General Discussion Thread 2020-21

[TCLA Community Assistant]

I think it’s unethical in terms of fairness. A number of people have already done the interview, including me. I’ve offered help without specifically mentioning questions. Personally think word of mouth is better as most people will have no advantage.

I’ve figured out who the person is but won’t share.

Agree re: the last point.

unfortunately there is a lot of unfairness in these things. It could be argued sharing questions actually makes it more fairer...

Word of mouth can spread unequally though, typically to the most privileged and most connected, and with as much reach as an online forum. At least anyone can access this forum.

Even if you could identify the individual and shared that with the firm, what is that going to achieve? Vast majority of candidates will be unsuccessful in a recruitment process anyway, so have nothing to lose.

 

[AH9891]

I think it’s unethical in terms of fairness. A number of people have already done the interview, including me. I’ve offered help without specifically mentioning questions. Personally think word of mouth is better as most people will have no advantage.

I’ve figured out who the person is but won’t share.

Agree re: the last point.

When I had my assessment centre, the three people there with me knew every single detail of the case study. Two of them started writing their notes down before we had even been given the piece. It was beyond ridiculous and so blatantly obvious. This was through other people from their university (happened to all be from Cambridge, but this could have obviously happened at any other uni) who had already done the AC. It was my first AC and I have talked about this experience on here before. I felt so disadvantaged and stressed about it all day, which really ruins the experience. I think offering some advice is perfectly fine, but this goes too far and I do think it’s unethical as I’d say that’s cheating. So I understand your frustration. However, it’s a competitive market so people will try to have every advantage they can have and sometimes those means are a bit questionable

 

[hopelesscaseofwhat]

@Charles (i hope i got the correct user) I for one think it was extremely generous of you to share with us the questions you got on the VI. It's particularly helpful for those of us who are going through the process for the first time because I had NO idea what to expect and now, even though I may not get the same questions, I understand there is a broader range of stuff I might be facing. It's not like I can retain my answers by heart anyway; just like with the initial application, this is an extremely personal stage to the application overall, one which cannot truly be cheated since there are further, probably more stringent stages that will probably make a candidate's dishonesty very obvious since they will be face-to-face experiences, with follow-up questions and such.

 

[gg999]

While I understand some people fustruations, there are A LOT of people on this forum and others that privately message asking about VI questions, case study details and questions they were asked at assessment centre, to the point of harassment in some cases (you know who you are). Some people have the bravery of doing it openly on the forum. Unfortunately law is not the only profession this is unique in.

I understand both sides of the argument for and against sharing, but I think Jessica has summed it up pretty well. I also think it is a curse having pre-prepared for a VI or a case study as both of these change a lot as firms are aware that people share information.

I would try focusing on doing the best you can and not worry about what others are doing in general or at assessment centres.

 

[Alice G]

While I understand some people fustruations, there are A LOT of people on this forum and others that privately message asking about VI questions, case study details and questions they were asked at assessment centre, to the point of harassment in some cases (you know who you are). Some people have the bravery of doing it openly on the forum. Unfortunately law is not the only profession this is unique in.

I understand both sides of the argument for and against sharing, but I think Jessica has summed it up pretty well. I also think it is a curse having pre-prepared for a VI or a case study as both of these change a lot as firms are aware that people share information.

I would try focusing on doing the best you can and not worry about what others are doing in general or at assessment centres.

To add to this, if you know the details of a case study, you are more than likely going to simply head for the obvious and recycle whatever the person has told you. This is not original and therefore is not a successful strategy for a technical interview. You want to head into these interviews and find your own original and impressive responses as this will make you memorable. Imagine how easy it would be to skip past the nuances if your brain has already decided it knows the best and most relevant points to make.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

To add to this, if you know the details of a case study, you are more than likely going to simply head for the obvious and recycle whatever the person has told you. This is not original and therefore is not a successful strategy for a technical interview. You want to head into these interviews and find your own original and impressive responses as this will make you memorable. Imagine how easy it would be to skip past the nuances if your brain has already decided it knows the best and most relevant points to make.

Completely this - also good interviewers will get under the skin of your thinking. When people seem overly prepared or you get an inkling someone has been told something and just repeating it parrot fashion (which happens a lot), you tend to use a similar but different question. Eg: so this example is about the Chinese markets, what do you think would be the outcome if it is a French market? Also, sometimes people come into an interview with another advantage - I remember interviewing someone about a shipping case study, and we found out pretty quickly that they actually had a lot of knowledge/experience in this field. So we turned the interview questions into more abstract thinking and things that were more outside of their comfort zone.

Also, you are assuming the points the person has given you are the most important/most relevant. The answers they may have given you may lack creative thinking, and you may actually have better solutions/ideas but you are tunnel visioned into thinking the answers/points they gave you were “right”.

