General Discussion Thread 2020-21

[Deleted member 4851]

Does anyone know if Ashurst reviews your app answers before sending you the test link?

Under the description of the winter vacation scheme, it is written "Once you have submitted your online application you will receive an invitation from us to complete 3 psychometric assessments", so my understanding is that they do not review the application before sending the tests.

 

[AH97]

Under the description of the winter vacation scheme, it is written "Once you have submitted your online application you will receive an invitation from us to complete 3 psychometric assessments", so my understanding is that they do not review the application before sending the tests.

Correct - they don't! I submitted my application today and a few hours later received an email that said:

"Within the next 7 days you will receive an invitation to complete our online assessment. You will have 7 days to complete this."

 

[Mxkry]

Do most commercial firms charge fixed fees or on an hourly rate for their services? Is there anyway to find out?

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Do most commercial firms charge fixed fees or on an hourly rate for their services? Is there anyway to find out?

It’s rarely as simple as that. There will be hourly rates billed depending on what you are doing and your seniority, but then they will be wrapped up in packages of services, with things like discounts and capped fees applied too.

 

[LS12]

I did attempt to ask this earlier in the thread, but I don't think I was very clear, so I'm going to try and rephrase as the issue is one that is really worrying me.

When submitting vacation scheme applications firms are asking me to list my work experiences. When doing so there is often also space to outline key responsibilities etc. I was just wondering how I should approach these sections. Should I include key skills I developed? List my response in bullet points?

The reason I ask is that I feel like this is a space where I could improve my communication skills and ensure grad recruitment really see all the skills I have developed?

 

[Asmee DC]

Hi all, I am applying for winter vac schemes but I am still no sure how it will work out in case I hopefully get one as I am working afternoons and evenings as well. Can anyone, who has had a virtual vac scheme, share some details about their programme in terms of hours? Did you normally worked 9-5 for example or were your days pretty much packed with something happening 9-9? Thank you

Hello! I completely agree with what @Adam Gilchrist said above.

In regards to my experience, my virtual VS was cut from 2 weeks to 1 week where I basically worked the full 9-5pm. After every "work day" there were events planned for the candidates such as a Partner's Networking Event on Zoom, or a trainee's event etc. Plus after that, I would work until 8-9pm during the entire week on 2 tasks that were going to be assessed by Grad Recruitment at the end of the VS. I think it completely depends on the style of your VS and what you are going to be assessed on for a TC. For the VS I did, we only were assessed on our engagement during the VS and on 2 tasks that were assigned to us (we didn't have an exit interview or anything like that).

On the other hand, my partner completed a virtual VS which was completely different than me. He only had to do a SWOT analysis and presentation on the last day of his VS so he essentially finished "working" at around 5-6pm and only had events throughout the day. So I do agree that you will be super tired and drained if you worked during the VS, I think you should enquire about what the virtual VS will consist of and then make a decision based on that! I personally think you need all your energy throughout the day for the VS and you need adequate down time to relax as much as you can afterwards in order to be a good head space!

 

[Asmee DC]

I did attempt to ask this earlier in the thread, but I don't think I was very clear, so I'm going to try and rephrase as the issue is one that is really worrying me.

When submitting vacation scheme applications firms are asking me to list my work experiences. When doing so there is often also space to outline key responsibilities etc. I was just wondering how I should approach these sections. Should I include key skills I developed? List my response in bullet points?

The reason I ask is that I feel like this is a space where I could improve my communication skills and ensure grad recruitment really see all the skills I have developed?

Hi Lydia!

I would not recommend putting bullet points because I did in my first cycle and did not get past the application stage at all. I'm not sure if it differs depending on the firm, but the work experience section is the best way to let Grad Recruitment know of your experiences and they can get to know you as a better candidate. I suggest looking on the firm's website to see skills they are looking for - this is often found on the Careers section of the website. Try to allot skills to the experiences you have and discuss what your role was in that work experience. I would try to pick out 2-3 skills per work experience to demonstrate in your answer. If you would want to see an example of this, feel free to PM me and I'd be happy to help!

 

[WannabeLawyer]

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone has an email address for Jones Day Grad Rec? Having some trouble with my application but can't get through to anyone at the firm unfortunately

 

[KerC14]

Linklaters winter vac only shut on the 15th and I'm already refreshing my emails, anyone that got to AC last year did they take a while to get back to you?

