some help from my experience.
What kind of questions will I be asked about my CV/cover letter?
My CV questions were incredibly brief. They asked about certain modules I did well in, and others I didn't do well in. If you read the interview experiences on here, and some of the questions written on Glassdoor, you can get a pretty detailed picture of what to expect. I didn't really get any curveballs in regards to my CV, and they didn't even look at my cover letter.
Are they likely to throw curve ball questions?
Only about a third of my interview was spent on my CV. For the rest, my interviewers asked me about a topic I was studying that I found interesting, and I spoke about executive remuneration in publicly listed companies. It just so happens the partner interviewing me was a bit of a specialist in that area, so I was grilled on my commercial awareness on this area. To this extent, I guess you could call this a curveball? The questions weren't super intense, but they were pushing me, and they were trying to get me to think outside of my comfort zone. My advice would just be prepared to talk about something that interests you academically, and have some commercial awareness behind you for that topic too.
Another topic was about Slaughters in general. What sets them out from others etc? That is an answer I think has to be an honest one. So have a really good think about exactly why you want to work for them etc.
How should I prepare for the newspaper article exercise? how would you approach the analysis?
The article will actually come with some instructions about what to do and the things to think about. I just followed those instructions, made some notes with the paper provided, and the exercise wasn't that bad. It was by far the part I was most nervous for, but it ended up going the smoothest.
What is the best way of analyzing the data and putting it together? What headings do you guys use in written excercises? i.e. "cut costs", or "create value", or "potential risks"
From the research I did, some people said they had plenty of time for the task, others felt they were really pushed. I would say if you are fairly clued up on plcs, shareholders, dividends etc etc, it will be fairly straightforward. Getting caught up trying to decipher the lingo could really eat into your time. As you read through it, it will be really obvious the issues they want you to discuss. The way I did it, I wrote down each issue, then went through and picked out everything relevant from the passage and put it under each heading. I then just typed up the client brief, adding in some commercial awareness, writing about the strengths/weaknesses of each idea.
The written task was probably the weakest task I did in terms of performance. I spent too much time on issues I felt strong with, and was quite brief with others I didn't feel so confident with. I would also highly highly recommend finishing after 5ish minutes before the end and proof-reading. I, incredibly stupidly, didn't look at the clock when I started, so I could only guess when the end was going to be. I was then asked in the HR interview whether I had proof read the written task, and felt like a bit of an idiot when I said I "briefly" did so.
Ultimately I think my written task was my undoing. I was so nervous about the partner interview that I don't think I gave it the attention it probably needed to impress.
My last bit of advice (given to me by the trainee giving me the office tour) is that the interview is so much about building a rapport with the partners. Listen to what areas they work in (they will tell you right at the beginning), and try and show curiosity. Looking back, I was incredibly nervous, but it ended up being a really good experience.
Any more questions I'll be happy to help. Hopefully I wasn't too late!