TLDR: it’s not your answers as such, it’s more showing your thinking. If you are using someone else’s thinking that will soon become apparent

 

[Changes]

@Charles (i hope i got the correct user) I for one think it was extremely generous of you to share with us the questions you got on the VI. It's particularly helpful for those of us who are going through the process for the first time because I had NO idea what to expect and now, even though I may not get the same questions, I understand there is a broader range of stuff I might be facing. It's not like I can retain my answers by heart anyway; just like with the initial application, this is an extremely personal stage to the application overall, one which cannot truly be cheated since there are further, probably more stringent stages that will probably make a candidate's dishonesty very obvious since they will be face-to-face experiences, with follow-up questions and such.

With all due respect, there are a lot of people who haven’t been through this process before. It isn’t difficult to google and find out the sorts of questions and format, plenty of people manage that just fine and then put a lot of effort into preparing. Plus I’ve given advice to people in threads and via PM without fully disclosing questions.

Anyway, not going to go on like a broken record. I personally don’t think it’s right and shouldn’t be encouraged, even if it is difficult to prevent. People shouldn’t be given kudos for it.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Where do we draw the line though?

Is it ok to tell people themes in detail but not the precise wording of a question?

it would be good to know - we are a community on here and should probably have some basic principles to which we all abide by.

 

[gg999]

Where do we draw the line though?

Is it ok to tell people themes in detail but not the precise wording of a question?

it would be good to know - we are a community on here and should probably have some basic principles to which we all abide by.

I agree with you Jessica, there should be some general rules/principles we all abide by on this forum in order to make things as fair as possible, whilst also remaining a helpful, useful and supportive community.

 

[lawlad]

If anyone is waiting to hear back from Dentons after first round interview for TC they emailed me this last week 'We are holding on progressing to the next stage of the Training Contract application process for now, so unfortunately will be unable to provide you with an outcome at this time.' =)

 

[Miki3999]

If anyone is waiting to hear back from Dentons after first round interview for TC they emailed me this last week 'We are holding on progressing to the next stage of the Training Contract application process for now, so unfortunately will be unable to provide you with an outcome at this time.' =)

hmmmm I haven't got that email.. thanks for letting us know!

 

[Popal]

hmmmm I haven't got that email.. thanks for letting us know!

Me neither! But I had only gone through to WG online tests, haven’t heard more than that.

Is this for direct TC applications?

 

[Miki3999]

Me neither! But I had only gone through to WG online tests, haven’t heard more than that.

Is this for direct TC applications?

Yes, it doesn't look promising tbh haha

 

[Charles]

@Charles (i hope i got the correct user) I for one think it was extremely generous of you to share with us the questions you got on the VI. It's particularly helpful for those of us who are going through the process for the first time because I had NO idea what to expect and now, even though I may not get the same questions, I understand there is a broader range of stuff I might be facing. It's not like I can retain my answers by heart anyway; just like with the initial application, this is an extremely personal stage to the application overall, one which cannot truly be cheated since there are further, probably more stringent stages that will probably make a candidate's dishonesty very obvious since they will be face-to-face experiences, with follow-up questions and such.

hey @hopelesscaseofwhat yeah you did get my handle right. You're very much welcome and it is kind of you. Good luck with your VI

 

[Charles]

With all due respect, there are a lot of people who haven’t been through this process before. It isn’t difficult to google and find out the sorts of questions and format, plenty of people manage that just fine and then put a lot of effort into preparing. Plus I’ve given advice to people in threads and via PM without fully disclosing questions.

Anyway, not going to go on like a broken record. I personally don’t think it’s right and shouldn’t be encouraged, even if it is difficult to prevent. People shouldn’t be given kudos for it.

@Changes let it slide. we get it, you dont support it but like others have said there are arguments in sharing your experiences/questions. It's like past questions for an exam preparation - I do believe that I can share the questions I have gone through but lets not let our personal opinions get in the way of this community.

And for those who have used some words like stupid to describe this issue in question I am really struggling to understand how your choice of words will help the other side see your point. Please let's be considerate with our words.

In regards to setting principles (a noble idea) please can the principles be accomodating to all of us with different viewpoints but are here because we share a commonality.

 

[lawlad]

Yes, it doesn't look promising tbh haha

I actually applied for a vac scheme and they moved me onto a TC application which might make a difference!

 

[Jaysen]

Valid points on both sides I think.

@Changes, I can see why you think it's unfair. At the same time, so many people do share these questions privately, so I feel there's merit in at least having them accessible to everyone in a public place (this is why we have an interview experiences section). As has been discussed, these questions are often one of many from a bank, so candidates can often get a completely different set of questions.

Sometimes, I'll redact parts of interview experiences if it's too specific, but aside from that, I'm also generally very hesitant to censure genuine information on here.

A set of community guidelines is a great idea and long overdue. Will have a further think on this!

 

[Popal]

I actually applied for a vac scheme and they moved me onto a TC application which might make a difference!

That’s interesting! What stage have you got to so far?

 

[Ar2016]

any tip for virtual assesmment centre (with written exercise and partner interview)

 

[lawlad]

That’s interesting! What stage have you got to so far?

To the 1st round interview