- Feb 17, 2018
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Ask Willkie Farr & Gallagher Anything!
- Thread starter Jaysen
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Hi @WilkieGemma
I have a question that feels dumb to ask, but I'm filling out an application for a Vacation Scheme and one question refers to a promise that I made to someone and how I fulfilled it whilst balancing competing priorities. I have two potential answers, one relates to a personal promise and the other relates to a work-related obligation that appeared out of nowhere and I had to adapt on the go while managing other duties (not a promise, though).
Which option would you recommend? Thanks so much!
I have a question that feels dumb to ask, but I'm filling out an application for a Vacation Scheme and one question refers to a promise that I made to someone and how I fulfilled it whilst balancing competing priorities. I have two potential answers, one relates to a personal promise and the other relates to a work-related obligation that appeared out of nowhere and I had to adapt on the go while managing other duties (not a promise, though).
Which option would you recommend? Thanks so much!
Hi Gemma,
Hope you had a lovely holiday!
Do you have any advice on answering this question below:
If successful in securing a training contract after the Summer Internship, what do you anticipate will be the key challenges of the International Training Programme for you? How would you approach these challenges, and what resources or support do you believe you would need to overcome them?
Thank you!
Thank you, I did!
I think they are looking for you to have clearly researched their firm and training programme and display a realistic view of the challenges you will face as a trainee (not as an associate or partner), with clear solutions (or examples in the past where you have had similar challenges and overcome them). If it is a 250 word answer, I'd have three challenge, if it is 200, I would have two challenges.
Hi @Rach_H your question is absolutely not dumb - a promise is a really ridiculous concept on an application form. I would interpret this as any type of commitment, whether committing to a project/job/task at hand. I would absolutely not use the personal promise (I think that is no employer's business tbh) and I would focus on using work or extra curricular based examples, that continue to emphasise your achievements.
HI @wenshangfang - yes you do. I'm afraid if you don't list them, grad recruiters will simply think you haven't done well in your modules and that is why they are not included.
Hi all,
Not a question, but a word of encouragement to not even hesitate for a moment in applying to Willkie's vacation scheme!
The application process is one of the smoothest I've experienced, much owed to Gemma's talent as a graduate recruiter. And the vacation scheme itself, as someone who did it last year, covers all bases and is one of the best you'll find in the City; again, much owed to Gemma's organisation of it.
Good luck all!
NB I'm not at Willkie, so can't even say I'm biased!
Not a question, but a word of encouragement to not even hesitate for a moment in applying to Willkie's vacation scheme!
The application process is one of the smoothest I've experienced, much owed to Gemma's talent as a graduate recruiter. And the vacation scheme itself, as someone who did it last year, covers all bases and is one of the best you'll find in the City; again, much owed to Gemma's organisation of it.
Good luck all!
NB I'm not at Willkie, so can't even say I'm biased!
Hi Gemma, I have a question relating to the ratio of offers made between winter vs, spring vs, summer vs, and direct TC. If a firm offers four openings as such within one cycle, how will they split the offers?
1. For example, if a firm offers 50 TC a year, all winter and spring vac schemers perform well and fill up about 49 TC spots, does it mean there will only be one opening for direct TC applicants?
2. Alternatively, will the firm reserve a fixed amount of numbers for direct TC applicants, say 10 spots, which means the remaining 40 offers will be split equally between the two vacation schemes? But isn't it entirely possible that the winter intake cohort performs better than the spring/summer cohort?
I ask this question because I heard from two different opinions: some say I should apply for direct TC because it is less competitive, which is true if the firm does reserve a certain amount of spots as described in 2.
However, some told that there could be 1,000 direct TC applicants fighting for 1-2 spots, as described in 1, which makes the direct route more competitive. Is that right?
It would be great if you can share what Willkie's preference is. Many thanks for your time.
1. For example, if a firm offers 50 TC a year, all winter and spring vac schemers perform well and fill up about 49 TC spots, does it mean there will only be one opening for direct TC applicants?
2. Alternatively, will the firm reserve a fixed amount of numbers for direct TC applicants, say 10 spots, which means the remaining 40 offers will be split equally between the two vacation schemes? But isn't it entirely possible that the winter intake cohort performs better than the spring/summer cohort?
I ask this question because I heard from two different opinions: some say I should apply for direct TC because it is less competitive, which is true if the firm does reserve a certain amount of spots as described in 2.
However, some told that there could be 1,000 direct TC applicants fighting for 1-2 spots, as described in 1, which makes the direct route more competitive. Is that right?
It would be great if you can share what Willkie's preference is. Many thanks for your time.
