TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Gday33]

Jones Day PFO.

Sorry to hear that when did you apply?

 

[bella98]

How many words is your cover letter?

469 ahaha. I tried to stick with the "3/4 of an A4"

 

[thelawstudent2000]

just had linklaters assessment centre invite...

Congratulations!! May I asked when you applied ?

 

[Andrei Radu]

does anyone have any tips for White & Case VI please – would really appreciate it

Anyone done a White and Case vacation scheme video interview that has any tips? I just got invited to do the VI for their winter vacation scheme

Hey @m12 and @Walon290! While I don't have any details from this year, I did their VI last year. Based on my general VI experience as applied to the specific W&C VI, these would be my tips:

• Prepare really well for the big 3 (Why commercial law, Why W&C, Why me) and a few of the other very common questions (such as about a new story you have been following and its impact on the firm). These will form the basis for the questions.
• Also, prepare for variations of the big 3 - instead of just 'Why W&C' and 'Why commercial law' independently, you could be asked both questions at the same time - 'Tell us about why do you want to be a commercial solicitor at W&C'.
• Try to get to a point where you can, on the spot, answer both the independent questions and the broader combinations of questions in 1 minute, 1.5 minute, and 2 minute timeframes. Then record yourself and assess your performance. The more you do this, the more will you improve your flexibility to answer different variations of questions in varying timeframes.
• Prepare for some less common/curveball type of questions. There's no way of predicting what more unique questions W&C may go for this year, but in the past they have had at least one question that was slightly unusual. The best you can prepare for that is by improving your ability to think of the spot and flexibility in how you can refer to your experiences.
• Do not overcommit when you first start answering a question. This was by far the biggest issue for me last year. I would try to be structured and signpost, so I would start my answer by saying 'I will give you three/four reasons why ...'. However, midway through articulating my answer I would realise I did not have enough time to comprehensively state what I indented to. Thus, I would have to sacrifice either on the quality of my explanations or just not talk through everything I said I would, neither of which is a good look. As such, when in doubt, go for less rather than more. Your purpose should not be to blow away the recruiters, but to simply communicate good substantive points in a clear, concise, and composed manner.

 

[rvvacscheme]

Congratulations!! May I asked when you applied ?

thank you!! applied in early sept for the winter scheme!

 

[Andrei Radu]

How should I go about reapplying to firms I've applied to in the past semi-successfully? i.e. reached the video interview/test stage for them. I feel hesitant about fundamentally changing elements of my application because they were successful with the firm previously, but at the same time fear that repetition would mean = not showing growth and would lead to a rejection. any tips?

I definitely agree with @Amma Usman and @Jessica Booker's advice that you want to update your application. However, as they explained, this does not need to be any change in the fundamentals. So, in terms USPs, if a practice are was part of your why the firm reasoning, you could update your writing by including a more recent matter the firm worked on or discussing a more recent award/ranking/other form of market recognition. If you have any new experiences/achievements, or any new developments/implications of past experiences, you can also aim to discuss those.

Also, there is almost always room for improvement beyond the substantive points by bettering the quality of your drafting. Thus, take a look as to whether there are any terms that could be replaced by more appropriate language, any paragraph structures you could change, or any sentences which might be easier to understand if rephrased. Finally, if there is nothing to be improved in either the substance or the form of your answer (which is very unlikely), I would still rephrase some points (perhaps by using online tools) - you definitely want to avoid the system flagging your application as an exact copy paste of a previous one.

 

[Andrei Radu]

How should I go about reapplying to firms I've applied to in the past semi-successfully? i.e. reached the video interview/test stage for them. I feel hesitant about fundamentally changing elements of my application because they were successful with the firm previously, but at the same time fear that repetition would mean = not showing growth and would lead to a rejection. any tips?

