Work experience section on applications

[yzyzyz]

Hi,

I am currently in the process of making applications to various law firms and I am confused as to how to describe my work experience in the designated section on the application form. Normally I'd approach this by highlighting the skills I developed but then it would be repetitive as I usually draw on work experience when answering specific application questions as well. For an example, when justifying why me in the application, I will say that I have developed X and Y skills when working for Z company. But then I do not know what to put in the designated work experience section as I cannot put the same thing but if not then I would not know what to focus on.

If anyone would be so kind to offer me some advice, I'd really appreciate it!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi,

I am currently in the process of making applications to various law firms and I am confused as to how to describe my work experience in the designated section on the application form. Normally I'd approach this by highlighting the skills I developed but then it would be repetitive as I usually draw on work experience when answering specific application questions as well. For an example, when justifying why me in the application, I will say that I have developed X and Y skills when working for Z company. But then I do not know what to put in the designated work experience section as I cannot put the same thing but if not then I would not know what to focus on.

If anyone would be so kind to offer me some advice, I'd really appreciate it!

Personally, my advice is focus on responsibilities and impact/output first, as skills can often be inferred anyway.

 

[yzyzyz]

Personally, my advice is focus on responsibilities and impact/output first, as skills can often be inferred anyway.

Thank you Jessica for the reply! What about numbers? For an example, I negotiated and secured an increase of 200 pounds in funding for an event, should I include the number in both the work experience section and my answer to the application question?

Thank you again!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thank you Jessica for the reply! What about numbers? For an example, I negotiated and secured an increase of 200 pounds in funding for an event, should I include the number in both the work experience section and my answer to the application question?

Thank you again!

Any achievement should be detailed and specific, and so facts like numbers should definitely be included so your answer is more unique.

I’d suggest avoid repetition, but if it is just one part that is repeated, that is fine. But if you are repeating multiple sentences, I’d avoid it and would advise trying to think about how you can have different themes in each section

 

[yzyzyz]

Any achievement should be detailed and specific, and so facts like numbers should definitely be included so your answer is more unique.

I’d suggest avoid repetition, but if it is just one part that is repeated, that is fine. But if you are repeating multiple sentences, I’d avoid it and would advise trying to think about how you can have different themes in each section

Thank you so much Jessica!

 

[James Carrabino]

Hi,

I am currently in the process of making applications to various law firms and I am confused as to how to describe my work experience in the designated section on the application form. Normally I'd approach this by highlighting the skills I developed but then it would be repetitive as I usually draw on work experience when answering specific application questions as well. For an example, when justifying why me in the application, I will say that I have developed X and Y skills when working for Z company. But then I do not know what to put in the designated work experience section as I cannot put the same thing but if not then I would not know what to focus on.

If anyone would be so kind to offer me some advice, I'd really appreciate it!

I think @Jessica Booker's advice is spot on. Personally, I only elaborated and used the full word count for work experience examples where I had a lot to talk about that I thought was directly relevant to the role I was applying to (e.g. specific pieces of work I did on vac schemes). When I mentioned my part-time pub job right after leaving school I just said that I worked front of house and enjoyed engaging with customers. I did not try to really milk all the possible competencies and skills out of my answer - they could infer what I learnt from that role. I learnt a huge amount from that job but it is reasonably well-known what the responsibilities of a bartender are so I did not feel a need to elaborate too much.

 

[yzyzyz]

I think @Jessica Booker's advice is spot on. Personally, I only elaborated and used the full word count for work experience examples where I had a lot to talk about that I thought was directly relevant to the role I was applying to (e.g. specific pieces of work I did on vac schemes). When I mentioned my part-time pub job right after leaving school I just said that I worked front of house and enjoyed engaging with customers. I did not try to really milk all the possible competencies and skills out of my answer - they could infer what I learnt from that role. I learnt a huge amount from that job but it is reasonably well-known what the responsibilities of a bartender are so I did not feel a need to elaborate too much.

Thank you James for such helpful advice!

 

[James Carrabino]

Thank you James for such helpful advice!

Any time!

 

[yzyzyz]

@James Carrabino @Jessica Booker
Sorry a follow up question, should I include open days, insight events and virtual internships in the work experience section? Currently I have them all listed in one box but I don’t know if I should expand and talk about each of them separately (I have quite a few)? Thank you so much!

 

[Jessica Booker]

@James Carrabino @Jessica Booker
Sorry a follow up question, should I include open days, insight events and virtual internships in the work experience section? Currently I have them all listed in one box but I don’t know if I should expand and talk about each of them separately (I have quite a few)? Thank you so much!

