Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!

[Dwight]

Hi @Jessica Booker,

In some applications, firms tend to ask whether I had applied to them for any position before. Why do firms ask this? I am currently applying to a firm for a VS but was rejected from their first-year scheme. Is this something that will (negatively) impact on my VS application?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker,

In some applications, firms tend to ask whether I had applied to them for any position before. Why do firms ask this? I am currently applying to a firm for a VS but was rejected from their first-year scheme. Is this something that will (negatively) impact on my VS application?

Because they want to know if you have applied before - it is particularly important to make sure people don't apply twice to the same vacancy.

It won't be a negative if you have applied before and have been unsuccessful - lots of candidates will improve their applications. And they can be looking for different things from a first-year programme to a vacation scheme applicant.

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Hello @Jessica Booker hope you are doing well. Could you please tell me, what do people even say about fancy clients that the firm has? I mean, the clients could choose any firm they want to and just because a client has worked with a firm in the past doesn't mean that the client can't give a new deal to some other? Besides, what is it even about the big clients that attracts applicants? I don't want to make any such point but was just curious.

Thanks.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hello @Jessica Booker hope you are doing well. Could you please tell me, what do people even say about fancy clients that the firm has? I mean, the clients could choose any firm they want to and just because a client has worked with a firm in the past doesn't mean that the client can't give a new deal to some other? Besides, what is it even about the big clients that attracts applicants? I don't want to make any such point but was just curious.

Thanks.

It might be worthwhile posting in the general forum to get other people’s thoughts on why they want to work with certain clients.

For some people it will be the prestige and being at the forefront of business/markets
For some people it will be the complexity of work the clients bring
For some people it will be the international element (if appropriate)
For some it will be just working with like minded people

And yes, clients can choose other firms and it ultimately happens a fair amount that clients do come and go. Firms lose position of legal rosters all the time, but also gain them from other firms. It’s why they put so.much effort into business development and client relationship management.

But some clients will want to work with a particular firm because they just like working with their lawyers. Yes, expertise and experience also play into it, but ultimately working with people you like and get on with is a massive point. It is why when partners move firms or when there are changes in in-house legal leaderships, clients tend to change firms on occasion.

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Hello @Jessica Booker hope you are doing well. Could you please tell me, how can I make the work experience section of a legal internship interesting, given that I was just asked to carry out legal research on a number of issues and to prepare short notes on a few legal topics. I really don't think I can tick off competencies that the firm looks for using this work experience entry. I'm worried that it might sound really boring. If it helps, this is for the Linklaters Direct TC app that only asks us for 3 pieces of work experience.

Thanks.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hello @Jessica Booker hope you are doing well. Could you please tell me, how can I make the work experience section of a legal internship interesting, given that I was just asked to carry out legal research on a number of issues and to prepare short notes on a few legal topics. I really don't think I can tick off competencies that the firm looks for using this work experience entry. I'm worried that it might sound really boring. If it helps, this is for the Linklaters Direct TC app that only asks us for 3 pieces of work experience.

Thanks.

You don't have to make it interesting and one piece of work experience doesn't have to tick off a load of competencies. Competencies are assessed across a whole application - it's not a requirement to cover every competency at every entry.

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Hello @Jessica Booker hope you are doing well. Could you please tell me, how should we go about detailing legal research tasks that we were given in a law firm internship. I had done about 10-15 legal researches to find out the position of the law on certain topics. How much detail should I go into while writing about this work experience entry? I carried out interesting researches (for example the legal requirements of setting up an Airline), and boring researches (for example finding if a particular section of the Income Tax Act would apply to our client). The way that I see this is, the Grad Rec team might find general research based tasks more interesting to read so should I prefer airline requirements over income tax issues? Please, correct me if I'm wrong here?

Second, should the "s" and the "a" of senior associate be capitalised?

Thanks.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hello @Jessica Booker hope you are doing well. Could you please tell me, how should we go about detailing legal research tasks that we were given in a law firm internship. I had done about 10-15 legal researches to find out the position of the law on certain topics. How much detail should I go into while writing about this work experience entry? I carried out interesting researches (for example the legal requirements of setting up an Airline), and boring researches (for example finding if a particular section of the Income Tax Act would apply to our client). The way that I see this is, the Grad Rec team might find general research based tasks more interesting to read so should I prefer airline requirements over income tax issues? Please, correct me if I'm wrong here?

Second, should the "s" and the "a" of senior associate be capitalised?

Thanks.

I’ll be frank. On an application a graduate recruiter doesn't really think about whether the research task was interesting or not. They just care that you did it. They know you will be given boring tasks in you role and therefore how interesting your past experience is, isn't really relevant. They just want to know you’d do a good job no matter how interesting or not the task was.

Think about it more in terms of what is transferable. If you are applying to a firm with a strong airline sector, you’d focus on on that task. If you were applying to a firm with a compulsory tax seat, you'd highlight that task.

