well I asked the grad Rec and they told me that they’re still reviewing apps so we should hear back with a response (within 2 weeks), or worst beginning of April, this is what grad Rec told me at the AC imagine looool.
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TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
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If anyone applied to Pinsent Masons and passed the initial application stage, or was eventually successful, can you please PM me!
@people who have ACs at Freshfields or people who get v high Watson Glaser percentiles -- would anyone be willing to share how you do well? I've done the free online practices and seen the thread on TCLA but its just not quite working. Wondering if anyone has any particularly helpful resources? Would be much appreciated. hope everyone's well.
Not sure if it's still available (perhaps worth asking), but TCLA premium used to have a Watson Glaser video masterclass that absolutely saved my life last year! It broke down each question into a specific type and helped focus in on what was really being asked. I think the course was only about 30-45 minutes in total and it helped me get through the WG at Freshfields, Dentons and a few other places. Would highly recommend if you are like me and naturally struggle with WG tests!
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I found it tough. Not necessarily content wise but I felt like they were really grilling me and it made me second-guess my answers. Guess we'll see!
Jessica Booker
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That is pretty standard. It is in part to see whether you can see things from different perspectives and partly to see if you can both concede/hold points when necessary. Plus they like to see how far they can take your thinking when you are on the right track.
For those people who think their article interview is easy, they are either phenomenal at that type of assessment or they are over confident!
Hello everyone,
I have an assessment centre coming up and a large part of the day is dedicated to a Q&A. I want to be able to ask a question to take part but everything I think of can be answered by researching the firm.
I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for interesting / perceptive questions to ask in these type of exercises?
Thanks!
I have an assessment centre coming up and a large part of the day is dedicated to a Q&A. I want to be able to ask a question to take part but everything I think of can be answered by researching the firm.
I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for interesting / perceptive questions to ask in these type of exercises?
Thanks!
Jessica Booker
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Graduate Recruitment
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- Aug 1, 2019
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Not everything needs to be factual - you could be asking for people's opinions or experiences about the things that are important to you or important for you to find out more about.
Hi - not sure if this might be useful, but I found it really helpful to tailor my questions to the person I was asking! For example, I always asked grad recruitment what fictional character the firm in question might be, because it allowed me to get a perspective on how they viewed the firm and also what the firm was trying to highlight about itself. (According to grad recruitment Freshfields is Cinderella and Stephenson Harwood is dead set on being Sherlock Holmes, if you happen to be interested in Disney or classic detective novels) 😂
Obviously, sort of question might come across as little frivolous in an associate/partner Q&A!
I usually asked about key challenges that they had overcome during their careers, reasons they had transferred to (or trained at) the firm, or even long-term challenges that they thought my intake of trainees would have to overcome. I ended up getting some fantastic answers about changes in international client-bases, difficulties with NQ retention, and challenges with client-communication that the partners were facing in their daily work. Your interview time with a partner is really valuable to improving yourself as a candidate- these sorts of answers really helped me get a pulse on how the legal industry is shifting and gave me a better idea of what I might face as a trainee.
(If you're feeling exceptionally bold near the end of a one-to-one interview, you can ask the ultimate useful question- whether the partner thinks you personally would fit into/contribute to the firm, but this might be out of place if the interview style isn't particularly casual/conversational.)
Also, in my own experience of a large group Q&A exercise, really clever-sounding technical questions (ie. questions about percentage shifts in interest rates, LIBOR etc.) tended to come across as slightly out of place and over-studied, so unless you have a specific reason for wanting to know something technical I would avoid that sort of thing.
Best of luck on your AC- I'm sure you'll be brilliant!
Found it challenging for sure but enjoyable, was definitely pushed also. It felt best when I had a solid view that I could defend but there were definitely occasions where they questioned my view with other alternatives, some of which I accepted because I thought they were ultimately better ideas. I'm not sure if conceding an idea counts against you, but where possible I explained why I liked their alternative theory and it made sense.
Very tough to gauge how these things go, but I think if you feel stretched then it is always a good sign that they have bothered to challenge you and that you were discussing concepts complex enough to invite challenge.
Long wait until hearing back presumably...
I kind of felt the same - it some areas it felt more like a q&a though about every paragraph in the article so they would ask me a question on paragraph x and when i answered they just said ‘yep let’s move on’ :/ it made me feel like I didn’t do very well because they weren’t deeply quizzing me or really allowing me to expand in a lot of areas but who knows! i Think the earliest we’ll hear back is next week but likely to be a lot longer 😫
For sure very easy to overthink on reflection and assume the worst - I'm sure they had certain things they were looking for so perhaps if they moved on they they felt that you had grasped the point and justified your opinion.
It's a long wait! I'm not sure what the offer rate is after you've been invited to AC with them? In any case best of luck!
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