Hey @yeezyee! I recently answered a similar question by another user regarding how to update a successful application, I think you may also find it useful:

I definitely agree with @Amma Usman and @Jessica Booker's advice that you want to update your application. However, as they explained, this does not need to be any change in the fundamentals. So, in terms USPs, if a practice are was part of your why the firm reasoning, you could update your writing by including a more recent matter the firm worked on or discussing a more recent award/ranking/other form of market recognition. If you have any new experiences/achievements, or any new developments/implications of past experiences, you can also aim to discuss those.

Also, there is almost always room for improvement beyond the substantive points by bettering the quality of your drafting. Thus, take a look as to whether there are any terms that could be replaced by more appropriate language, any paragraph structures you could change, or any sentences which might be easier to understand if rephrased. Finally, if there is nothing to be improved in either the substance or the form of your answer (which is very unlikely), I would still rephrase some points (perhaps by using online tools) - you definitely want to avoid the system flagging your application as an exact copy paste of a previous one.

 

[s9111]

Anyone heard from Covington yet? (Winter VS)

 

[Andrei Radu]

For anyone else whose applied to Jones Day, did you sign off at the end of your cover letter? With only 300 words, it seems like a major waste, but I also want it to look proper...

Most people I know who are currently writing their Jones Day cover letters were not signing them off. Considering how comparatively low the word count is, I would personally not expect the graduate recruitment team to take any issue with it. Even in the unlikely case that they do, I would still not expect a failure to sign the cover letter off to be weighed too heavily in the decision-making process. That said, if you want to be as safe as possible and you can find a way to shorten your main part by three words, I see no reason why you shouldn't sign it off just in case.

 

[tosingrey]

Hey guys, for those who applied to Sidley and have gotten an interview, how long did it take for you to get a response. It's been 5 weeks since I applied Sept 7) and I have heard nothing back. Is it safe to just assume it's a PFO at this point especially because the application was rolling.

 

[F a v o u r]

I need advice, please.

I've just received a Linklaters AC invite for the winter vac scheme. The problem is that around 10 pm last night, I had to go to the hospital for a severe dog bite injury on my right hand. It's expected to heal around the day of the AC, but this has drastically affected my ability to prepare, as I'm right-handed.

Do I ask for additional time and adjustments? Should I request HR to postpone my interview and assessment day? I'm not sure if that's even possible, given the typically shorter time frame to get everything sorted for the winter vac scheme. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Andrei Radu]

A question in Michelmores' VS application is confusing me. It asks, "What do you think are the biggest challenges facing Michelmores clients at the moment?" but they work with clients in different sectors who all have different niche challenges, so should I pick up 1-2 sectors that I'm interested in and talk about their challenges or go more general and mention things like cyber security, ESG etc?

I don't think any approach is right or wrong - you can definitely write a good answer with both. However, since the question is framed in terms of the "biggest" challenges, I would try to identify what challenges seem to me to (i) impact clients most heavily (so ask yourself which of the challenges you are writing about has the potential to impact the clients most heavily, and consider how high the likelihood of that impact occurring is) and (ii) impacts as many of the firm's major clients as possible.

I think you would want to discuss the stories whose impact ranking is the highest in both of the aforementioned criteria. However, of course there is no objective way to determine this and your judgement will be partly just based on your intuition. This is why in practice you do have a lot of flexibility in choice of topic. What matters more is being able to provide cogent argument as to why the challenge you identified is particularly impactful.

 

[Andrei Radu]

I need advice, please.

I've just received a Linklaters AC invite for the winter vac scheme. The problem is that around 10 pm last night, I had to go to the hospital for a severe dog bite injury on my right hand. It's expected to heal around the day of the AC, but this has drastically affected my ability to prepare, as I'm right-handed.

Do I ask for additional time and adjustments? Should I request HR to postpone my interview and assessment day? I'm not sure if that's even possible, given the typically shorter time frame to get everything sorted for the winter vac scheme. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

@Jessica Booker will be able to tell you more about this situation, but my advice is to email HR and be as transparent as possible about your situation. Ideally, you could arrange a phone/zoom call so you can better discuss the different options.