For the capitalisation, it depends on how you are writing it. In the vast majority of cases, it won't be capitalised, but there are some exceptions. This article explains it well:

Capitalization of Job Titles: When Is It Necessary?

Knowing when to capitalize job titles can stump you when writing an email or filling out a form. Learn the general rules so you're not confused again here!

grammar.yourdictionary.com

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

I’ll be frank. On an application a graduate recruiter doesn't really think about whether the research task was interesting or not. They just care that you did it. They know you will be given boring tasks in you role and therefore how interesting your past experience is, isn't really relevant. They just want to know you’d do a good job no matter how interesting or not the task was.

Think about it more in terms of what is transferable. If you are applying to a firm with a strong airline sector, you’d focus on on that task. If you were applying to a firm with a compulsory tax seat, you'd highlight that task.

For the capitalisation, it depends on how you are writing it. In the vast majority of cases, it won't be capitalised, but there are some exceptions. This article explains it well:

Capitalization of Job Titles: When Is It Necessary?

Knowing when to capitalize job titles can stump you when writing an email or filling out a form. Learn the general rules so you're not confused again here!

grammar.yourdictionary.com

Thank you so much for your help.

 

[Dwight]

Hey @Jessica Booker,

I hope you had a great weekend!

Can my mentor - a future trainee solicitor - be my referee? Or does it have to be someone who I have worked with previously?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hey @Jessica Booker,

I hope you had a great weekend!

Can my mentor - a future trainee solicitor - be my referee? Or does it have to be someone who I have worked with previously?

I would suggest someone more senior (but doesn’t have to be in law) or who has known you for longer (or both)

 

[Dwight]

I would suggest someone more senior (but doesn’t have to be in law) or who has known you for longer (or both)

I had the senior aspect of a referee in mind, but that person has not yet responded to me and I want to submit my app ASAP. This is the reason I have thought to resort to my mentor who is younger. What should I do if they don't respond soon (like give or take one week)? Do you have any advice?

 

[Jessica Booker]

I had the senior aspect of a referee in mind, but that person has not yet responded to me and I want to submit my app ASAP. This is the reason I have thought to resort to my mentor who is younger. What should I do if they don't respond soon (like give or take one week)? Do you have any advice?

I’d provide an employment reference instead of that is the case.

 

[futuretraineecity]

Hi @Jessica Booker, I have a video interview due at midnight tonight but I requested some reasonable adjustments over the past couple of days. Grad rec have told me this morning that they will let me know when my test links have been updated but I haven’t heard anything yet. Should I risk not doing the video interview so that I haven’t already seen the questions even though the deadline would technically pass?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker, I have a video interview due at midnight tonight but I requested some reasonable adjustments over the past couple of days. Grad rec have told me this morning that they will let me know when my test links have been updated but I haven’t heard anything yet. Should I risk not doing the video interview so that I haven’t already seen the questions even though the deadline would technically pass?

A new deadline will be set once they set up the interview with the new timings. Don't complete it until this is done.

 

[futuretraineecity]

A new deadline will be set once they set up the interview with the new timings. Don't complete it until this is done.

fab, thank you!

 

[SH]

Hi @Jessica Booker, when answering why firm at an interview, do I need to change my answers slightly or is repeating myself is ok? I answered why firm in the application form and the interviewer will have a copy of my form. Thank you!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker, when answering why firm at an interview, do I need to change my answers slightly or is repeating myself is ok? I answered why firm in the application form and the interviewer will have a copy of my form. Thank you!

It will probably need to be more in depth. What you write on an application form could probably be said in less than a minute, so my advice is to take the themes of what you have said in an application but delve deeper into those themes. It also gives you an opportunity to highlight any other points that maybe you didn't have space to cover in your application.

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Hello @Jessica Booker hope you are doing well. Could you please help me out with something? So, my current CGPA at university is 7.4/10 and the way that my university suggests calculating the equivalent percentage is by simply multiplying the CGPA with 10 which makes is 74% overall (a first by UK standards).

On the other hand, if we add all my module scores manually, my % would turn out to be different and lower but obviously no one asks us to calculate manually since the regulations clearly mention "The CGPA x 10 shall be deemed equivalent to percentage of marks obtained by the student for the purpose of equivalence to percentage of marks. "

Should I make notify this on the application because they might calculate it differently and not in the way that my university carries out the calculation.

Thanks.

 

[IceFloe]

Hi @Jessica Booker. I've just received an invite for Clyde's VI due Saturday at 10:30am. I have an AC on Friday afternoon that I was just given notice for a couple days ago. I will 100% be prioritising AC preparation over the VI, so I won't be able to start prepping for the VI until Friday evening. Is this a sufficient reason to request a small extension of a day or so for Clyde's VI deadline?