2020-21 Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion

[katie.c]

Mine is fairness, focus and generosity
but just because they are unique, doesn't mean they are positive

the 'most unique' ones are the ones that are either above or below average so, for my generosity one, they said that I tend to focus on my own personal goals, as opposed to sharing my resources willingly, but I would say I'm the opposite? If anything, people in the past have said that I'm quite easy to walk over as I tend to want to help others out as much as I possibly can (I've tried to fix this over the years, but my biggest weakness is probably still finding it difficult to say no)

But because, in one game, I prioritised my own money gain, I've now been painted as not generous?

I got effort, focus and fairness but i'm not sure what the effect of this is.

 

[Bonolaw]

What do you guys reckon is the appropriate formality?
If my interviewer's name is Jones Smith and he is considerably older than me, should I refer to him as Jones, or Mr Smtih?

Thank you!

Definitely Mr Smith unless he lets you know otherwise, always show respect first.

 

[E1998]

THE WAIT TO HEAR BACK IS KILLING ME EURGHHH

 

[HorsesForCoursesNeighNeighNeigh]

I heard your camera has to be on throughout the tests...is this true?

YUP and I hope they don't watch it back...

You think you're done, click "next" and they hit you with another pile of maths. At which point I exclaimed "oh for F***s SAKE, S*** OFF"

PLEASE.DONT.REVIEW.VIDEO.

 

[Jacob Miller]

I hope everyone who gets rejected from firms they think they have put in a great application for can understand that this process is so arbitrary! It is really just a numbers game!

In a feedback call with a firm’s grad rec team (rhymes with Meed Mith) yesterday post-research questions (not sure why they offered me this as not everyone seems to have been offered feedback at this stage), they said that the answers to two of my questions were excellent but that the reason I didn’t get an interview was because the answer to my ‘Why commercial law?’ question let me down. Namely, I didn’t mention why that firm, which partners I would be interested in working with and what transferable skills I could offer them. This goes contrary to so much advice I’ve seen both on here and for other firms about only answering the question that is being asked lol, and they even said that this stage of the process was reviewed anonymously from the application form (which was merely an issue of meeting their benchmark) and that from this stage 40 applications were shortlisted from over 700 that had passed the application and SST stage...

I can resonate with this.

I received a post-AC rejection from a firm I won't name - hey, these things happen - but what really disheartened me was the feedback call after. I was basically told I did everything really well, wasn't given any reasons for my actual rejection and wasn't given any areas to improve. Made the whole thing feel completely arbitrary, like names had been drawn out a hat.

The thing I always tried to bear in mind, and what I'd encourage anyone receiving arbitrary-feeling rejections to remember, is that you only need one yes, one opportunity, to show everything you're made of and get to where you need. These sorts of rejections are the one that hurt the worst - there's zero shame in feeling dismayed here and taking some time to recoup.

Stay the course, you'll get there in the end!

 

[MFK]

Have seen others say that their WBD pymetrics report doesn't really reflect their personality - (out of pure interest) for people that have completed the WBD pymetrics test what were your "most unique" attributes? Mine were 1. Fairness 2. Focus and 3. Emotion and I feel like this is similar to results I have gotten in other personality type tests!

I got 1. Learning 2. Risk Tolerance 3. Emotion

 

[Jacob Miller]

What do you guys reckon is the appropriate formality?
If my interviewer's name is Jones Smith and he is considerably older than me, should I refer to him as Jones, or Mr Smtih?

Thank you!

Go with whatever they introduce themselves with, unless they don't introduce themselves in which case use a more formal salutation (eg Mr/ Ms XYZ)

 

[Matt_96]

I can resonate with this.

I received a post-AC rejection from a firm I won't name - hey, these things happen - but what really disheartened me was the feedback call after. I was basically told I did everything really well, wasn't given any reasons for my actual rejection and wasn't given any areas to improve. Made the whole thing feel completely arbitrary, like names had been drawn out a hat.