I do not think it is at all unlikely that you could convince them to postpone the AC. I managed to have an AC date postponed (and know of others who have as well) for a significantly less serious reason. Even if this is not possible, it is likely you will obtain at least some form of adjustment to your assessment. Finally, even in the worst case scenario, in which you have to attend the AC as originally scheduled with no adjustments, by notifying the graduate recruitment team about this you will likely obtain some good will. By coming in on the day, you will show resilience, and your performance will likely be assessed in the context of your circumstances.

I also cannot think of any reason why any HR team would have a negative reaction to you letting them know about your situation. As such, you have nothing to lose by doing this.

 

[Jessica Booker]

I need advice, please.

I've just received a Linklaters AC invite for the winter vac scheme. The problem is that around 10 pm last night, I had to go to the hospital for a severe dog bite injury on my right hand. It's expected to heal around the day of the AC, but this has drastically affected my ability to prepare, as I'm right-handed.

Do I ask for additional time and adjustments? Should I request HR to postpone my interview and assessment day? I'm not sure if that's even possible, given the typically shorter time frame to get everything sorted for the winter vac scheme. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I would contact the firm/graduate recruitment and explain you have a hand injury and see what they say. I’d suspect you’d only need additional time if there is a written component, but it would be fairly easy to adjust time accordingly if there is one.

 

[Tintin06]

Willkie PFO after their video interview. I’m a bit shocked being honest. I passed that stage last year. Not really sure how to feel. Seems the walls are closing in. I just assumed I’d be fine. Eventually I’ll understand quality over quantity. Not this year it would seem.

 

[Andrei Radu]

are you meant to also mention relevant skills under experience, or just what you did at various roles?

I don't think any recruiter has a strong expectation that candidates will do this. However, I would do this from time to time, especially where (i) the skill is more unique/impressive, (ii) is demonstrated by a more unique/impressive achievement, or (iii) where the skill is particularly relevant for the day to day tasks of a trainee solicitor (think drafting, researching, project management, legal analysis etc).

However, take care not to be repetitive as to the skills you mention. Furthermore, I would advise to only tie your responsibilities to skills sparingly. The more you do it, the less impactful each inference of skill is, and overuse can also impact the flow and structure of your writing.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi @Jessica Booker, I did two vac schemes over the summer, took an L on both, but was encouraged to reapply, would it be okay to mention my experience on those schemes in their respective application forms, just to spice up my answers from last year, not much has changed for me since the summer in terms of experience so was wondering if that would be a good way to provide a different answer?

Hi @NJS! I think discussing your vacation schemes experiences is a great way to improve on you previous answers. I think too many people are weary of talking about their past VS experience because they are afraid that it is a bad look that they failed to convert. However, as recruiters are well aware, there are many factors going into the final outcome of a vacation scheme beyond performance, and at any rate, by simply getting there you have demonstrated to be an exceptionally strong candidate.

As such, I do not only think there is no issue with discussing a prior VS. I think not discussing it would be a significant mistake. Mentioning these VS experiences will make many recruiters take your application a lot more seriously and will likely substantial increase your chances of progressing. From personal experience I can also say this holds true. A friend of mine who had done a couple of vacation schemes and was unsuccessful discussed them in their new applications and saw a significantly better AC invite/application ratio when compared to the previous cycle.

 

[Tintin06]

Anyone else delete negative outcomes ASAP? I barely scan before deleting them. This sounds very conceited, but I'm very angry. I have done four Vacation Schemes (Slaughter and May, Debevoise & Plimpton, Travers Smith and Ropes & Gray). What was the point? Firms don't seem to value these at all. I also try to emphasis transferable skills from other roles. Again, what is the point? It just feels like every cycle is the same - and this is why I gave up for two years. I'm tempted to do it again.

