TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2022-23

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Lily721

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    Hi @Jessica Booker . If the work experience section of an application form does not set a word limit for each entry, how long should I keep my answers? I was going to use my work experience entries from another application which were 150 words each, but not sure if I should expand my answers given there is no word limit.
     

    Jessica Booker

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    Hi @Jessica Booker . If the work experience section of an application form does not set a word limit for each entry, how long should I keep my answers? I was going to use my work experience entries from another application which were 150 words each, but not sure if I should expand my answers given there is no word limit.
    Firstly, I would think about it across entries rather than just singular ones. If you have a lot of different experiences, then you’ll want to keep the entries generally shorter as collectively there will be much more to read through. If you have fewer experiences, you might want a little more detail. Basically you want to get the balance between providing enough relevant detail to sell your experiences without it becoming too long to read your work experience in total.

    It also depends on the experience itself though. A couple of days work shadowing may only need 60-80 words, while a paralegal role that you have done for a year where you have had varied responsibilities might need more like 250-300 words.
     

    Lily721

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    Firstly, I would think about it across entries rather than just singular ones. If you have a lot of different experiences, then you’ll want to keep the entries generally shorter as collectively there will be much more to read through. If you have fewer experiences, you might want a little more detail. Basically you want to get the balance between providing enough relevant detail to sell your experiences without it becoming too long to read your work experience in total.

    It also depends on the experience itself though. A couple of days work shadowing may only need 60-80 words, while a paralegal role that you have done for a year where you have had varied responsibilities might need more like 250-300 words.

    Thanks, @Jessica Booker. So in this case where I have quite a few experiences to note, I shouldn't worry about having different length of entries for each (provided I don't go to either extreme)?
     

    Jessica Booker

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    Thanks, @Jessica Booker. So in this case where I have quite a few experiences to note, I shouldn't worry about having different length of entries for each (provided I don't go to either extreme)?
    Then you’ll want to make sure your entries are more concise as there will be more to read through. Any substantial experiences can go into more detail/utilise more word count though.
     

    Lily721

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    Then you’ll want to make sure your entries are more concise as there will be more to read through. Any substantial experiences can go into more detail/utilise more word count though.
    Thanks @Jessica Booker - that's noted! Sorry, final question on this - would you recommend the same approach with applications that have a 250 word limit for the work experience section i.e. should I use the full word count for all of my experiences, bearing in mind that I have 8-9 experience to add?
     

    Jessica Booker

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    Thanks @Jessica Booker - that's noted! Sorry, final question on this - would you recommend the same approach with applications that have a 250 word limit for the work experience section i.e. should I use the full word count for all of my experiences, bearing in mind that I have 8-9 experience to add?
    It depends on the experiences. Are they all substantial work experiences with varied responsibilities and/or over a long period of time?

    It’s likely that a one may need the full word count, others might not.

    Try to think about your experiences as a whole and also how they fit into the application as a whole. Do you really want your reader to skim read 2000-2500 words and then the rest of your application, or do you want them to read most of what you write?
     

    Ghassen

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    Oct 24, 2022
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    If a firm has 31 TCs and recruits 50% of trainees through direct TC, 50% from vac scheme and there’re 55 vac schemers, does that mean that the conversion rate from VS to TC is (25%)? I’m wondering about Macfarlanes specifically.

    @Jessica Booker any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thanks!
    @Jessica Booker Can you give your thoughts on this if you don't mind ? Knowing that they recruit 33 for the TC I guess, not 31, and there are 3 schemes.
     

    Lily721

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  • Oct 7, 2020
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    It depends on the experiences. Are they all substantial work experiences with varied responsibilities and/or over a long period of time?

    It’s likely that a one may need the full word count, others might not.

    Try to think about your experiences as a whole and also how they fit into the application as a whole. Do you really want your reader to skim read 2000-2500 words and then the rest of your application, or do you want them to read most of what you write?

    Thank you @Jessica Booker - that makes sense. I won't try to lengthen my answers to 250 words for the less substantial experiences that I don't have that much to say about.
     

    refy

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    Mar 19, 2021
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    If a firm has 31 TCs and recruits 50% of trainees through direct TC, 50% from vac scheme and there’re 55 vac schemers, does that mean that the conversion rate from VS to TC is (25%)? I’m wondering about Macfarlanes specifically.

    @Jessica Booker any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thanks!
    Yes, I'd say you're right on average - of course it would fluctuate based on ability on the vac scheme though, might be the case that more people perform well on the vac scheme one year, and not many on another.
     

    UnTCSilVousPlait

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  • Oct 4, 2021
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