How to prepare for VS applications

Rachael.Elisa

Distinguished Member
Junior Lawyer
Jun 15, 2021
73
149
Hi everyone,

As the first year of my LLB is coming to an end, I'm thinking about what I can do over the summer to prepare for making VS applications.

So far I've got a spreadsheet of firms I'd like to apply to, and I'm going to research each of these. I also thought I'd prepare answers to common interview/application and competency questions.

I would be really grateful if anyone has any other tips or advice on things that I can be doing now in order to make the process easier when applications open and to increase my chances of success. I attended five first year workshops/insight schemes but had plenty of rejections so I realise that I need to improve the quality of my applications but am not quite sure on how to do it.

Thanks!
 

Jacob Miller

Legendary Member
Future Trainee
Forum Team
  • Feb 15, 2020
    897
    2,389
    It sounds to me as if you are very much on the right track.

    I think creating a plan of attack to develop your commercial awareness more generally may also be worthwhile - ensuring you keep abreast of news and commercial developments is important, but also make sure you're analysing these rather than just soaking up abstract information.

    Having attended plenty of workshops etc, you'll have picked up a lot of really helpful information for going forwards to vac schemes and training contracts. If you haven't already, going back through that information and synthesising it, using it to create action plans etc rather than just sitting on it as a mass of information will be of massive benefit.

    Best of luck!
     

    Dheepa

    Legendary Member
    Staff member
    Future Trainee
    TCLA Moderator
    Premium Member
    Forum Team
    M&A Bootcamp
    Junior Lawyer 43
  • Jan 20, 2019
    853
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    You could also start drafting work experience summaries within about 200 words each - so you have something you can easily come back to when filling out the work experience part of forms. Slightly less conventional advice here but for firms which you know for a fact haven't changed application questions in years, you can actually start drafting those applications now. I did this for one or two firms in the summer of second year and can honestly say it helped a lot because I had more time to fine tune different drafts I had written.
     

    Andrew M

    Legendary Member
    Forum Winner
    Jan 7, 2020
    517
    2,030
    Hi everyone,

    As the first year of my LLB is coming to an end, I'm thinking about what I can do over the summer to prepare for making VS applications.

    So far I've got a spreadsheet of firms I'd like to apply to, and I'm going to research each of these. I also thought I'd prepare answers to common interview/application and competency questions.

    I would be really grateful if anyone has any other tips or advice on things that I can be doing now in order to make the process easier when applications open and to increase my chances of success. I attended five first year workshops/insight schemes but had plenty of rejections so I realise that I need to improve the quality of my applications but am not quite sure on how to do it.

    Thanks!
    In terms of preparing for competency questions, make a note of 'required trainee skills' for the firms you intend to apply for and brainstorm some examples of when you've shown/developed that skill. Have a go at drafting a couple of answers, using the STAR technique.

    You can also use this time to start honing your commercial awareness skills. When you read a business story which interests you, have a go at doing a SWOT analysis.
     
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