TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2023-24

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axelbeugre

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My Application Summary Credits: @Legalstalker
FYI: a mixture of winter, spring and summer vacation schemes + a few direct TCs
  • Total applications this cycle ~ 47
  • Rejections post app: ~ 10
  • Rejections post 1st or 2nd stage: ~20
  • Awaiting to hear from: ~15
  • SJT/VI’s still to do: 1
  • AC's this cycle: 2
  • VS offers: 1 (Spring)
  • Latest rejection: Goodwin
  • Hardest rejection: Gowling WLG (I attended their whole webinar series!!!)
  • Easiest rejection: Weightmans (I didn’t want to move up North anyway)
  • Ghosted me: Stephenson Harwood, EY and Freeths
  • Best Grad Recruitment: Baker McKenzie, Paul Hastings and Ropes & Gray
  • Tedious Application Process: EY (I wouldn’t apply again)
  • If I had converted my first AC, I would have done only 3 applications
  • If I had converted my second AC I would have only done 10 applications
  • If I had converted my third, fourth or fifth AC, I would have done 22 applications
This is such an amazing way to keep others informed of your progress but also to show how hard it is to just get one offer, I can totally relate to this.

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences as I think they will inspire, motivate and encourage others for future cycles.

Congratulations for obtaining a vacation scheme offer and I encourage you to keep working extremely hard and I am sure you will succeed in securing a training contract offer very soon!!

Good luck with everything!
 

axelbeugre

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Hi, @Jessica Booker and @axelbeugre I am answering the following question "Why are your skills/attributes suited to a career at Paul Hastings? Why should we offer you a Training Contract? " However, I am not sure if am correctly tackling it. Should I mention that my ability/quality makes me suitable to succeed as a trainee at PH?
This is essentially a ''why me'' question and I think it pushes to talk about skills or attributes you have developed along the way, whether through university, extracurricular activities or professional experiences, and how these will help you to succeed as a future trainee.

Personally, depending on the word count, I would talk about 2/3 skills you have developed and link them back to how these will help you as a trainee. For example I used to mention how being a blog editor for the rule of law journal at my university made me develop attention to detail through different tasks. After the description of what I was doing, I included how 'attention to detail' in this case will help me succeed as a future trainee at the firm as I will have to pay attention to different documents and make sure they do not contain any errors and things of this nature.

I basically linked the skill I discussed to the task I would use at the firm. Additionally, you should also include a small paragraph answering the last part of the question, elaborating how these skills differentiate you from other people. For example I would discuss here how my language abilities allow me to interact and build relationships with people from different parts of the world and this differentiates me from other people.

I hope these examples help understanding an approach to the question.

Good luck with the application!
 
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legallybrunette8

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Well day's got better - after Russell Cooke PFO, got invite to Irwin Mitchell virtual assessment centre. Nervous as I HATE online!! Any general tips on virtual assessment centres and making the group exercise work?
Hey if anyone has insight into Irwin Mitchell’s AC, pls drop a message :)
congrats both of you!! what office is this for and what service?
 

axelbeugre

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How long do people usually take to prep for
an AC?
It really is a personal question and it depends on the circumstances, capabilities, and so much more. However, I personally used to spend less than a week, sometimes 2/3 days just because I had so many other commitments to attend too. Other people prepare for weeks and weeks. It also depends on the law firm, some might invite you to an interview the day after the email you and you need to be ready to prepare in a day or less than that sometimes.
 
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