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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

CG_101

Distinguished Member
Nov 20, 2024
56
90
Hi Everyone,
for slaughters, how many people do they tend to interview for the vac scheme. Firms I've interviewed at in the past have tended to sit around interviewing twice as many candidates as they had places. I'm wondering if the odds are fairly similar?
 

Jessica Booker

Legendary Member
TCLA Moderator
Gold Member
Graduate Recruitment
Premium Member
Forum Team
Aug 1, 2019
15,154
21,114
Thanks Jessica, if I have two experiences on a cv which state it was one week when it was monday - thursday and wednesday - friday could this be a problem then and something to mention?
There will be a higher risk if you are presenting multiple entries as longer than they actually were. It is important to put such experiences in accurately into application forms.

When you are invited to the next stage of the recruitment process or if you have already been invited to a face to face stage or final round interview, I would notify the firm at the earliest opportunity about these discrepancies.

For future applications, ensure these two work experience entries are recorded accurately though.
 

jfb

Active Member
Premium Member
Nov 13, 2024
11
6
I applied to Simmons & Simmons Vac Scheme 2 days ago, their deadline is today but it says on the email that I have 10 days to complete the online blended assessment, is it okay to assume that I still have the 10 days as they have not stated that this needs to be completed prior to the deadline?
 

suhana

Distinguished Member
Mar 17, 2024
60
31
Hi Everyone,
for slaughters, how many people do they tend to interview for the vac scheme. Firms I've interviewed at in the past have tended to sit around interviewing twice as many candidates as they had places. I'm wondering if the odds are fairly similar?
wanted to know the same since they dont have a classic ac or a psychometric test
 

Andrei Radu

Legendary Member
Staff member
Future Trainee
Gold Member
Premium Member
Sep 9, 2024
622
1,095
Hi Everyone,
for slaughters, how many people do they tend to interview for the vac scheme. Firms I've interviewed at in the past have tended to sit around interviewing twice as many candidates as they had places. I'm wondering if the odds are fairly similar?
I have heard that they have a roughly 1/2-1/3 candidate per place ratio, but that it sometimes differs on a year by year basis. I would say this places the pure statistical odds just about the same as in your average AC elsewhere.
 

lawstudent2

Distinguished Member
Dec 9, 2024
59
65
Hey there @lawstudent2 ,

I completely get the nerves - I had them too. This depends on the firm. I have been invited to ACs with two weeks - 4 weeks notice. At the same time, I had also been invited to ACs with less than a week’s/five days notice. The experience made me realise that interview skills building, was a competency I had to constantly develop. For example, most of these ACs assess commercial awareness, making a consistent willingness to know about current affairs necessary. I certainly did not build on that skill overnight, but a little knowledge gained here and there contributed to my overall performance. I also practiced talking to myself on these commercial awareness topics through the mirror (yes, yes I know this sounds funny haha). I found that the more I was able to practice my intonation and communication of certain topics I found complex, the more natural they came out during the actual interview.

Overall, please do not try to overwhelm yourself by the thought of how much notice you will be given. Looking back, I wish I gave myself this advice. Focus more on building those soft and hard interview skills, such as clarity of tone and thought.
Thank you !!!
 
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camrxc

Well-Known Member
Jan 5, 2025
20
7
There will be a higher risk if you are presenting multiple entries as longer than they actually were. It is important to put such experiences in accurately into application forms.

When you are invited to the next stage of the recruitment process or if you have already been invited to a face to face stage or final round interview, I would notify the firm at the earliest opportunity about these discrepancies.

For future applications, ensure these two work experience entries are recorded accurately though.
Thanks again, if the reasoning for the discrepancies was that I originally had the exact dates listed next to the title of the work experience but then edited this out for formatting purposes and forgot to change the description to match the changes, would the best approach be to explain this to the firm and then offer to send an updated version of my cv ?
 

Andrei Radu

Legendary Member
Staff member
Future Trainee
Gold Member
Premium Member
Sep 9, 2024
622
1,095
in a video interview about 'Why this firm', how many points would you say is sufficient enough? has anyone ever gotten past the vi stage citing one reason and going into detail about that?
I normally went for two or three points, but if you the time limit is quite restrictive (say, 60 seconds) or if the reason both quite uniquely applicable to the firm and also very important to your experience as a trainee there, I think it is fine. For instance, I would not expect a recruiter at Kirkland to have an issue with you going very in depth on only one Private Equity-based motivation. However, if you applied for Latham and only mentioned their litigation practice as a why the firm reason, that may not suffice. This is because their litigation practice, while it admittedly distinguishes Latham from some US firms, is not as uniquely remarkable as Kirkland's PE practice; and because their litigation team is quite small compared to other departments, so it is a less central part of the firm than PE is for a firm like Kirkland.
 

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