To my understanding, the general expectation in a VI is to expand on written application answers and not to simply memorise and regurgitate what is already written (the person who read the application is most likely the person reviewing the VI so they can identify this quickly). I also don’t think it’s ideal to rehearse scripted answers to questions that you think may come up. I think this would most likely lead someone to try answer questions that aren’t even being asked by shoehorning in prepared answers. VI are generally very short (30-60 seconds prep and 60-90 seconds to answer), so I think it’s important to keep answers clear and concise. Good time management is of course very important. 😅
In my experience with Willkie, it seemed it was okay to make the same initial point, but the reasoning that followed had to be different. For example, if I had wrote in my application that I was interested in private equity for reasons ABC, in the VI, I could similarly state I was interested in private equity, but for reasons XYZ. I don’t think firms would expect fundamental motivations to change between an application and VI, but they might expect to see more research into their firm within that time period, which means VI answers need to be more specific and developed. I think if the fundamental motivations changed, that would probably be seen as a red flag. I think natural pauses and hesitations are normal tbh. 🙂
I think @Andrei Radu, @Amma Usman, @Ram Sabaratnam and and @Jessica Booker can give a much better answer than this though. 🥲
To clarify, I probably have at least 30 different questions that I've answered in application forms, and the specific application questions for the VI (Fox Williams) I'm preparing for were:
1. why should we select you? what sets you apart from other candidates?
2. which of our core sectors appeals to you most?
3. impact of AI on the law.
So I therefore have quite a few personalised answers to questions such as "what's your proudest achievement" that I've given in written applications, that they wouldn't have read/heard before.
They've said that there are "three very different questions", which will "test your research into Fox Williams, your communication skills, and about you as an individual"
So the first part of that could be
"why do you want to work for us" or
"what sets us apart from our competitors"
and then the others could be anything, e.g., "tell us about a time when you have had to manage difficult people", "tell us about a person who inspires you", etc.