(Reminder: These are posts I'm copying that Jaysen made in The Student Room)
Pretty hard.
There was one vacation scheme where a partner set me a huge task (at least I thought it was huge, but he didn’t seem to notice!), where I had to write a report about an ancient law for every country the firm had an office in. I was worried that this was going to take up too much time and I wouldn’t be able to work for other people (this was at a firm where that was important), so I ended up getting in early and working on the weekend. Although note, that was an unusual vac scheme and you shouldn't find yourself working on the weekend or late nights.
For another US firm, we had lots of assessments during the scheme, so I had to balance this with vacation scheme work. In that case, it was about being efficient and using my time wisely. We also had a client pitch and a TC interview on the last day, so I’d come home and work on those or stay late.
But it’s important to work hard on the right things i.e. the areas you think you need to work on. For me, that meant preparing questions, pushing myself in presentations or putting in the effort at a networking events.
It also means different things for different firms. For one of the other schemes, it would have looked bad if I stayed late. As I mentioned, I’d advise against working late unless you really have work to do (and can’t push it to the next day). Please don’t be the guy who used a sleeping pod on a scheme – especially when partners needed to use them!
Whilst you’re not always working hard in terms of actual tasks, vacation schemes are pretty intense. It’s a new environment where you have to be switched on all the time and I think it’s important to mentally prepare yourself for the two weeks - clear out as much of your schedule as you can and devote your time to it – after those two weeks, you can then relax.
Feel free to post your own thoughts on this question here too
Pretty hard.
There was one vacation scheme where a partner set me a huge task (at least I thought it was huge, but he didn’t seem to notice!), where I had to write a report about an ancient law for every country the firm had an office in. I was worried that this was going to take up too much time and I wouldn’t be able to work for other people (this was at a firm where that was important), so I ended up getting in early and working on the weekend. Although note, that was an unusual vac scheme and you shouldn't find yourself working on the weekend or late nights.
For another US firm, we had lots of assessments during the scheme, so I had to balance this with vacation scheme work. In that case, it was about being efficient and using my time wisely. We also had a client pitch and a TC interview on the last day, so I’d come home and work on those or stay late.
But it’s important to work hard on the right things i.e. the areas you think you need to work on. For me, that meant preparing questions, pushing myself in presentations or putting in the effort at a networking events.
It also means different things for different firms. For one of the other schemes, it would have looked bad if I stayed late. As I mentioned, I’d advise against working late unless you really have work to do (and can’t push it to the next day). Please don’t be the guy who used a sleeping pod on a scheme – especially when partners needed to use them!
Whilst you’re not always working hard in terms of actual tasks, vacation schemes are pretty intense. It’s a new environment where you have to be switched on all the time and I think it’s important to mentally prepare yourself for the two weeks - clear out as much of your schedule as you can and devote your time to it – after those two weeks, you can then relax.
Feel free to post your own thoughts on this question here too
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