TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2022-23

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average_jo123

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Junior Lawyer
Sep 11, 2021
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@Jessica Booker for international students who want to take part in winter vac schemes but cannot due to most winter vac schemes clashing with term time, how would you suggest approaching discussions with grad rec?

I've heard of firms who would be willing to allow international students on visa to work no more than 20 hours/week so that they do not breach the conditions of their visa, but I personally doubt that candidates themselves would gain a lot from the experience if this was the case because 20 hours/week of exposure to the firm isn't really a lot compared to other candidates who are on the scheme full time.

Would it just be better to ask to be deferred to a spring/summer scheme where it falls outside of term time and there are are no Visa restrictions on working hours? Also would it reflect badly on a candidate who got a winter vac scheme offer to defer due to date clashes with term time? i.e. maybe the candidate should have checked for date clashes before even applying to the winter scheme.
 

Jessica Booker

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Graduate Recruitment
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Forum Team
Aug 1, 2019
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@Jessica Booker for international students who want to take part in winter vac schemes but cannot due to most winter vac schemes clashing with term time, how would you suggest approaching discussions with grad rec?

I've heard of firms who would be willing to allow international students on visa to work no more than 20 hours/week so that they do not breach the conditions of their visa, but I personally doubt that candidates themselves would gain a lot from the experience if this was the case because 20 hours/week of exposure to the firm isn't really a lot compared to other candidates who are on the scheme full time.

Would it just be better to ask to be deferred to a spring/summer scheme where it falls outside of term time and there are are no Visa restrictions on working hours? Also would it reflect badly on a candidate who got a winter vac scheme offer to defer due to date clashes with term time? i.e. maybe the candidate should have checked for date clashes before even applying to the winter scheme.
I would go in to the discussions about moving to a Spring or Summer scheme first, or even to be considered for a direct TC process.

I don't think doing 20 hour weeks is productive unless the scheme is less than 2.5 days long per week. Some firms may be willing to do this, but it's dodgy in my opinion - you'd need to make sure you were only doing 20 hours (and that is combined with any other job you were doing - e.g. part-time work), and reality is you will either miss important parts of the vacation scheme or won't be able to have the same impact as other vacation scheme students. In most instances, you'd probably end up doing more than 20 hours which puts you and the firm at a significant risk.
 
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hiremeplz

Star Member
Premium Member
Junior Lawyer
Jul 20, 2022
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is anyone attending the Cleary Gottlieb AC on nov 16th? I applied for direct TC this summer, but was emailed back saying that I was better suited to a VS so they put me through to the AC for the winter vac scheme. But I haven't heard anything from them since I confirmed my attendance early september
 

BM99

Legendary Member
Premium Member
Sep 12, 2021
622
936
is anyone attending the Cleary Gottlieb AC on nov 16th? I applied for direct TC this summer, but was emailed back saying that I was better suited to a VS so they put me through to the AC for the winter vac scheme. But I haven't heard anything from them since I confirmed my attendance early september
Haven’t seen anyone on this forum sharing about receiving Cleary AC! Still waiting to hear from them haha
 
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