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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25
- Thread starter Jessica Booker
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does anyone know how much a bad automated report post SJT is going to impact a VS when done alongside a decent video interview. just panicking as I felt the traits it said I was lacking weren't true to me at all, and the ones I did 'better' on are less like me and would hate for this to be the reason I don't get it!
Jessica Booker
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- Aug 1, 2019
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Highly recommend this thread for guidance on negotiation exercises:
Definitive Guide to Assessed Negotiations! *Monday Article Series*
Hi All! Please see below my Guide to Assessed Negotiation Exercises at Assessment Centres and during Vacation Schemes. This guide has been built from my own experiences of assessed and real-world negotiations as well as having consulted with Grad Rec specialists. This is also the first in a...
www.thecorporatelawacademy.com
Tips for the Mischon case study and interview would be much appreciated! Please DM me 
25/36 high numerical and high verbal for the SH SJT; hopefully that'll be enough
Thoughts post sh test:
I'm really bad at these tests, and it's frustrating because I know it's what lets me down. It feels like every time I do them, I'm wasting the opportunity because even managing to get this far has been a struggle all these years.
More amusing/positive thoughts:
I felt my voice shaking so much during the video interview I thought there was an earthquake 🤣
The video interview went pretty well (the first question threw me off a little, and I messed up 1 word). I did mess up my words slightly but I think overall delivery was good
I'm hoping the vi offsets the test score but I can't say I'm hopeful?
I'm really bad at these tests, and it's frustrating because I know it's what lets me down. It feels like every time I do them, I'm wasting the opportunity because even managing to get this far has been a struggle all these years.
More amusing/positive thoughts:
I felt my voice shaking so much during the video interview I thought there was an earthquake 🤣
The video interview went pretty well (the first question threw me off a little, and I messed up 1 word). I did mess up my words slightly but I think overall delivery was good
I'm hoping the vi offsets the test score but I can't say I'm hopeful?
Verbal and sjt to be honest..
I'm not good at maths but the feedback said I excelled in that part
mm, the maths I find can be a bit random, like it's not difficult maths but more about reading?!
for the SJT what I would suggest you do is try and find out the pillars BEFORE the test, and think about what they are targeting in the question. If you score poorly on a particular pillar you are likely to have answered multiple questions wrongly. You can use screen recording software and review your answers when you receive feedback and try and figure out what you did wrong. Also think about ideal behaviour for a trainee solicitor, or in other cases they might tell you that you are in fact a qualified solicitor, and how, if you were the owner of that firm, you'd want that person to behave
i feel the exact same honestly! let down for sh by the sjt and its so frustrating as there’s not loads you can do about it and no matter how much hard work you put into the interview part, it feels as though im never going to get it due to the test.
I honestly understand this frustration and I have been there myself (still there if I’m being completely honest!) What I have found has helped is thinking about what the question is trying to gather; ie, is it about communication, team work, resilience etc. equally, there are some practice questions online that can help.
For the verbal, which is the thing I always do best in despite English being my second language, I always think about the specifics of the question asked. Often with verbal, they’ll try and catch you out like using a static in a different context.
Trust the process, you’ll get there and you’ve probably done better than you are giving yourself credit for!
I honestly understand this frustration and I have been there myself (still there if I’m being completely honest!) What I have found has helped is thinking about what the question is trying to gather; ie, is it about communication, team work, resilience etc. equally, there are some practice questions online that can help.
For the verbal, which is the thing I always do best in despite English being my second language, I always think about the specifics of the question asked. Often with verbal, they’ll try and catch you out like using a static in a different context.
Trust the process, you’ll get there and you’ve probably done better than you are giving yourself credit for!
For the amberjack test, I also struggled a lot because it was my first time doing it this application cycle (Paul, Weiss and SH). I used this resource and method to help me identify what each question seemed to be looking for:
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For a written task, if there is a word count between 500 and 1500, will I still be judged for how much I write within that count?
Secondly, if I say the right things but because of nerves, my enthusiasm wasn't showing enough as it should've been in the presentation, will I also be marked down? I tried to talk slowly and structured enough so that my points were understood, but I realise in that process I didn't 'smile' enough.
I did, however, grin and chuckle a bit when I was asked a difficult and unexpected question, if that's worth anything.
Lastly, returning to the written task, I wrote my response in the form of a memo. The task didn't explicitly ask that we do this, but it did ask "what would you say to the client". I thought it was best to frame it in such a way because the case study was structured as a presentation to the client, and the written task didn't indicate the information was supposed to be relayed to anyone else other than the client.
I realise after writing this I'm just over analysing.
Secondly, if I say the right things but because of nerves, my enthusiasm wasn't showing enough as it should've been in the presentation, will I also be marked down? I tried to talk slowly and structured enough so that my points were understood, but I realise in that process I didn't 'smile' enough.
I did, however, grin and chuckle a bit when I was asked a difficult and unexpected question, if that's worth anything.
Lastly, returning to the written task, I wrote my response in the form of a memo. The task didn't explicitly ask that we do this, but it did ask "what would you say to the client". I thought it was best to frame it in such a way because the case study was structured as a presentation to the client, and the written task didn't indicate the information was supposed to be relayed to anyone else other than the client.
I realise after writing this I'm just over analysing.
For clarification, Amberjack doesn't always have four pillars, although that's the most common version.
