TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

floral.tcla

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Premium Member
Aug 15, 2024
24
11
It's not automatic. Applications are reviewed first. Hence the length of time between submission and receipt of WG invite.
I was told by grad recruitment that they only look at applicants’ responses to the online questions (thoroughly) if you’ve passed the Watson Glaser, and that one reason they have it is to make their lives easier with less applications to review? Unless you mean something different?
 

chrisbrown

Well-Known Member
Jul 4, 2024
24
16
I applied to Willkie on the 18th and still haven't heard back when others have, should I just assume PFO?
The turnaround is normally 10-15 working days but factoring in it was xmas/nye period I would say you can expect to hear back by the end of next week or the week after for sure (regardless of the outcome) as some people that applied close to the deadline are slowly hearing back now.

15 working days from 18th Dec is roughly 13th Jan I think.
 
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Jessica Booker

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Graduate Recruitment
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Aug 1, 2019
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I applied to Willkie on the 18th and still haven't heard back when others have, should I just assume PFO?
no - Gemma has mentioned that it usually takes up to 15 working days for a response and that would take you to Monday 13th January given the bank holidays.
 
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suhana

Star Member
Mar 17, 2024
30
13
Hi @Jessica Booker @Ram Sabaratnam

I’ve seen a lot of posts on here about typos, so I needed some advice please. I just submitted my application to BM and saved a copy to my PC. When I was submitting it, nothing was flagged on the portal, and it all seemed fine. But now, looking at the saved version on Word, I see four red-underlined errors.

They’re things like “organsing” and “commerical” — stuff that didn’t stand out at all when I was proofreading. I went over this application so many times, spent days on it, and even had other people check it. I also did an insight scheme with this firm, so I’m feeling super frustrated and worried right now.

I know one typo might get overlooked, but four feels like it’ll mean rejection. The only thing giving me a tiny bit of hope is that maybe some of these errors aren’t obvious without a spell-check system.

Any advice or thoughts on this?
 
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jta227

Distinguished Member
Nov 10, 2024
63
85
Hi @Jessica Booker @Ram Sabaratnam

I’ve seen a lot of posts on here about typos, so I need some advice. I just submitted my application to BM and saved a copy to my PC. When I was submitting it, nothing was flagged on the portal, and it all seemed fine. But now, looking at the saved version on Word, I see four red-underlined errors.

They’re things like “organsing” and “commerical” — stuff that didn’t stand out at all when I was proofreading. I went over this application so many times, spent days on it, and even had other people check it. I also did an insight scheme with this firm, so I’m feeling super frustrated and worried right now.

I know one typo might get overlooked, but four feels like it’ll mean rejection. The only thing giving me a tiny bit of hope is that maybe some of these errors aren’t obvious without a spell-check system.

Any advice or thoughts on this?

I'm not them, but I made this mistake in my first two applications of this cycle, especially with US vs UK spellings. I didn't even realise until I got my first PFO and went back to check and was like omg how did I do that. From then I decided to write every application in Word (with proofing language set to British English), I would highly recommend doing that!

I don't know anything about BM (I'm yet to write my application lol) but I know a few firms read applications with a spellchecker and some don't. If it helps, I still got progressed in an application this cycle where I made a bad typo. Not 4, but one bad one (the sentence didn't make sense). We can't really predict how any specific gradrec member will react at a specific time or whether they'll even notice so at this point I'd just hope for the best and make sure future applications don't have that mistake.
 
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Shandy101

Star Member
Oct 22, 2024
46
120
I was told by grad recruitment that they only look at applicants’ responses to the online questions (thoroughly) if you’ve passed the Watson Glaser, and that one reason they have it is to make their lives easier with less applications to review? Unless you mean something different?
They may initially scan for spelling or other obvious mistakes; it's unclear whether there is an initial review and, if so, to what degree, so I emailed GR for a more definitive answer. I will share with the group once I have a reply.
 

Jessica Booker

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Graduate Recruitment
Premium Member
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Aug 1, 2019
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Hi @Jessica Booker @Ram Sabaratnam

I’ve seen a lot of posts on here about typos, so I needed some advice please. I just submitted my application to BM and saved a copy to my PC. When I was submitting it, nothing was flagged on the portal, and it all seemed fine. But now, looking at the saved version on Word, I see four red-underlined errors.

They’re things like “organsing” and “commerical” — stuff that didn’t stand out at all when I was proofreading. I went over this application so many times, spent days on it, and even had other people check it. I also did an insight scheme with this firm, so I’m feeling super frustrated and worried right now.

I know one typo might get overlooked, but four feels like it’ll mean rejection. The only thing giving me a tiny bit of hope is that maybe some of these errors aren’t obvious without a spell-check system.

Any advice or thoughts on this?
I encourage people to focus on what they can change rather than the things they cannot.

I would consider how you can implement a checking/proof reading process that sits outside of applicant tracking systems so you can pick up errors like these for future applications rather than worrying about what may or may not be picked up in this particular application.
 
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