HSF 2019 Applications 'Topic Question'

[Alice G]

Hi everyone,

The 'introduce us to a topic' question is forming part of the HSF app again this year and i think it is one of the trickiest ones to start thinking about, so I wondered how people might feel about sharing some ideas for inspiration purposes? If you made an app last year and using the same topic then I totally understand that people might not want to share but it would be really interesting to hear about everyone's interests and gain some inspiration from it

I don't mind kicking off and sharing that I spoke about nutrition in my app last year and its relation to wellbeing and I don't think it was really factual or detailed enough. I may still write on the same topic this year but I am still unsure!

 

[Simone]

I applied to HSF last cycle too! I wrote about the Belt and Road Initiative, but I think some people on the vac scheme chose non-commercial law/more personal topics.

 

[Alice G]

I applied to HSF last cycle too! I wrote about the Belt and Road Initiative, but I think some people on the vac scheme chose non-commercial law/more personal topics.

Ah wow thank for sharing! From what I’ve heard from people who got to the AC I think they all did relatively commercial topics but I suppose they’re probably assessing the writing rather than the nature of your topic! Thank you again for sharing!

 

[J Wu]

A friend of mine wrote about the Iran nuclear deal and got through to the AC but also, when I went to a HSF event last year, they talked about someone they interviewed who wrote about their love of baking. I believe they are assessing a mixture of your writing and the reasons for your interest, which can reveal a lot about your personality

Last year, I wrote about performing music as my topic

 

[Alice G]

A friend of mine wrote about the Iran nuclear deal and got through to the AC but also, when I went to a HSF event last year, they talked about someone they interviewed who wrote about their love of baking. I believe they are assessing a mixture of your writing and the reasons for your interest, which can reveal a lot about your personality

Last year, I wrote about performing music as my topic

Thank you so much for sharing! I love that someone spoke about baking and that you wrote about performing music, I bet they were very interesting pieces to read! I’m going to trawl through a load of old economist articles today to see what pops out to me for a bit of inspiration thank you for sharing

 

[Matt_96]

I was actually just about to go and write on the ask a graduate recruiter thread about this topic question, but it appears this has answered my question for me.

The consensus seems to be that you can write about something personal or something commercial.

Can anyone give me some advice on what I should write about? I'm not confident enough to go for something commercial so I am going to go for something personal and I am lucky to be in no short supply of ideas. Here are the topics I've been thinking about:

On one hand, there's my favourite sport/hobby. I've been involved with it for many years, it is fairly unusual and I coached it for 3 years in the United States in community programs for low-income youth. I've always liked the very scientific and strategic nature of the sport, as it is a lot more thought-provoking than some others.

On the other, I have been volunteering at a Law Clinic and have been involved with setting up something very new. It would tie in well to the other answer I have prepared, where I talk about enjoying pro-bono work as a reason for liking HSF. I was also asked to comment in the media about this project recently. However, I worry that talking about it and slipping that in is just going to come across as humblebragging, and not really explaining why the topic interests me. It might give the wrong impression.

Thoughts?

 

[Alice G]

I was actually just about to go and write on the ask a graduate recruiter thread about this topic question, but it appears this has answered my question for me.

The consensus seems to be that you can write about something personal or something commercial.

Can anyone give me some advice on what I should write about? I'm not confident enough to go for something commercial so I am going to go for something personal and I am lucky to be in no short supply of ideas. Here are the topics I've been thinking about:

On one hand, there's my favourite sport/hobby. I've been involved with it for many years, it is fairly unusual and I coached it for 3 years in the United States in community programs for low-income youth. I've always liked the very scientific and strategic nature of the sport, as it is a lot more thought-provoking than some others.

On the other, I have been volunteering at a Law Clinic and have been involved with setting up something very new. It would tie in well to the other answer I have prepared, where I talk about enjoying pro-bono work as a reason for liking HSF. I was also asked to comment in the media about this project recently. However, I worry that talking about it and slipping that in is just going to come across as humblebragging, and not really explaining why the topic interests me. It might give the wrong impression.

Thoughts?

Love the sport idea, it’s original and personal and I think you’ll have a natural passion which will come through. I also like that you did community programs as well as that’s a great thing to talk about more generally - how sport can and should be open to and enjoyed by people of all socio-economic backgrounds really do like this topic idea and I bet it’ll be a great read

 

[Matt_96]

Love the sport idea, it’s original and personal and I think you’ll have a natural passion which will come through. I also like that you did community programs as well as that’s a great thing to talk about more generally - how sport can and should be open to and enjoyed by people of all socio-economic backgrounds really do like this topic idea and I bet it’ll be a great read

Thanks for your thoughts Alice. Funnily enough, writing out that post helped me realise that the sport one was the more natural fit - I think i'm going to save the law clinic stuff for an application which asks me about a goal or something similar.

What do you think you might write about? Perhaps you could do something meta and write about speaking to community members on here from a moderator's perspective.

 

[Alice G]

Thanks for your thoughts Alice. Funnily enough, writing out that post helped me realise that the sport one was the more natural fit - I think i'm going to save the law clinic stuff for an application which asks me about a goal or something similar.

What do you think you might write about? Perhaps you could do something meta and write about speaking to community members on here from a moderator's perspective.

It really does help to write things down sometimes and glad you have found your topic!!

That’s a really good suggestion and thank you so much for it!! I’ve still got a few ideas floating around but I’m going to get up early tomorrow and try to put pen to paper and see what feels like a natural fit thank you though, I honestly wouldn’t have thought of that and it’s very creative!