 

[Legal_rawn]

Linklaters winter vac only shut on the 15th and I'm already refreshing my emails, anyone that got to AC last year did they take a while to get back to you?

Took until the beginning of November so don’t expect anything for a couple of weeks

 

[M1999]

I did attempt to ask this earlier in the thread, but I don't think I was very clear, so I'm going to try and rephrase as the issue is one that is really worrying me.

When submitting vacation scheme applications firms are asking me to list my work experiences. When doing so there is often also space to outline key responsibilities etc. I was just wondering how I should approach these sections. Should I include key skills I developed? List my response in bullet points?

The reason I ask is that I feel like this is a space where I could improve my communication skills and ensure grad recruitment really see all the skills I have developed?

I personally don’t list but instead write about the skills I’ve learnt in that job, and what the role actually involved & how this will help me as a commercial lawyer!

 

[M1999]

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone has an email address for Jones Day Grad Rec? Having some trouble with my application but can't get through to anyone at the firm unfortunately

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone has an email address for Jones Day Grad Rec? Having some trouble with my application but can't get through to anyone at the firm unfortunately

this is the email address where they emailed me, they signed it with ‘trainee recruitment/development’ - hope this helps
[email protected]

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

I did attempt to ask this earlier in the thread, but I don't think I was very clear, so I'm going to try and rephrase as the issue is one that is really worrying me.

When submitting vacation scheme applications firms are asking me to list my work experiences. When doing so there is often also space to outline key responsibilities etc. I was just wondering how I should approach these sections. Should I include key skills I developed? List my response in bullet points?

The reason I ask is that I feel like this is a space where I could improve my communication skills and ensure grad recruitment really see all the skills I have developed?

Many times the skill will be obvious to see from the description of responsibilities. I’d only spell it out if it isn’t obvious or if the firm explicitly tells you to do so (some firms do).

Generally my advice is to focus on responsibilities and your personal impact in the role for work experience sections rather than describing the skills obtained. It does depend on how the work experience fits into the wider application form though (which is why it’s difficult for me to answer this without being super vague).

 

[dhway]

Anyone know when A&O will finish inviting people to ACs? I still haven't heard back yet.

 

[Tcapplicant]

Hi everyone. I was wondering if someone could help me with this predicament. I am a UK national but finished high school overseas. I applied for a TC at A&O and they have asked twice for my GCSE results or equivalent. The country I finished school didn't have anything like GCSE but they dont seem to understand this and have asked again. Just wondering what you guys would do and how to answer the email again?

 

[gg332dd]

Many times the skill will be obvious to see from the description of responsibilities. I’d only spell it out if it isn’t obvious or if the firm explicitly tells you to do so (some firms do).

Generally my advice is to focus on responsibilities and your personal impact in the role for work experience sections rather than describing the skills obtained. It does depend on how the work experience fits into the wider application form though (which is why it’s difficult for me to answer this without being super vague).

Is it ok if we use bullet points to list our responsibilities for each job, like we'd do in our CV?

 

[Evelina]

Linklaters winter vac only shut on the 15th and I'm already refreshing my emails, anyone that got to AC last year did they take a while to get back to you?

i remember getting rejected quite quickly last year. maybe 1 week after deadline. hopefully this year will be a positive response!

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Just an update on what happened when contacting firms about their vacation schemes to get details of whether they would be online/in person etc.

Unfortunately we had a pretty awful response rate to our survey that we sent to firms and so I don’t really have anything worthwhile publishing.

Was worth a try, but it might be down to many firms not having a definite idea of what is happening, or not being willing to commit to say what they think will happen.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Is it ok if we use bullet points to list our responsibilities for each job, like we'd do in our CV?

• If you can format your answer like
• You can format with bullet points in this forum
• Then use bullet points

But if there is no formatting options, then I would go with a prose format.

 

[cgs97]

Just an update on what happened when contacting firms about their vacation schemes to get details of whether they would be online/in person etc.

Unfortunately we had a pretty awful response rate to our survey that we sent to firms and so I don’t really have anything worthwhile publishing.

Was worth a try, but it might be down to many firms not having a definite idea of what is happening, or not being willing to commit to say what they think will happen.

Thank you for the effort you put in to this though Jessica!