Jessica Booker
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Not Gemma, but to talk about the generally, I’d stress that it’s highly unlikely that all vacation scheme students will meet the requirements to get a TC offer, and even if that was the case, not all people will accept their TC offer.
Different firms will have different approaches to this based on what typically happens for them as a firm though. Even when they have these approaches, they also need to be flexible because recruitment isn’t always predictable where you are having to build it around lots of different people with their own set of variables.
Hi @al97
We don't have any direct TC applications, as we only recruit via the vac scheme.
Okay, I'll try to answer as best I can. The first, and most important thing to bear in mind, is that no firm operates a quota/split system. @Jessica Booker will back me up on this! Firms simply offer to those they want to, rather than, saying, we will offer 15 TCs on each of the three vac schemes, leaving us with five TC places for direct applicants - you simply offer to those you would like to make an offer to. You would never not offer a TC to an excellent vac scheme candidate because you need to hold back places for direct TC applicants. Resultantly, I know of many firms that, when it comes around to the direct TC times have very few places left.
If a firm says the majority of TCs are offered via the vac scheme, then you should absolutely apply for a vac scheme.
Hope that helps
Gemma
I'm happy to receive replies from both GR-experts! Thank you a lot for the detailed explanation. If I may ask a follow-up question here:
As you have mentioned, firms simply offer to those they want, so it is entirely possible that they might fill up 90-99% of the TC offers from the vac schemers? I understand that some firms ONLY recruit from vac schemes, while some select predominantly from vac schemes, and some did not explicitly urge candidates to apply for the vac schemes.
My concern is that, the later I apply, the less opportunities are left. For example, if I am a full-time paralegal and unable to take 2 weeks of annual leave, the only option is the direct TC.
May I know your advice?
As you have mentioned, firms simply offer to those they want, so it is entirely possible that they might fill up 90-99% of the TC offers from the vac schemers? I understand that some firms ONLY recruit from vac schemes, while some select predominantly from vac schemes, and some did not explicitly urge candidates to apply for the vac schemes.
My concern is that, the later I apply, the less opportunities are left. For example, if I am a full-time paralegal and unable to take 2 weeks of annual leave, the only option is the direct TC.
May I know your advice?
Jessica Booker
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- Aug 1, 2019
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At the same time of offering candidates as they go, firms are mindful they have future talent pipelines to utilise and that there could be as good or even better talent in that pipeline too. They don’t want to potentially lose that talent as well, and so they won’t offer all their TC spaces to earlier vac schemers.
So doing a later vacation scheme is not going to put you at a disadvantage. Firms generally are not going to run too many vac schemes with too many places if they can easily convert them to TCs too, so it’s just highly unlikely that by the time their Spring VS concludes they have filled all their TC places and can’t offer any to their summer vacation scheme students.
When looking at whether to apply for a vacation scheme or a direct training contract, I use a crude but basic calculation to give you an estimate of how many direct TCs are likely to be there.
Vacation scheme places total numbers across an academic year x 75% = X
X x 75% = Y
Y - Total number of TC places = estimated number of likely direct TC spots available
The above is a basic calculation for all firms though. For some firms the offer % (the first stage of the calculation) is much lower. For firms that recruit competitive talent, their acceptance rate (the second part of the calculation) can be much lower too. But it gives you some idea to work from.
Alternatively look out for stats such as the percentage of trainees who did a vacation scheme with the firm. These stats are sometimes of Chambers Student Guide profiles.
Hi Jess, this is incredibly helpful, thank you for the detailed calculation, appreciate it!
Hi Gemma
I wonder if you can offer advice for a PGDL Law Conversion student. I had to resit my Land Law MCQ Exam and evidently on Vac Scheme & TC applications, one of the initial questions is ‘have you had to resit an exam’ etc. and requests an explanation if this result affects my abilities in any way. There were no mitigating circumstances, and I narrowly missed the pass mark, but nonetheless, it was a fail & resit. Can you offer advice on answering this question which won’t result in my application being automatically dismissed?
I wonder if you can offer advice for a PGDL Law Conversion student. I had to resit my Land Law MCQ Exam and evidently on Vac Scheme & TC applications, one of the initial questions is ‘have you had to resit an exam’ etc. and requests an explanation if this result affects my abilities in any way. There were no mitigating circumstances, and I narrowly missed the pass mark, but nonetheless, it was a fail & resit. Can you offer advice on answering this question which won’t result in my application being automatically dismissed?
Hi @MayaM0921
You need to give a fresh answer, or at least further elaborate on the points made in the application form. Application form answers are only 250 words generally, so my hope would be that you would have more than 250 words to say about the career or the firm you're applying to.
thanks
Gemma
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