hi all,
its yet another application season and i feel so defeated by the last one that i am slowly losing hope of ever getting of tc... would love to hear some of your stories or words of encouragement!
i went to a red brick uni, completed the lpc and have 3 years experience as a paralegal incl 2 years in a MC firm. last year i secured 2 vac schemes and got to the final interviews, i also applied to some firms directly and also got to the final stages and then a big disappointment comes. the feedback is very rarely helpful too - the most recent firm said i scored the highest from all candidates across 3 weeks during a VC, my soft skills are great and yet the others were still better than me
slowly losing hope as i dont get much guidance on what to work on. i am not from the uk but lived here for over 5 years and really really want to stay and start working as a solictor!!
i am not considering qualifying under the sqe as im worried i wont get an NQ role (definitely not getting it at my firm).
any tips or words of encouragement v welcome!
Hi
@needatccccc! First, thank you for sharing your story - I have faced many rejections too, but I cannot imagine how frustrating it has to be to get as close to the finish line like you have. In this circumstance it's completely normal to feel disheartened and hopeless. However, as cliche as it sounds, I would advise you to never give up on your dream! Firstly, your completion of the LPC, the vacation schemes, and the extent of your paralegal experience shows that this is a career you know you actually want to pursue and which would be a great fit for you. It is not something you are applying for simply because everyone else in law school is and because it is well paid. As such, I think the expected benefit for you when you succeed might be a lot greater than for other people.
Secondly, your experience clearly shows that you have what it takes to succeed. Even getting a paralegal role at an MC firm is really impressive, while getting two vacation schemes in a single cycle is something most candidates only dream of. You cannot consider the fact that you didn't receive a TC offer as any proof of your lack of ability or skill. Having completed vacation schemes myself, I can attest to how much the luck factor counts: which practice are and team you are allocate to, the supervisor and how well you get along with them, the chosen assessment methods and how well the fit you, the personality of the partners interviewing you, the performance of the people who are interviewed just before and after you, the different specific weighing of the different relevant criteria etc. - these are all variable circumstances that can play a huge role on your chances of converting a VS or not.
To share an example from my own experience: I was in the same vacation scheme as a friend from university, but we were placed in different practice areas. My practice area was not busy at all, while his was overloaded with work. Consequently, I finished everyday at 5pm and also had plenty of time to network and prepare for the final interviews and assessments. Because everyone was relaxed, it was also very easy to form a good connection with my supervisor and other team members. Thus, they probably spoke highly of me during reviews. My friend, on the other hand, was leaving the office every day at 10pm. He also had no time to socialize and get to know people in the firm and had to be quick with preparation for the final assessments. Because everyone in his team was very stressed and on edge, it was also exponentially more difficult to get to know them on a personal level and establish positive informal relations. At the end of the vacation scheme I received a TC offer and although he had to work a lot harder than me, he did not. The reason was not that I was a better applicant than him, but simply that circumstances beyond our control meant that I had a significantly more favorable position. If the firm had chosen to also assess us on the amount and quality of our work product (like many other firms do), he would have had substantially better odds. This is just a very evident example of the impact of the luck factor, but I think the totality of varying circumstances of any vacation scheme experience can have the same impact.
Thirdly, you should not give up because I think you have significantly better chances of succeeding this year than you did the last. The mere fact that you have completed two vacation schemes signals a very strong candidate profile to recruiters. This means that you should expect an increased number of interviews/ACs from the same number of applications. Moreover, being able to refer to your previous vacation schemes experiences in front of partners in an interview will also definitely help set you apart from the crowd. Hence, I think that this year you have both higher chances of both getting to the final stages and in converting those final stages.
Finally, I just wanted to mention that I believe that if there is one common characteristic of success stories, it is resilience. You cannot control the external circumstances around you, but you can control the attitude you take towards them. The people we admire the most are those who despite all setbacks and difficulties find a way to always get back on their feet and keep moving forward. I think this is the only attitude you can be truly proud of in hindsight. It is also the reason why I (and many others) eventually succeeded after many rejections. So, if I were you, I would strive for unyielding resolution to achieve my goal and I would use all the frustration and anxiety as a source of motivation to push myself harder than ever this application cycle.
