You have done amazingly well. Jones Day is not an AC but an interview so it will be very different to the other three. One positive is that you will be well oiled for competency and strengths questions which focus on you although you will have to match those skills to what each firm is looking for. It will take some preparation but not impossible especially if one of those firms is a real winner for you.
Hearing Back from Firms + AC & Interview Tips Share - 2018 - 2019
- Thread starter yanerlim
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Those of you working full time, how are you juggling the interview process/ACs with work?? I just had a disastrous phone interview with Mayer Brown - partly because I've had so many late nights in the office this week so my preparation probably wasn't good enough, but I can't just not show up for work...
Just had a bit of a meltdown and now have to go back to the office
Hi Naomi, sorry to hear this. I work full time and my hours are quite tumultuous so I understand. I go about it by being incredibly disciplined (which I know is easier said than done). For example, if I know I had a WG test that needed to be completed in a couple of days so I used any and all available time I could find to study which included journeys to work, lunch breaks etc. Also, I set myself a minimum amount of hours a day where I would devote to studying no excuses. It's also about being smart so for phone and interviews there are some questions that all firms normally ask 'why law', 'why commercial law' etc, use your down times to perfect those answers so that when you get invited to a phone interview you just need to spend time doing more granular research into the firm.
It is very hard as it's like practically juggling two jobs, which are both stressful, but the sacrifice now will pay off later . Even those that don't work full time will have disastrous interviews so don't be too hard on yourself, just continue to work hard to make sure that doesn't happen again. Hope I've helped
So guys just had my feedback call with Macfarlanes which was actually more positive than I thought it was going to be. So the day is structured in three parts, which is how they decided to give me the feedback so I'll briefly share what they're looking for in each section. I'd imagine the competencies are the same for firms who have similar application processes, so I hope this is useful to people!
Negotiation
- Competencies they are looking for are: commercial thinking, communication skills and teamwork
- Try and come up with the points first rather than letting your teammate start and then developing that point based on what he/she has said. A fairly minor point and can be quite difficult if your teammate is quite a dominant personality but obviously try and speak as much as you can, but without talking over him/her!
- It goes without saying but they are looking for you to build a rapport with your teammates and work well together, as well as being a clear and concise communicator.
Written exercise
- Interestingly, this was my strongest exercise of the day so I'll share what I did and how I approached the task. You are given a document and then asked to draft a note to a client who has questions for you which you are expected to answer.
- Here they are looking for critical analysis (how well you understand the task and answer the questions) and written communication skills, as well as time management skills.
- So without sharing exactly what the written exercise was as I feel it isn't fair on those who have already done it/slightly undermines the process, I approached it by dividing my note in headings for each question to make it as clear to understand as possible and I got very good communication marks because of this. They want you to write in a simple, concise way with the appropriate level of tone and register that you would give when talking to a client.
Interview
- So the interview was my downfall sadly which wasn't a surprise to me as I found the case study part of it very challenging as I had never seen a document like that before since this was my first AC. To be clear the first half of the interview is case-study based and the second half is more competency-based and is about you, your skills and your motivations for a career in commercial law, applying to Macfarlanes etc.
- In-tray/case study: they are looking for critical analysis, problem solving and communication.
- My issue was that I was pretty confused with the document and although said some good and correct things, because I didn't fully understand what I was reading that cost me a bit. My advice would be to take your time over it, take a sip of water/a deep breath etc. and not to rush into an answer. Silence is absolutely fine in an interview; you don't need to fill every gap with words, especially if they don't add to your performance. This is something I'll definitely look to continue to do in future interviews.
- CV & motivations for applying: this part I did well in and fulfilled the competencies they were looking for i.e. can you demonstrate resilience, good communication skills etc. A minor point which I think is worth mentioning is to ensure that you make your answer to why you are interested in law as opposed to another career e.g. finance very very clear so there is no doubt. I'll be tightening up my answer for that for future interviews.
As I said, I hope this is useful to people and that it helps those who have upcoming ACs, not just at Macfarlanes, but at other firms too!
Thank you Daniel. This is extremely useful and sounds like you did well. It will give you great confidence for your next AC.
I’m very sorry to hear that Daniel! ( Partner interviews can be quite scary!
Anyway, just wanted to check again, has anyone still NOT received the linklaters wg test? I also didnt receive a confirmation email after I did the HSF test. Just to confirm, did anyone receive an email saying you completed the test??? I also didnt receive my rejection email from hogan lovells after one month, but went to check the forum today and it said i got rejected under correspondence.
Im starting to think theres something wrong with my email or do you guys think im iust being paranoid??
( Partner interviews can be quite scary!Anyway, just wanted to check again, has anyone still NOT received the linklaters wg test? I also didnt receive a confirmation email after I did the HSF test. Just to confirm, did anyone receive an email saying you completed the test??? I also didnt receive my rejection email from hogan lovells after one month, but went to check the forum today and it said i got rejected under correspondence.
Im starting to think theres something wrong with my email or do you guys think im iust being paranoid??
What email provider are you with?I’m very sorry to hear that Daniel!
Anyway, just wanted to check again, has anyone still NOT received the linklaters wg test? I also didnt receive a confirmation email after I did the HSF test. Just to confirm, did anyone receive an email saying you completed the test??? I also didnt receive my rejection email from hogan lovells after one month, but went to check the forum today and it said i got rejected under correspondence.
Im starting to think theres something wrong with my email or do you guys think im iust being paranoid??
I’m very sorry to hear that Daniel!
Anyway, just wanted to check again, has anyone still NOT received the linklaters wg test? I also didnt receive a confirmation email after I did the HSF test. Just to confirm, did anyone receive an email saying you completed the test??? I also didnt receive my rejection email from hogan lovells after one month, but went to check the forum today and it said i got rejected under correspondence.
Im starting to think theres something wrong with my email or do you guys think im iust being paranoid??
Hi Dani, I didn't receive a confirmation email after submitting my HSF test earlier today and am still waiting for my results. Hope that helps
First of all, congratulations!
I would say it is more advantageous than bad, especially if it is not your first application cycle. I recently did A&O, Slaughters and Ashurst in a pretty short period of time, and I would definitely say that I found it advantageous. You can recycle competency questions and current affairs knowledge. If you've gotten through to AC, you will have put in enough research into the initial application to already know broadly how to answer 'why X firm', so time shouldn't be much of an issue either. I personally found that I benefitted from having more case study experience in a short period of time, as I was 'in the zone' and therefore able to take the knowledge (and confidence) from one interview and build on it in the next interview.
That said, if this is your first application cycle, you may benefit from having some space between interviews to get some feedback on your initial performance.
All the very best!
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Hi Dani, I didn't receive a confirmation email after submitting my HSF test earlier today and am still waiting for my results. Hope that helps
Yes it does! Thank u so much!!
That's so weird. I think Gmail is pretty trustworthy so maybe that's not it
These things happen. Automated emails sent by organisations via CRM systems/mail merging software are sometimes classified as spam emails. Also, the successful delivery rate is rarely 100%. Have you check your junk folder yet?
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