 

[m12]

Hey @m12 and @Walon290! While I don't have any details from this year, I did their VI last year. Based on my general VI experience as applied to the specific W&C VI, these would be my tips:

• Prepare really well for the big 3 (Why commercial law, Why W&C, Why me) and a few of the other very common questions (such as about a new story you have been following and its impact on the firm). These will form the basis for the questions.
• Also, prepare for variations of the big 3 - instead of just 'Why W&C' and 'Why commercial law' independently, you could be asked both questions at the same time - 'Tell us about why do you want to be a commercial solicitor at W&C'.
• Try to get to a point where you can, on the spot, answer both the independent questions and the broader combinations of questions in 1 minute, 1.5 minute, and 2 minute timeframes. Then record yourself and assess your performance. The more you do this, the more will you improve your flexibility to answer different variations of questions in varying timeframes.
• Prepare for some less common/curveball type of questions. There's no way of predicting what more unique questions W&C may go for this year, but in the past they have had at least one question that was slightly unusual. The best you can prepare for that is by improving your ability to think of the spot and flexibility in how you can refer to your experiences.
• Do not overcommit when you first start answering a question. This was by far the biggest issue for me last year. I would try to be structured and signpost, so I would start my answer by saying 'I will give you three/four reasons why ...'. However, midway through articulating my answer I would realise I did not have enough time to comprehensively state what I indented to. Thus, I would have to sacrifice either on the quality of my explanations or just not talk through everything I said I would, neither of which is a good look. As such, when in doubt, go for less rather than more. Your purpose should not be to blow away the recruiters, but to simply communicate good substantive points in a clear, concise, and composed manner.

Thank you @Andrei Radu !! do you have any advice on how best to structure / approach commercial news story questions? Or wider topics that involve discussing the political and economic state etc

 

[Ram Sabaratnam]

A question in Michelmores' VS application is confusing me. It asks, "What do you think are the biggest challenges facing Michelmores clients at the moment?" but they work with clients in different sectors who all have different niche challenges, so should I pick up 1-2 sectors that I'm interested in and talk about their challenges or go more general and mention things like cyber security, ESG etc?

Hi @icebear

Completely appreciate the challenges of answering a question like this. As @Andrei Radu mentioned, you could definitely take either approach. However, I'd recommend trying to discuss current challenges in a way that is really bespoke or tailored to the firm. Having briefly researched the firm, it appears they have a strong reputation in sectors such as infrastructure and agriculture/rural affairs. They also seem to have a great regional presence alongside their place in London. I think finding news stories/challenges that are likely to be faced by a firm with similar features could making for a convincing answer. I've mentioned some challenges below (including links where appropriate) that you might want to consider.

One issue/challenge you could consider are some ongoing delays in major projects. The UK government recently established the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) to address these delays, which have been increasing costs and causing significant uncertainty for investors. Pinsent Masons recently did an excellent summary of how these changes are likely to affect firms and their clients here, which I'd encourage you to give a brief look at. Additionally, you could discuss the rising cost of construction materials and labour shortages are pushing project costs up or Government Investment and the Levelling Up Agenda which are all very current issues that pose a mixture of opportunities and challenges for clients at firms such as Michemores.

Given the firm's strong regional presence, you might also want to tie an issue back to this aspect of the firm. For instance, EY did this really interesting report here about how significant government variation in spending is affecting projects and infrastructure issues differently in various parts of the country. This creates a unique set of challenges, especially for rural and regional businesses that Michelmores is deeply connected to through its offices in cities such as Bristol, Cheltenham and Exeter. The firm could be particularly well-placed to help clients navigate these sorts of more "current" challenges.

Again, these are just suggestions. But you can consider framing your answer by highlighting Michelmores' strong reputation in key sectors, such as infrastructure, while also emphasising its unique national footprint. By tying the answer to Michelmores' strengths in specific areas, like their work with clients in rural regions, you can make your response more tailored to the firm.

Good luck with your application!