TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Andrei Radu]

@Andrei Radu @Jessica Booker would a paralegal role in a high street firm be okay to take up after failing to get a TC for two cycles and after one vac scheme? Would this be a wise move in terms of motivations for the new cycle? I just don't want to be unemployed whilst applying so weighing up my options here. thank you for any advice you may have

Hi @JustwantaTC I do not think this would have any negative impact to the recruiter's perception about your motivations for commercial law. Recruiters are well aware how competitive the job market is and are also aware that many people need to be employed to fund living expenses, so it is very unlikely they will take having a legal job outside the commercial sphere as an indicator of lacking a sufficiently strong interest in commercial law. If anything, having this job should be a boost to your candidate profile, as paralegal jobs are quite competitive everywhere and will also help build valuable skills.

The only important consideration against taking the offer you should weigh is the amount of time this will take off your schedule, as that is time you could spend applying and interacting with firms. Whether you think you will still have enough time to make a high number of high quality applications despite working full time is something only you will know. Regardless, if you do take them up on the offer, I would advise you to start researching firms and writing applications very early into next cycle to ensure you are not overwhelmed by work and deadlines come November/December.

 

[Amma Usman]

Does anyone that has received interview invite know how book interview for Moore Barlow please? We were sent a spread sheet where all the available interview dates are , do we put our names in front of our choices or reply Grad rec with our preferred dates?

Hi there,

I would personally do two things:

(1) Save the spreadsheet onto my system, edit it accordingly, and send the sheet.
(2) Still send those same dates via the same email in which the spreadsheet is attached, with bullet points for ease of reference.

I guess there’s no need to do both, but it helps avoid back-and-forth if they end up preferring a variation of the spreadsheet instead.

 

[Someoneinlaw]

Hi there,

I would personally do two things:

(1) Save the spreadsheet onto my system, edit it accordingly, and send the sheet.
(2) Still send those same dates via the same email in which the spreadsheet is attached, with bullet points for ease of reference.

I guess there’s no need to do both, but it helps avoid back-and-forth if they end up preferring a variation of the spreadsheet instead.

Thank you Amma 🙏🙏