TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2023-24

[aspiringm&alawyer]

Quick question - if a firm gives you 2 minutes to answer a VI and you only take almost one minute to answer, is that generally a bad sign? I did that for almost all four questions in my recent VI. I do think the structure and content of my answer were good, it is just the timing that is stressing me out!

 

[Callumw123]

GUIDE TO VIDEO INTERVIEWS:

Video interviews are some of the hardest forms of assessments that you have to face when applying to law firms as it is so hard to understand how to succeed at them. Let me tell you, I had a lot of video interviews last year and struggled to understand how to conduct myself when doing them. It feels very unnatural to talk to a camera for some reason, but I am here to share top tips that might help you feel less nervous:

Treat it as a real interview

I think this is the best advice I’d received when I was applying because it made me feel like the preparation that I was supposed to do was not too different from the real interviews I was preparing for. I think it is important to pretend to be speaking to someone on zoom. In fact, when you do that, you will see how different your performance will be when you speak in front of the camera. You will feel more natural and you will try to impress the viewers as you would with a partner interviewing you. Talking to some graduate recruitment at law fairs made me understand how pretending to be talking to someone was so beneficial and that was something that they recommended heavily.

Do your research on the video interview

As for real interviews, you want to tackle the process as prepared as possible. A way to feel like you know what you are getting yourself into is reaching out to people who have done the same video interviews who can share their experiences on them. When I was preparing for my video interviews, I found it really helpful to reach out to people who were future trainees at the firm or did the scheme at the firm to hear their perspectives and their experiences. More often than not they will share more tangible and effective tips you can work on!

Prepare your answers to the potential questions

There are a list of questions online that video interviews might include such as: why did you decide to be a lawyer? Why this firm? Why commercial law? what are the skills of a successful trainee? These are some of the most typical ones. What I used to do is preparing a concise answer for each question so that if it came up, I knew exactly what to say. This will save you a lot of time for other video interviews you might get along the application cycle so do not lose your answers!

Be succinct with every sentence!

This tip is fundamental. It is important for you to be mindful of the fact that most of the time the video interview will have a time limit of 1 to 3 minutes and so there is no much time to actually answer the question in the most exhaustive way. This means that being succinct and going straight to the point will be key. If you have to mention a list of reasons as to why you want to join the firm for example, pick a couple, describe them and link them back to your experience in a couple of sentences and move on to the next reason and do the same. You do not want to list a lot of reasons but not being able to describe them. Here, less is more.

Dress to impress

This goes hand in hand with the ‘treat it as a real interview’ tip. Since you have to pretend to be speaking to a partner or a member of graduate recruitment, I would dress the part too. This will allow you to feel very confident and secure in yourself, and it will also make you look professional. It is important for you to dress to impress and show your professionalism on the screen.

Bring the energy to the video!

One thing that a lot of people forget to put in the video interviews is their own selves!! I was advised to smile a lot and make the viewer engage with the recording as it will feel more genuine and exciting to look at. You basically have to pretend to be a youtuber and be extremely confident in front of the camera, that is how I see it! What I did to practice being comfortable in front of the camera is recording myself answering why I wanted to be a lawyer and why I was applying to that firm. It was massively helpful to analyse how people would perceive me whilst watching me answering these answers and I was also able to understand how to change my intonation when speaking and what to put more emphasis on.

I hope these tips are helpful to everyone and I hope you have success in your application journeys!

Thank you very much for these tips! I was offered my first ever VI today for Bird & Bird and I was wondering how you might make the most of your preparation time if you are given a question that throws you off?

 

[ayiiii05]

Sorry to hear that but it sounds like you’ve got a great mindset! Do you mind me asking when you applied?

I applied on the 24th of Jan!

 

[latome19]

Any news from Latham today for those who have done their AC?

 

[Seven]

Baker McKenzie VI!

 

[crt1s]

Baker McKenzie VI!

Same, congrats!

 

[yeezyee]

Baker Mckenzie VI!! goddamn my emails are popping off this week!

 

[Untilwinter]

Feel like im expecting a wave of pfo and assessment invites tomorrow. Fingers crossed

Nev mind. It was Tuesday.
Took a nap and woke up to two invites and Pfo

 

[ayiiii05]

I was listening to a podcast the other day and the girl was like "you should be excited to get all these no's because youre one step closer to getting that YES" and I mean in principle, its great thinking but I was jus sitting there in my bed after getting rejected post ac like


View attachment 5722

but in principle its a great mentality to have fr, these pfos won't stop u!!

Hahaha I completely get it! The no's are always going to hurt but having a positive look on things makes things easier, I'm not saying I always think positively though, the Bakers rejection got to me cause why were they so quick to reject me and I thought my app was good as well 😭

 

[ayiiii05]

Just received an AC invite from Simmons which I am so shocked about😭 If anyone has any tips please let me know as it's my first ever AC!

 

[jesslawapps]

I’ve just received an invite for an AC but it clashes with another one I have ! How do I go about letting the firm know it clashes; do I specify I can’t make it because of another AC or be more vague?

 

[desperateTCseeker1998]

Anyone got a milbank post AC rejection yet?

 

[B.B.]

Baker McKenzie VI!!

 

[legallybrunette1]

Just received an AC invite from Simmons which I am so shocked about😭 If anyone has any tips please let me know as it's my first ever AC!

Brush up on your general business understanding! I did an AC for Hogan Lovells last year and for the case study I had to talk about the issues facing the stakeholders etc of a particular business. The whole thing stressed me out so much that I took knowing what a stakeholder is as a win 🤣. But seriously, brush up on business key terms and commercial news stories and you'll be fine - confidence is the big thing. Congrats and good luck!

 

[191919191]

i'm about to cry, Baker Mckenzie post-test PFO....

 

[JLaw56]

Anyone heard from Cleary? I applied

do they send an email or call? When did they let u know?

they sent an email 6 days ago

 

[Cherikon]

For firms that offer virtual internships (and you mentioned that you completed them in work experience), will they check the work you submitted?

 

[ayiiii05]

Brush up on your general business understanding! I did an AC for Hogan Lovells last year and for the case study I had to talk about the issues facing the stakeholders etc of a particular business. The whole thing stressed me out so much that I took knowing what a stakeholder is as a win 🤣. But seriously, brush up on business key terms and commercial news stories and you'll be fine - confidence is the big thing. Congrats and good luck!

Thank you, that's going to help me so much!

 

[mfuturetrainee]

Just received an AC invite from Simmons which I am so shocked about😭 If anyone has any tips please let me know as it's my first ever AC!

see, your positive thinking does pay off <333 I'd say make sure you have an understanding of law firms as businesses, how do they retain clients, also what tasks trainees do and their role, GOOD LUCK

 

[Tamaranou]

Sidley Austin PFO post app :/