 

[gricole]

Hi all,

I am also currently doing this question. From my perspective, I can pursue two avenues. The first one is really commercial and relates to the work I did on an airport concession deal last summer. HSF have a strong aviation practice (e.g. look at the Flybe acquisition) so I can link this easily. However, I think that this may come as forced despite my interest in aviation law more generally. The second avenue I can take is to elaborate on the idea of how online platforms have enabled individual politicians to utilise direct democracy to engage more actively with citizens. This is the so called e-municipality approach. Obama did it a few years ago. Essentially, you have citizens submitting questions on an online platform that then get voted and the President (in this case) answers them without previous preparation. I can relate this discussion to my personal experience as I proposed such an initiative whilst a political intern in the Bulgarian Presidency. What are your thoughts on both topics?

 

[Jessica Booker]

I was actually just about to go and write on the ask a graduate recruiter thread about this topic question, but it appears this has answered my question for me.

The consensus seems to be that you can write about something personal or something commercial.

Can anyone give me some advice on what I should write about? I'm not confident enough to go for something commercial so I am going to go for something personal and I am lucky to be in no short supply of ideas. Here are the topics I've been thinking about:

On one hand, there's my favourite sport/hobby. I've been involved with it for many years, it is fairly unusual and I coached it for 3 years in the United States in community programs for low-income youth. I've always liked the very scientific and strategic nature of the sport, as it is a lot more thought-provoking than some others.

On the other, I have been volunteering at a Law Clinic and have been involved with setting up something very new. It would tie in well to the other answer I have prepared, where I talk about enjoying pro-bono work as a reason for liking HSF. I was also asked to comment in the media about this project recently. However, I worry that talking about it and slipping that in is just going to come across as humblebragging, and not really explaining why the topic interests me. It might give the wrong impression.

Thoughts?

To me the first option. I think it sound far more interesting given the brief description you have mentioned above.

The legal clinic I think you are only using where it’s law related

 

[Alice G]

Hi all,

I am also currently doing this question. From my perspective, I can pursue two avenues. The first one is really commercial and relates to the work I did on an airport concession deal last summer. HSF have a strong aviation practice (e.g. look at the Flybe acquisition) so I can link this easily. However, I think that this may come as forced despite my interest in aviation law more generally. The second avenue I can take is to elaborate on the idea of how online platforms have enabled individual politicians to utilise direct democracy to engage more actively with citizens. This is the so called e-municipality approach. Obama did it a few years ago. Essentially, you have citizens submitting questions on an online platform that then get voted and the President (in this case) answers them without previous preparation. I can relate this discussion to my personal experience as I proposed such an initiative whilst a political intern in the Bulgarian Presidency. What are your thoughts on both topics?

On reading what you’ve said I personally think the second option about direct democracy. It is memorable and your proactive experience in suggesting this in practice is impressive and interesting! That’s just my opinion but which one, when writing, did you feel most excited about and which did you feel flowed well for you?

 

[gricole]

On reading what you’ve said I personally think the second option about direct democracy. It is memorable and your proactive experience in suggesting this in practice is impressive and interesting! That’s just my opinion but which one, when writing, did you feel most excited about and which did you feel flowed well for you?

Thank you @Alice G! The second topic did come easier to write but I attributed this to my academic background in politics. What you said about showing proactivity and initiative, I didn't even think of when I wrote it. Thank you for your kind words again.

 

[Alice G]

Thank you @Alice G! The second topic did come easier to write but I attributed this to my academic background in politics. What you said about showing proactivity and initiative, I didn't even think of when I wrote it. Thank you for your kind words again.

It sounds like a knock out answer to me! Glad it helped and good luck!!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi all,

I am also currently doing this question. From my perspective, I can pursue two avenues. The first one is really commercial and relates to the work I did on an airport concession deal last summer. HSF have a strong aviation practice (e.g. look at the Flybe acquisition) so I can link this easily. However, I think that this may come as forced despite my interest in aviation law more generally. The second avenue I can take is to elaborate on the idea of how online platforms have enabled individual politicians to utilise direct democracy to engage more actively with citizens. This is the so called e-municipality approach. Obama did it a few years ago. Essentially, you have citizens submitting questions on an online platform that then get voted and the President (in this case) answers them without previous preparation. I can relate this discussion to my personal experience as I proposed such an initiative whilst a political intern in the Bulgarian Presidency. What are your thoughts on both topics?

Both sounds ok to me

 

[Matt_96]

To me the first option. I think it sound far more interesting given the brief description you have mentioned above.

The legal clinic I think you are only using where it’s law related

This is exactly what I did in the end! While writing it, I found that talking about the coaching felt a little forced - while it is interesting I think I have used it too many times in past applications as an example of law firm competencies. I ended up focusing on how I liked the sport for its strategy, teamwork elements/self-reflection and sciencey nature.

Thanks for your input anyway, Jessica!

 

[Farah Ahmad]

Has anyone heard back from HSF after completing the VRT? I did mine on Tuesday and still haven't heard anything yet!

 

[gricole]

Do you write out the full name of the firm or you just use HSF when answering the questions?

 

[Alice G]

Do you write out the full name of the firm or you just use HSF when answering the questions?

HSF

 

[pinkfrog]

hi - i know this is quite late, but i was wondering if anyone knows how argumentative/opinionated we should be on the topic question. I spoke to a grad recruiter at HSF who said 'not very', but I don't know if that means 'just a little bit', or 'not at all'. thank you