TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25
- Thread starter Jessica Booker
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tbf i was really really hoping to get an invitehas anyone received a confirmation of receipt for their debevoise open day acceptance reply yet?
That’s great! So they wouldnt rescind your offer if you say you need more time to do other vac schemes?
Hi guys, I have accepted an offer of internship through 10,000 Interns programme but my spring application for a VS has been switched to summer due to lack of spaces and I was offered an AC - if I were to get on the vac scheme would there be any consequences for backing out of the summer internship?
I found that once you've gone through a question bank of, say, 50 questions, you've covered 99% of what you might ever get asked. Anything else and you can usually figure something out on the spot, based on what you already know.
For me, the hard part was making sure I had an example for each question, as the sound of 50 answers for 50 questions was overwhelming. If you asked me, I'd go blank, even though I have tonnes of experiences. In reality, they don't all need to be unique, as long as you don't repeat examples to the interviewer. You just rehash the same dozen or so to fit by highlighting the relevant skills for the question.
With that in mind, you could try making a bank of personal examples, highlighting 2 or 3 skills or question type use cases (competency, motivational, situational, etc) for each. With a confident grasp of your examples, you can fit them to most scenarios. That's my take, at least!
Hi, I have an AC coming up next week. I wanted to get some thoughts on how to prepare for a CV-blind and application-blind interview. In such a case, can I recycle my answers from my applications, or is it unwise to do that? Similarly, how much in-depth research should I do into the firm? It's my first AC, and I'm really keen to get the VS. @Andrei Radu @Amma Usman any tips would be appreciated!
- Sep 9, 2024
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Hi @Lalis, to list a few of my top VS conversion tips:
- Speak with people at the firm (particularly graduate recruitment, recruitment partners, and trainees) to find out what are the most important assessment criteria for conversion. Different firms have different policies - for instance, in my case conversion at Slaughter and May was 100% determined by the final TC interview and written task, at Willkie it was mostly determined by the quality of your work and your integration in the firm's culture, at Milbank it was a combination of the final assessment and the impression you left on people on your team. To maximize conversion chances, you should modify your approach to match the factors emphasized by each firm.
- Take notes: as you go through the vacation scheme, at the end of each day, write down a short summary of what you did: who did you meet and what did you learn from them, what tasks did you work on, what sessions did you attend etc. As you approach the final interview, this will help you with being reflecting about the experience and showing that you have taken all the opportunities the firm offered.
- Try to meet as many people as possible, particularly in your department, but do not overdo it. Of course, it is great to integrate yourself as much as you can and to make as many people as possible notice you. However, you should not be spending every second of the day inviting people for coffee chats. Firstly, there are many other things you should be doing, like getting involved in different workstreams, attending sessions, and deepening your relationship with people you have already met, such as your supervisor. Secondly, as you will know, lawyers are often very stressed and have very little free time on their hands. Most will accept coffee chat requests, but they will appreciate if you do not waste their time by asking to meet only with a view of getting them to potentially put in a good word for you. Thus, I would advise you to always have a genuine reason for meeting someone. That does not need to necessarily be work-related - you can simply ask for a coffee chat because you want to introduce yourself and get to know people in the firm - but you should be upfront about it. Furthermore, try to get an idea from your supervisor as to who is more and less busy at the moment and avoid targeting the former.
- Mirror the attitude of those around you, and know when to be more relaxed: a crucial element of succeeding in many vacation schemes is to be able to build rapport with a few important people - particularly your supervisor, one or two lawyers you will get to work more with, and the recruitment partners. Try to read the attitude and expectations of those people and do not always attempt to impress them. In my experience, the people who ended up not converting tended to be the slightly overbearing ones who wanted to be constantly seen. Sometimes, such as at an event over drinks or at a lunch, people will want to simply relax a bit and forget about work. Other times, they may be too busy and stressed to want to engage with you about something serious. They could and also many times do want to take a slightly more lighthearted approach when talking about their work, so try not to seem like you are taking yourself too seriously. From what I have seen, people more often fail in adapting to these circumstances rather that when adapting to more formal dynamics.
Has anyone heard from Linklaters re Spring vac scheme and Latham re Summer vac scheme?
Any advice for goodwin interview would be appreciated (can share Macfarlanes, eversheds, Vinson, Jones day, NRF, SPB)
- Sep 9, 2024
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I doubt they would ever rescind it for merely asking for a longer time to sign, but they may insist that the offer's expiry date is fixed. If you do decide to tell them about this, I would however be careful to not phrase my intentions as wanting to do other vacation schemes because I had not yet decided that I wanted to sign a TC with the firm (as then they may wonder if they are wasting their time keeping a slot open for you). Rather, I would speak of it in terms of the other vacation schemes being an invaluable opportunity to make connections and learn about commercial law.
However, unless there is anything in your TC contract prohibiting you from attending other vacation schemes, I am not sure this is worth doing. In some cases at least you should be able to sign the TC and attend other VS without triggering any contractual issues.
Any advice for the virtual Osborne Clarke AC? I can exchange for Fieldfisher or White & Case AC advice.
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