I think your approach is the right one. Your application will become very long if you included them all as individual entries, and a firm is probably much more interested int he part time job you did than the open days you have been to, so I wouldn’t want some open days to supersede a part time job or a volunteer role you have done for a period of time.

 

[yzyzyz]

I think your approach is the right one. Your application will become very long if you included them all as individual entries, and a firm is probably much more interested int he part time job you did than the open days you have been to, so I wouldn’t want some open days to supersede a part time job or a volunteer role you have done for a period of time.

Thank you Jessica, I will just leave them then!

 

[James Carrabino]

@James Carrabino @Jessica Booker
Sorry a follow up question, should I include open days, insight events and virtual internships in the work experience section? Currently I have them all listed in one box but I don’t know if I should expand and talk about each of them separately (I have quite a few)? Thank you so much!

I had them in one box myself!

 

[yzyzyz]

I had them in one box myself!

Thank you James!

 

[IT7]

Hi, in addition to work experience, certain firms have a question like:

Please use the space below to provide details of any careers events you have attended e.g. insight days, workshops, presentations etc.

However, if someone has not attended any career events like this, should the section just be left blank? If not, what should be mentioned in it? And is it a disadvantage if I don't have anything to mention there? Firms like White and Case, Baker Mckenzie etc have an entire box dedicated to this question, with around 300-500 words.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi, in addition to work experience, certain firms have a question like:

Please use the space below to provide details of any careers events you have attended e.g. insight days, workshops, presentations etc.

However, if someone has not attended any career events like this, should the section just be left blank? If not, what should be mentioned in it? And is it a disadvantage if I don't have anything to mention there? Firms like White and Case, Baker Mckenzie etc have an entire box dedicated to this question, with around 300-500 words.

Do you have experience in the legal sector?

I think it is fine for these to be blank but you need to have strong evidence elsewhere that you have strongly considered and pursued opportunities to understand the career and prepare for it.

For some people they will be able to do this with work experience, mentoring programmes, sometimes even extra curriculars. Some people will be able to very clearly and in a precise and detailed way explain why the career is for them too, but typically those people have other experiences outside of law that they can then compared/draw similarities and differences from to explain they have clearly thought through my commercial law and that type of law firm is for them.

But if you haven’t got strong evidence elsewhere, I highly recommend these events. It’s never too late to sign up to them and attend them as they tend to run throughout the year via firms, media partners like Rare, SEO, Aspiring Soliciots and the like, as well as your via your university career service/law faculty/student societies.

 

[Celestie]

Hi, in addition to work experience, certain firms have a question like:

Please use the space below to provide details of any careers events you have attended e.g. insight days, workshops, presentations etc.

However, if someone has not attended any career events like this, should the section just be left blank? If not, what should be mentioned in it? And is it a disadvantage if I don't have anything to mention there? Firms like White and Case, Baker Mckenzie etc have an entire box dedicated to this question, with around 300-500 words.

This is a good question and something you can actually solve in 2 ways:
1. You leave it blank - which is honest!
2. You can go onto Vantage and do the online vac schemes - there are some CC and W&C on there I believe! Furthermore, I would try grab some law fairs with LegalCheek, Lawcareers.net etc as they usually have some law firms coming there. As for insight days - there will be some open days in Feb as well (I did some for BCLP etc then).

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thank you for your response @Jessica Booker and @Celestie, it was extremely helpful! I will definitely have a look through the virtual vacation scheme options available.

To answer your question Jessica, I do have experience in the legal sector, since I have done multiple internships with law firms and an international disputes organisation. Further, a majority of my extra-curriculars are law-oriented, for example: mooting and commercial negotiation competitions. However, since I'm an student studying law in India currently, I wasn't aware of the various events available by Rare, Aspiring Solicitors etc until very recently! There are certain informal presentations/talks hosted by Indian law firms and alumni working in foreign law firms that I have attended through my university, but they aren't really formal "Career Events/Open Days", nor has there been any certificate issued confirming that I attended them.

Since I'm already in my penultimate year of law school and I am applying to these firms for vacation schemes in the current cycle, I'm not sure if there would be any opportunities to attend career events etc in the next few weeks. In this situation, apart from the virtual vacation schemes, is there something else I can do to answer this question? How would you recommend I approach it?

You can list those events in India as career events. I wouldn’t worry too much about this, as it will be obvious you won’t have had the same access to some of the opportunities as U.K. students.

 

[IT7]

You can list those events in India as career events. I wouldn’t worry too much about this, as it will be obvious you won’t have had the same access to some of the opportunities as U.K. students.

This makes sense, thank you so much!