What are you struggling with the most right now?

[Jaysen]

Hey everyone,

I'm beginning this series of monthly check-ins to make sure I understand what you need the most help with right now. I want to then make sure that we are focusing on the right things that would be most useful to you.

In time, I will zoom in on particular areas (e.g. applications/interviews etc.), but for now it will be helpful to have a general sense of what you are struggling with.

I have included the poll above, but please do feel free to comment below to expand. This is often the most eye opening part.

Thank you so much!

Best,
Jaysen

 

[Asil Ahmad]

Thank you for this Jaysen. I wanted to say my biggest struggle is when discussing I am interested in for example litigation and then justifying my reason for it meaning when discussing firm deals or awards justifying why that matters to me. This is where I fall behind in my application writing. This is in the why this firm question.

 

[Y-Gurl]

Thanks Jaysen. I struggle with feeling nervous/anxious as I approach VIs (done one, not heard back) and ACs (got one coming up) and feeling like the nerves affects/will affect my performance.
I also get anxious over every little thing... like if a writing exercise at an AC is a letter, do you have to lay it out with addresses and date etc. ( properly formatted) or just write Dear XXXX then the letter, then sign off either Yours Faithfully/Sincerely (like you write a cover letter that is part of an application)? This kind of thing whirls around my head when I am trying to sleep!
I guess many people feel the same anxieties as me but its how to manage it and perform well. Thanks in anticipation.

 

[Jaysen]

Thank you for this Jaysen. I wanted to say my biggest struggle is when discussing I am interested in for example litigation and then justifying my reason for it meaning when discussing firm deals or awards justifying why that matters to me. This is where I fall behind in my application writing. This is in the why this firm question.

Thanks Jaysen. I struggle with feeling nervous/anxious as I approach VIs (done one, not heard back) and ACs (got one coming up) and feeling like the nerves affects/will affect my performance.
I also get anxious over every little thing... like if a writing exercise at an AC is a letter, do you have to lay it out with addresses and date etc. ( properly formatted) or just write Dear XXXX then the letter, then sign off either Yours Faithfully/Sincerely (like you write a cover letter that is part of an application)? This kind of thing whirls around my head when I am trying to sleep!
I guess many people feel the same anxieties as me but its how to manage it and perform well. Thanks in anticipation.

I appreciate the honesty Asil and @Y-Gurl, thank you very much for sharing.

 

[CorporateLaw101]

Hi Jaysen,

Thanks for creating such a beautiful space for such a niche demographic. The support and attention to detail is unmatched - But I'm sure you know that already!

I have an idea thats more geared towards the actual functionality of the site which I think would really help people.

As the forum has grown significantly, more and more people publicly celebrate their achievements of gaining VI's, AC's, and eventually VS's/TC's. This is great and harbours an immense sense of community.

My suggestion focusses around this celebration of success. I often find myself using the search function for things like 'Linklaters Summer AC' to try and figure out whether places have been offered yet. What if there was a simple functionality that collected the number of those on the forum that had gained VI's/AC's/VS's each cycle, and outputted it onto a page on the forum? Something like a Vacation Scheme Counter.

Whilst we all love seeing fellow TCLA members gaining these positions, the actual date of the scheme (mainly spring/summer) is often negated from the post and can create some confusion amongst those who are still nervously waiting for AC's in particular. If there was some sort of script when writing a post that allowed users to click a box and select that they had been granted a VI/AC/VS etc. for x firm, on x scheme (Winter/Spring/Summer), celebrate that achievement publicly, and collect and output that data into a table; I think it could be such a powerful tool for members.

Let me know your thoughts!

 

[Jaysen]

Hi Jaysen,

Thanks for creating such a beautiful space for such a niche demographic. The support and attention to detail is unmatched - But I'm sure you know that already!

I have an idea thats more geared towards the actual functionality of the site which I think would really help people.

As the forum has grown significantly, more and more people publicly celebrate their achievements of gaining VI's, AC's, and eventually VS's/TC's. This is great and harbours an immense sense of community.