The thing I always tried to bear in mind, and what I'd encourage anyone receiving arbitrary-feeling rejections to remember, is that you only need one yes, one opportunity, to show everything you're made of and get to where you need. These sorts of rejections are the one that hurt the worst - there's zero shame in feeling dismayed here and taking some time to recoup.

Stay the course, you'll get there in the end!

One firm I interviewed at last cycle just flat out refused to give feedback at all post-interview. Sent out an automated email as if I were PFO'd. So at least you got a call! Today I'd probably do a subject access request, but at the time I wasn't sure whether I wanted to apply there again or not.

 

[Shamillah7]

I passed the judgement test this week! happy to help w guidance

Any tips and advice?

 

[Lauren]

Has anyone heard back from White & Case for summer vac sheme?

 

[Jaysen]

I hope everyone who gets rejected from firms they think they have put in a great application for can understand that this process is so arbitrary! It is really just a numbers game!

In a feedback call with a firm’s grad rec team (rhymes with Meed Mith) yesterday post-research questions (not sure why they offered me this as not everyone seems to have been offered feedback at this stage), they said that the answers to two of my questions were excellent but that the reason I didn’t get an interview was because the answer to my ‘Why commercial law?’ question let me down. Namely, I didn’t mention why that firm, which partners I would be interested in working with and what transferable skills I could offer them. This goes contrary to so much advice I’ve seen both on here and for other firms about only answering the question that is being asked lol, and they even said that this stage of the process was reviewed anonymously from the application form (which was merely an issue of meeting their benchmark) and that from this stage 40 applications were shortlisted from over 700 that had passed the application and SST stage...

I struggle with feedback like this - if they wanted to know why candidates were applying to their firm or what skills they have, why not ask for this? I do think this is the exception rather than the rule here; most firms would want you to stick to the question.

 

[InNeedofaTC]

Anyone willing to share what they scored for Gateley’s ‘four pillars’? I did well for Grit and applied intellect, but my creative force and digital mindset let me down.
Feel as if that’s what they’re after too.
Expecting a PFO

 

[HorsesForCoursesNeighNeighNeigh]

Anyone willing to share what they scored for Gateley’s ‘four pillars’? I did well for Grit and applied intellect, but my creative force and digital mindset let me down.
Feel as if that’s what they’re after too.
Expecting a PFO

I got full 9/9 for applied intellect and 6/9 for the others? Intrigued about that as I'm far more hardworking than smart they might be right about the tech though

 

[JayC]

I struggle with feedback like this - if they wanted to know why candidates were applying to their firm or what skills they have, why not ask for this? I do think this is the exception rather than the rule here; most firms would want you to stick to the question.

Agreed, but I also think this exemplifies why it is necessary to apply to as many firms as one can without sacrificing quality. There is unlikely to be a generic rule at all and it will never be possible to predict what any individual firm's approach is in this regard, but with enough applications it should be possible to find the firms with a matching approach!

 

[Becca]

Does anyone know of any good podcasts that could help with commercial awareness please??

 

[Celestie]

Does anyone know of any good podcasts that could help with commercial awareness please??

FT Podcast and don't be afraid to look at some of the banking ones.

I've come to learn that CA is massively dependent on the firm.

Like... priv~ private equity...

 

[breadpitt]

Go with whatever they introduce themselves with, unless they don't introduce themselves in which case use a more formal salutation (eg Mr/ Ms XYZ)

Thank you Jacob!

 

[Becca]

FT Podcast and don't be afraid to look at some of the banking ones.

I've come to learn that CA is massively dependent on the firm.

Like... priv~ private equity...

Thank you

 

[Legal_Hawk]

Has anyone applied to Disney's legal graduate internship? If so, have you heard anything back?

Yep, got rejected as I'm still in final year. They wanted to hire immediately

 

[layla rose]

Does anyone know of any good podcasts that could help with commercial awareness please??

Watson’s daily is a fun one!