E.g., A&O Shearman:
Resilience
Collaboration
Adaptability
Drive and Motivation
Intellectual Curiosity
Organisation
Mills & Reeve
Resilience
Collaboration
Client Focused
Analysis & Problem Solving
Business & Commercial Mindset
Growth Mindset
Getting Things Done
Simmons & Simmons
Self-management
Commercial acumen
People skills
Like the "four pillars" version, Simmons & Simmons gives scores for each area, while the firms with more traits tend not to do that.
It's likely for example that if you have a "four pillars" test there will be multiple questions where you must choose the internet/technology-related answer, whereas for firms that have "digital mindset" then that wouldn't necessarily be something that you'd look out for.
Here's Amberjack's description of their four pillars https://www.weareamberjack.com/why-assessments-for-potential-are-key-to-long-term-success/
Digital Mindset:
The natural inclination towards technical solutions, automation, and digitalisation are important indicators of potential. With Peterson et al.’s (2018) Learning Model for Digital Affordances highlighting the different affordances offered by technology; Functional (operation), Perceptual (interpretation), and Adaptive (adaption and innovation), it is clear that prior knowledge of technology is not necessarily the only way to assess an individual’s strength in this area. Having a solution-based mindset and being able to explore new ideas is crucial to establishing a candidate’s potential and Digital Mindset.
Grit:
The key components of Grit are drive, agility, and resilience. Church and Silzer (2014) have identified resilience and emotional self-control as foundational personality characteristics that reliably predict leadership success and an individual’s ability to deal with and influence others.
Creative Force
The creativity involved in Creative Force differs from Digital Mindset in its process-driven and future-thinking nature, rather than the pure utilisation of creative digital solutions.
Creativity is the basis behind innovation; innovators identify opportunities for success and challenge existing frameworks, as posited by Kirton’s Adaptation-Innovation Theory (1989). In this way, our Creative Force pillar recognises candidates with the potential to add new ideas and approaches. Candidates with high levels of Potential enable significant change, challenge ineffective processes, and drive positive development
Applied Intellect
The basis for Applied Intellect is made up of three core characteristics; Social and Emotional Intelligence, Learning Agility, and Cognitive Ability.
Social and Emotional Intelligence becomes an important characteristic of individuals with high levels of potential. Self management of activity and emotional wellbeing is crucial, especially in the hybrid working world; individuals need to be accountable for outcomes and less closely monitored. Social awareness and relationship management are essential for communication and effective group interactions whether they are physical, virtual, oral, or written.
Learning agility is the second key part of Applied Intellect. Learning agility, and the continual development this enables, has been found to more accurately predict long-term potential than past performance. Potential is about growth and persistent improvement, this is why “an individual’s current skill-set is of secondary importance to their ability to learn new knowledge, skills, and behaviours that will equip them to respond to future challenges”
Finally, cognitive ability, the general mental capability involving reasoning, problem solving, planning, abstract thinking, comprehension, and learning from experience (Gottfredson, 1997; Plomin & von Stumm, 2018), helps identify an individual’s capacity to apply their knowledge and intellect to a variety of situations.
Digital Mindset:
The natural inclination towards technical solutions, automation, and digitalisation are important indicators of potential. With Peterson et al.’s (2018) Learning Model for Digital Affordances highlighting the different affordances offered by technology; Functional (operation), Perceptual (interpretation), and Adaptive (adaption and innovation), it is clear that prior knowledge of technology is not necessarily the only way to assess an individual’s strength in this area. Having a solution-based mindset and being able to explore new ideas is crucial to establishing a candidate’s potential and Digital Mindset.
Grit:
The key components of Grit are drive, agility, and resilience. Church and Silzer (2014) have identified resilience and emotional self-control as foundational personality characteristics that reliably predict leadership success and an individual’s ability to deal with and influence others.
Creative Force
The creativity involved in Creative Force differs from Digital Mindset in its process-driven and future-thinking nature, rather than the pure utilisation of creative digital solutions.
Creativity is the basis behind innovation; innovators identify opportunities for success and challenge existing frameworks, as posited by Kirton’s Adaptation-Innovation Theory (1989). In this way, our Creative Force pillar recognises candidates with the potential to add new ideas and approaches. Candidates with high levels of Potential enable significant change, challenge ineffective processes, and drive positive development
Applied Intellect
The basis for Applied Intellect is made up of three core characteristics; Social and Emotional Intelligence, Learning Agility, and Cognitive Ability.
Social and Emotional Intelligence becomes an important characteristic of individuals with high levels of potential. Self management of activity and emotional wellbeing is crucial, especially in the hybrid working world; individuals need to be accountable for outcomes and less closely monitored. Social awareness and relationship management are essential for communication and effective group interactions whether they are physical, virtual, oral, or written.
Learning agility is the second key part of Applied Intellect. Learning agility, and the continual development this enables, has been found to more accurately predict long-term potential than past performance. Potential is about growth and persistent improvement, this is why “an individual’s current skill-set is of secondary importance to their ability to learn new knowledge, skills, and behaviours that will equip them to respond to future challenges”
Finally, cognitive ability, the general mental capability involving reasoning, problem solving, planning, abstract thinking, comprehension, and learning from experience (Gottfredson, 1997; Plomin & von Stumm, 2018), helps identify an individual’s capacity to apply their knowledge and intellect to a variety of situations.
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