My suggestion focusses around this celebration of success. I often find myself using the search function for things like 'Linklaters Summer AC' to try and figure out whether places have been offered yet. What if there was a simple functionality that collected the number of those on the forum that had gained VI's/AC's/VS's each cycle, and outputted it onto a page on the forum? Something like a Vacation Scheme Counter.

Whilst we all love seeing fellow TCLA members gaining these positions, the actual date of the scheme (mainly spring/summer) is often negated from the post and can create some confusion amongst those who are still nervously waiting for AC's in particular. If there was some sort of script when writing a post that allowed users to click a box and select that they had been granted a VI/AC/VS etc. for x firm, on x scheme (Winter/Spring/Summer), celebrate that achievement publicly, and collect and output that data into a table; I think it could be such a powerful tool for members.

Let me know your thoughts!

This is very kind of you to say - thank you.

I like the concept. Providing meaningful data is an area that we have lacked on in the past and it's something we're actively trying to work on this year. I would also love to have a sense of how many people were securing vacation schemes/training contracts at different firms because it would also highlight whether we are making progress to help people get training contracts.

One of our current challenges is there is no one technical on the team, so I often find it hard to know how much of a challenge something like this would be to implement. But I have added it to our suggestions and it's something we'll come back to - the level of detail/specificity in your post is particularly helpful!

 

[Alison C]

Hi Jaysen,

Thanks for creating such a beautiful space for such a niche demographic. The support and attention to detail is unmatched - But I'm sure you know that already!

I have an idea thats more geared towards the actual functionality of the site which I think would really help people.

As the forum has grown significantly, more and more people publicly celebrate their achievements of gaining VI's, AC's, and eventually VS's/TC's. This is great and harbours an immense sense of community.

My suggestion focusses around this celebration of success. I often find myself using the search function for things like 'Linklaters Summer AC' to try and figure out whether places have been offered yet. What if there was a simple functionality that collected the number of those on the forum that had gained VI's/AC's/VS's each cycle, and outputted it onto a page on the forum? Something like a Vacation Scheme Counter.

Whilst we all love seeing fellow TCLA members gaining these positions, the actual date of the scheme (mainly spring/summer) is often negated from the post and can create some confusion amongst those who are still nervously waiting for AC's in particular. If there was some sort of script when writing a post that allowed users to click a box and select that they had been granted a VI/AC/VS etc. for x firm, on x scheme (Winter/Spring/Summer), celebrate that achievement publicly, and collect and output that data into a table; I think it could be such a powerful tool for members.

Let me know your thoughts!

I wonder if this could be done anonymously? Is that what you meant? Success is not just about the destination - and while many TCLA members use a pseudonym, that isn't always the case. I can imagine that if suddenly users XYZthoughtIdnevergetaTC and 123lawbabe started racking up the VS offers, I might not be so keen to contribute - but maybe I've misunderstood?

I'm all for celebrating achievements, but I'm not sure if this would allay the anxiety that you mention?

(Although I know you didn't ask for my thoughts, I'm treating this as the public forum that you and I clearly both appreciate!)

 

[CorporateLaw101]

I wonder if this could be done anonymously? Is that what you meant? Success is not just about the destination - and while many TCLA members use a pseudonym, that isn't always the case. I can imagine that if suddenly users XYZthoughtIdnevergetaTC and 123lawbabe started racking up the VS offers, I might not be so keen to contribute - but maybe I've misunderstood?

I'm all for celebrating achievements, but I'm not sure if this would allay the anxiety that you mention?

(Although I know you didn't ask for my thoughts, I'm treating this as the public forum that you and I clearly both appreciate!)

Yes, not as a 'leaderboard' ranking those who have gained the most offers by any means! Just simply an anonymous page e.g. 'Linklaters - Spring AC's secured : 12, Summer AC's secured : 0' and the counter would obviously rise with every comment that someone has chosen to publicly celebrate their success already.

