TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2023-4

[Jessica Booker]

@Jessica Booker hi! I have left this Q to the last moment so Im hoping you get to see this sometime today - when a firm asks 'describe a time you pushed yourself outside of your comfort zone' does this need to be academic or law related? or can I speak about a music performance? is it better if its a recent event?

thanks!

No - doesn’t need to be academic or within a legal setting. I would try to ensure it is fairly recent (say last 2-3 years) to show you have put yourself outside of your comfort zone more recently. It can really be any example but the emphasis pf the answer needs to be on how you explain why the situation was outside of your comfort zone and really putting the detail in the uncomfortable nature of doing that.

 

[lawyerletsgo]

No - doesn’t need to be academic or within a legal setting. I would try to ensure it is fairly recent (say last 2-3 years) to show you have put yourself outside of your comfort zone more recently. It can really be any example but the emphasis pf the answer needs to be on how you explain why the situation was outside of your comfort zone and really putting the detail in the uncomfortable nature of doing that.

thank you so much for your response - i really appreciate this!

I was thinking of focusing on why the situation was uncomfortable, why I chose to do it anyways and what skills I deployed or developed to succeed. is this sensible? is this a competency type Q?

 

[Jessica Booker]

thank you so much for your response - i really appreciate this!

I was thinking of focusing on why the situation was uncomfortable, why I chose to do it anyways and what skills I deployed or developed to succeed. is this sensible? is this a competency type Q?

Yes - this is a very sensible approach to take. It is effectively a competency question as it is asking you to pull upon a previous example of where you have demonstrated something in particular.

 

[sunnyd]

Hi @Jessica Booker, just found out that an assessment centre next week will involve a presentation, but no other information has been given about it - could you please help as to how i should prepare? 😭

 

[legal_student2024]

For anyone who did the Withers test, what were their strength/weakness areas?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker, just found out that an assessment centre next week will involve a presentation, but no other information has been given about it - could you please help as to how i should prepare? 😭

I would stress many of these type of assessments you cannot prepare for as such, and this type of presentation/assessment is probably designed as such so that candidates cannot prepare.

You can consider what makes an effective presentation though. To me, this article is quite useful in explaining what typically makes an effective presentation: https://hbr.org/2020/01/what-it-takes-to-give-a-great-presentation

 

[jplaw1010]

does slaughters recruit on a rolling basis?

 

[KBanana]

@Jessica Booker @Jaysen Hello! I have 2 questions:

1. According to Slaughter's website, a CV should not be more than 2 pages, would mine get overlooked if I condensed it down to 1 page?

2. In my CV, should I state factually what I have done (e.g. "carried out X") or should I also mention the skills that I developed (e.g. "Developed communication skills by carrying out X")? I am a bit worried about repeating myself here and in the 'why me' part of my cover letter, where I discuss the relevant skills I developed from my experiences. However, I also do not know if Slaughter and May uses some AI to scan through the CVs to look for the qualities they listed on their website and if they look at the CVs first rather than the cover letter.

Thank you!

 

[Lawyering13]

@Jessica Booker @Jaysen Hello! I have 2 questions:

1. According to Slaughter's website, a CV should not be more than 2 pages, would mine get overlooked if I condensed it down to 1 page?

2. In my CV, should I state factually what I have done (e.g. "carried out X") or should I also mention the skills that I developed (e.g. "Developed communication skills by carrying out X")? I am a bit worried about repeating myself here and in the 'why me' part of my cover letter, where I discuss the relevant skills I developed from my experiences. However, I also do not know if Slaughter and May uses some AI to scan through the CVs to look for the qualities they listed on their website and if they look at the CVs first rather than the cover letter.

Thank you!

Slaughters explicitly ask you not to state skills as they are able to infer it from your job descriptions. So I would just put “Carried out X, achieved Y results” or something, and do two-three bullet points for each work experience.

 

[studentgrad]

Has anyone heard back from HFW for their direct training contract?

 

[RiverJules]

Anyone heard anything from howard kennedy post VI?

 

[Eeeazyyy8]

Anyone heard back from Dentons or BCLP?

 

[LexNavigator]

Anyone heard back from Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) after the video interview?

 

[BonanzaBih_]

WFW video interview invite, submitted my app yesterday afternoon for anyone wondering.

 

[BonanzaBih_]

Anyone heard back from Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) after the video interview?

Hi, how long do we have to take the test from getting the email?

 

[LexNavigator]

Hi, how long do we have to take the test from getting the email?

Mine was 1 week

 

[kawanm1]

has dentons started sending out rejections / acs?

 

[Jessica Booker]

@Jessica Booker @Jaysen Hello! I have 2 questions:

1. According to Slaughter's website, a CV should not be more than 2 pages, would mine get overlooked if I condensed it down to 1 page?

2. In my CV, should I state factually what I have done (e.g. "carried out X") or should I also mention the skills that I developed (e.g. "Developed communication skills by carrying out X")? I am a bit worried about repeating myself here and in the 'why me' part of my cover letter, where I discuss the relevant skills I developed from my experiences. However, I also do not know if Slaughter and May uses some AI to scan through the CVs to look for the qualities they listed on their website and if they look at the CVs first rather than the cover letter.

Thank you!

1) not a problem if it is only one page - they are just strict on the two page rule and therefore it should not be over this amount

2) from what I have heardabout Slaughter's view on this, you state factual responsibilities, outcomes and achievements. In the vast majority of cases, the person reading your CV will be able to infer the skills if you focus on these aspects.

I am not sure whether the AI point is true/accurate - I'd be super surprised to hear if this is the case. From what I have heard, they review both documents together.

 

[Szofi66]

Has Mayer Brown got back to anyone about the direct TC? shall we expect a PFO at this point?

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Hi @Jessica Booker for "Please use the space below to provide details of any careers events you have attended e.g. insight days, workshops, presentations etc. These do not need to be White & Case specific. (Max. 350 words)", is it better to:

1. Give a long list of events with no explanation to meet the word count
2. Explain 4-5 events in depth to meet the word count
3. mix of 1 & 2?

Thanks in advance.