extracurricular question

[LH06]

Hello,
On a vac scheme application there is a question asking 'provide details of your main extracurricular interests and achievements. how have these helped you to develop the skills you will need as a commercial solicitor?

I am the competition officer for my law society, treasurer for lawyers without borders, and welfare officer for the film society. i am also a peer mentor to first-year students. how do I include these in the question? Besides these, I have not made any real achievements.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Hello,
On a vac scheme application there is a question asking 'provide details of your main extracurricular interests and achievements. how have these helped you to develop the skills you will need as a commercial solicitor?

I am the competition officer for my law society, treasurer for lawyers without borders, and welfare officer for the film society. i am also a peer mentor to first-year students. how do I include these in the question? Besides these, I have not made any real achievements.

That’s a lot of different things to include and they are great evidence for this question. Break down the skills you feel you have developed from these experiences that are transferable to a career in law and then evidence that with specifics of your responsbilities or achievements within each role to back up the claim of those skills.

 

[random6035]

Just jumping onto this thread, @Jessica Booker I graduated in 2023; should I still be including extra-curriculars I did at uni in these sort of questions? I was really active in societies back at uni, but since I've started my full-time job, I haven't really been able to do anything outside of work...

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Just jumping onto this thread, @Jessica Booker I graduated in 2023; should I still be including extra-curriculars I did at uni in these sort of questions? I was really active in societies back at uni, but since I've started my full-time job, I haven't really been able to do anything outside of work...

Yes - you can still include your university activities (and even those from school/college if appropriate). Firms like to see you kept yourself busy during your studies when you are ultimately a lot less busy than you are when you are in full-time employment.

If you have been involved in anything at work but outside of your contracted job (e.g. fundraising, CSR, internal employee/network groups, mentoring programmes), you can also include these in your extracurriculars too.