To clarify: It would be the exact same process that currently occurs on the vacation scheme forum when someone says 'Links Summer AC!!', but this data could then be fed onto a page anonymously. This forum is excellent but the one thing that myself, and I'm sure many users, struggle with is quantification. As I said above, I often use the search function to rummage through a week of posts to find out whether people have started to gain offers.

One could argue that you simply shouldn't need to compare yourself to others; however, unfortunately it's only human nature and I think it would really help those who are nervously waiting to gain some perspective in terms of their application.

 

[Jaysen]

Yes, not as a 'leaderboard' ranking those who have gained the most offers by any means! Just simply an anonymous page e.g. 'Linklaters - Spring AC's secured : 12, Summer AC's secured : 0' and the counter would obviously rise with every comment that someone has chosen to publicly celebrate their success already.

To clarify: It would be the exact same process that currently occurs on the vacation scheme forum when someone says 'Links Summer AC!!', but this data could then be fed onto a page anonymously. This forum is excellent but the one thing that myself, and I'm sure many users, struggle with is quantification. As I said above, I often use the search function to rummage through a week of posts to find out whether people have started to gain offers.

One could argue that you simply shouldn't need to compare yourself to others; however, unfortunately it's only human nature and I think it would really help those who are nervously waiting to gain some perspective in terms of their application.

This is very helpful, thank you. Any more ideas, please do feel free to use this thread!

 

[LegalTom]

Other - worried about my AC outcome at CC.

 

[Alison C]

Struggling with: Balancing normal life with moving forward, or not (plus research on firms that haven't rejected me yet, research on firms that aren't interested but I tried anyway, aptitude test practising, etc etc). Also, the looming SQE of which I am (to put it politely) deeply suspicious. The thought of still being in an endless application cycle in January 2023, applying for jobs that won't even properly start as an NQ until c 2027....

Grateful for: knowing I'm not the only one struggling with these particular things, knowing that my bank balance is reflecting some of the hard work, keeping going...

What else could TCLA do? Possibly more 'groups' (I'm looking at the list on the left of the landing page here) eg a career changer-specific area; a STEM specific area; an SQE brainstorming area; a "let's set up a study group" area??? But just keeping going with the 'be kind, be marvellous' wordage is generally very helpful.

 

[Jaysen]

Struggling with: Balancing normal life with moving forward, or not (plus research on firms that haven't rejected me yet, research on firms that aren't interested but I tried anyway, aptitude test practising, etc etc). Also, the looming SQE of which I am (to put it politely) deeply suspicious. The thought of still being in an endless application cycle in January 2023, applying for jobs that won't even properly start as an NQ until c 2027....

Grateful for: knowing I'm not the only one struggling with these particular things, knowing that my bank balance is reflecting some of the hard work, keeping going...

What else could TCLA do? Possibly more 'groups' (I'm looking at the list on the left of the landing page here) eg a career changer-specific area; a STEM specific area; an SQE brainstorming area; a "let's set up a study group" area??? But just keeping going with the 'be kind, be marvellous' wordage is generally very helpful.

Really like the idea of groups, thanks Alison!

 

[Alison C]

Really like the idea of groups, thanks Alison!

Another thing: I wonder if (premium only) TCLA could do a large, hyperlinked document with basic information about all the key firms? I'm thinking alphabetical order, with columns for rolling/non; WG; other aptitude tests; closing dates (everything has shifted to much earlier in the year); link to the grad rec information, the firm's 'news' pages, Legal Cheek 'most' data, Legal 500, Chambers, Vault, useful areas on the TCLA website and forum, etc etc.

Also, if possible, the key questions from the past few years? Just to see where the firm's ideology is headed over the changes due to the pandemic and the SQE.

I've done most of this for myself but not the roiling/non-rolling, and eg All About Law doesn't always have the correct closing dates. I'm already bracing myself to be ready to hit the ground running in October, now that I've seen how much of the competition is over by Christmas, and frankly, that means practising the aptitude tests seriously from the early summer, so it's important to know where to put the energy. I do see how this might be a double-edged sword in terms of doing the spadework for everyone when basic research skills are a prerequisite, but forewarned is fore-armed (can't find how best to spell that). Just a suggestion.